Dr. Niager explains that within this role at QABA she was responsible for enabling and assisting in communication with all of the board members, committees, and subject matter experts. She led the effort for accreditation of the QASP-S and the QBA with ANSI. Her leadership played a fundamental role in the development of the organization and exemplified the QABA values. In doing so, she set the tone and culture of the board members at QABA.

 “On the board, we come together as equals to serve the participants.” – Dr. Kathy Niager

Dr. Niager speaks on empowering applicants and certificants to be “masters of their own careers”. She states that QABA does this by working to provide accessibility to everyone everywhere. Furthermore, making QABA services accessible to everyone means having providers with high standards to ensure their work with clients of all ages. Our international services assist people from both rural and large cities to the standardization of ABA. This is also accomplished through the unique ability of QABA applicants to utilize foreign supervision and training to provide equal education and support to students and staff, and equal care to clients all over the world.

“QABA’s mission of accessibility is to enhance quality of specialized care everywhere.” – Dr. Kathy Niager

Reflecting on the history of the knowledge and education surrounding the field of applied behavior analysis, Dr. Niager shares her thoughts.

“In recent history there have been major strides in knowledge and education within the ABA field, which has promoted further certifications and standardization of care. This has grown from generalized knowledge into specifics, which provided greater abilities when working in a specialized population. The more you know, the better it gets. This is why QABA relies heavily on verification of coursework, as well as supporting our pre-approved coursework providers. We want our applicants to succeed in every way possible so that they can extend those achievements to their clients. In reality, we serve the participants so they can then serve their clients.”

Dr. Niager would encourage the new applicants to utilize their “tool box” of education and the skills they have been taught to view the bigger picture of the work they are doing. She points out that the providers use their own “creative clinical skills” to make decisions that positively impact the provider, the client, and the practice. Using this mentality reflects that it is not always about the right or wrong way to utilize a skill, but rather the most correct way determined by the circumstances and the foundations of ABA. She motivates providers and new applicants to use the education that they have received as a guide and to make it their own as they take control of providing the best care possible.

“Be a master of your own knowledge, be a master of your own fate.” – Dr. Kathy Niager