Role-Specific Guidance for Ethical and Effective Use of Artificial Intelligence in ABA Organizations

Alexandra Tomei, M.Ed., BCBA, LBA

Alexandra is a dedicated professional with a passion for child and youth development with over 15 years of experience in the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). She has worked with small and large organizations and currently works to elevate standards of care and create pathways to clinical supports. In addition to her clinical work, Alexandra contributed significantly to the governance of a local K-12 charter school, serving on the board as secretary for 4 years. She has participated in the development of or directly authored published works in the topic areas of public policy, advocacy, treatment quality, school services, ethics, and artificial intelligence.  In 2024, Alexandra was elected to a term on the COABA board and is currently serving as the Chair of the Professional Development Committee. She leads the committee in supporting opportunities for learning via webinars and fully running the annual conference. She also supports public policy initiatives in the state through the public policy committee and was part of the COABA public policy team that won the Autism Law Summit award for excellence in advocacy in 2023. Currently, Alexandra serves as the Director of Clinical Standards for BlueSprig. In this role, she collaborates across departments to establish clinical standards and operating procedures, ensuring that the organization delivers the highest quality clinical services to their clients and families. She coordinates all the clinical committees ensuring there are multiple psychologically safe pathways for support to any and all clinical needs and supports measurement and reporting on clinical outcomes. Alexandra also serves on CASP SIGs (including the AI Core Workgroup and leading the Ethics SIG), is a clinical quality help desk SME for NASQN, and serves as a public policy SME for APBA.

Summer Gainey, PhD, LBA, BCBA-D

Summer B. Gainey, PhD, LBA, BCBA-D, is a doctoral level Board Certified Behavior Analyst and currently serves as Chief Clinical Officer of The HelmABA. With nearly three decades of experience in autism services and organizational leadership, she has led large multisite clinical teams, developed outcomes driven care models, and guided organizations through regulatory, quality, and ethical compliance initiatives. She also serves as a gubernatorial appointed member of the  PANS Advisory Council in Texas, contributing to cross disciplinary policy and service delivery recommendations.

 Dr. Gainey is an active member of the Council of Autism Service Providers, Association for Behavior Analysis International, and Association of Professional Behavior Analysts, and is a former president of the Texas Association of Behavior Analysis. She has contributed to national workgroups focused on AI governance, clinical documentation standards, and best practice guidelines for behavior analytic care.

 She earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Meredith College and her Doctor of Philosophy in Autism and Developmental Disabilities from The University of Texas at Austin. Her professional interests center on advancing outcome driven, family centered services; strengthening clinical quality and workforce development; and ensuring equitable access to high quality ABA services.

Melissa Olive, Ph.D, BCBA-D, LBA

Melissa Olive, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA is the Executive Director of FABA and Professor of Practice and Online Program Director at Simmons University. Missy previously served as the Chief Clinical Officer of Adapt for Life as well as Cultivate Behavioral Health and Education. Cultivate acquired her company, Applied Behavioral Strategies (ABS) that Missy founded and directed ABS from 2010 until its acquisition in 2020. Missy also worked at The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) in their Austin, TX and Larchmont, NY offices. Prior to working in the ABA space, Missy spent 9 years conducting research and training special education teachers and behavior analysts at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Nevada, Reno. Missy also serves as the Vice President of the Progressive Behavior Analyst Autism Council (PBAAC). Missy previously served as Co-Director of Public Policy for FABA and she served on the CTABA Board of Directors from 2016-2021. She chaired the CTABA Public Policy and Legislative Outreach Committee (PPLO formerly called Legislative Committee) from 2016-2022. She previously served as a Member at Large on the Executive Council for CTABA from 2011-2013. Missy also served on the Executive Board as a Member at Large for the Division of Early Childhood (DEC), a sub-division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and as President of the Texas Council for Exceptional Children (TX-CEC). Missy currently serves as a Guest Reviewer for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and the Review Journal on Autism and Developmental Disorders. She also served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Early Intervention for 8 years, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education for 10 years, and Young Exceptional Children for 12 years. Missy has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters focusing on assessment and treatment of challenging behaviors, communication intervention, feeding disorders, and ethical issues for behavior analysts. She is also the recipient of over $1.6 million in federal and state funding for research and training in the field. Her current interests lie in the areas of assessment and treatment of feeding disorders, assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior, ethical issues in the delivery of ABA services, clinical compliance of ABA services, and ABA services in school settings. Missy is the guardian of her youngest brother, Mac, who has lived with Missy or in residential services near her since he was 13 years old. She is married to Norm and is also the bonus mom of two amazing women. When not working, you can find Missy and Norm on a boat, out on their bikes, or traveling.

David Cox, PhD, MSB, BCBA-D

Dr. David Cox can formally lay claim to being a bioethicist (master's degree), a board-certified behavior analyst at the doctoral level (PhD degree), a behavioral economist (post-doc training), and a data scientist (post-doc training). He has worked in behavior analysis for 20 years as a clinician, academic researcher, scholar, technologist, and all-around behavior science junky. From his work and collaborations, David has published 70+ peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and books. And, has had the fortune to serve as Editor in Chief for The Experimental Analysis of Human Behavior Bulletin and Associate or Guest Editor for Perspectives on Behavior Science, Behavior Analysis in Practice, Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Psychological Record, Education and Treatment of Children, Toward Data Science, and Behavior and Social Issues. When he's not doing research or building quantitative models of behavior-environment relations, he enjoys spending time with his wife, two beagles, and two kittens around St. John's, FL.