Professional Development in the Dominican Republic, with Maricarmen Hazoury | TBT

Discover what’s possible when quality care is cultivated from within. 

Have you ever looked for a service provider in a rural area, and had a hard time finding just one professional near you with a certification established by a board? How would you know if those other, non-credentialed service providers have completed proper, systematic training?

In today’s episode, we address these topics and much, much more.

This episode with Maricarmen Hazoury, or Kaki for short, was originally released in July 2020. We’re re-releasing it today to emphasize the need for a set of professional standards in order to protect families and individuals receiving autism services. 

When this conversation was recorded, the Behavior Analysts Certification Board had just announced that they would discontinue international certification for behavior analysts. Although the decision initially caused some upset, confusion, and disappointment, other organizations like the IBAO and QABA have since stepped up to fill the space. 

Maricarmen Hazoury is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and the co-founder of Centro ACAP, an autism center in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The Global Autism Project partnered with Centro ACAP in 2018, and we have since sent three SkillCorps volunteer teams to provide sustainable hands-on training. 

In this conversation, among other things, we discuss:

• Autism awareness in the Dominican Republic and the types of autism services currently available
• How Kaki became involved in the field and why she is passionate about using Applied Behavior Analysis to help families
• The need for a Spanish-speaking certification board
• Why the current Code of Ethics for Behavior Analysts is not completely relevant to Dominican culture
• What Kaki has learned from partnering with the Global Autism Project
• Which aspects of Dominican culture she is most excited to share with our SkillCorps volunteers when they visit 

If you enjoy this podcast and you’d like to support our mission, please take a moment to rate the show and leave a review. You’ll be helping us to continue spreading autism awareness and acceptance around the world.

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Related episode:

147. The International Behavior Analysis Organization, with Dr. Michael Mueller and Our CEO Molly Ola Pinney

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