Bill Ahearn, PhD, BCBA-D

Bill Ahearn joined the New England Center for Children in August 1996 and serves at NECC as the director of research. He is also an adjunct faculty member in Western New England University’s master’s and doctoral programs. Bill was named the 2009 American Psychological Association – Division 25 awardee for Enduring Contributions to Applied Behavioral Research. Bill is on the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts’ board of directors and serves as its president. He is also past president of the Berkshire Association for Behavior Analysis and Therapy (BABAT) and currently serves BABAT as the chair of professional practice. Bill’s research interests include social skills in children with autism, verbal behavior, assessment and treatment of stereotypy, severe problem behavior and pediatric feeding difficulties. He is also interested in resistance to change, behavioral economics and conditioned reinforcement. His work has been published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior, Behavioral Interventions, Behavior Modification, The Lancet and Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, and he has written book chapters on teaching children with autism and pediatric feeding problems in children with autism. Bill is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and The Analysis of Verbal Behavior and is editor-in-chief of Behavioral Interventions. He has been principal investigator on an NIH-funded grant with Dr. William Dube.