Nicole Hanney, Ph.D., BCBA-D is the newest member of the Engage Behavioral Health team. She has just been named as the new Clinical Director at Engage Behavioral Health! Dr. Hanney began her graduate school career in 2010 at Auburn University and completed her Ph.D. in 2015. She has provided services with several populations: typically developing children, caregivers, teachers, staff, adolescents and individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders and developmental disabilities, as well as visually impaired individuals.
Dr. Hanney is responsible for the management and quality assurance of all clinical services provided by Engage Behavioral Health’s clinical staff. She is also creating a research program (i.e., conducting research studies, training staff to implement procedures, and establishing a Clinical Advisory Board to review any ongoing research), incorporating opportunities to contact new research in the field, and reviewing EBH services to be in line with best practice guidelines. Her primary research interests are verbal behavior, staff/parent training, and skill acquisition with early learners.
Dr. Nicole Hanney has always been passionate about science and working with individuals with special needs. Her preferred area of interest is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) combined with the area of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) involving children affected by Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). As an undergraduate student at Louisiana State University, she began working in an ABA research lab with children affected by ASD and knew that it would turn into her career. Dr. Hanney has worked nine years in the field as well as within the areas of skill acquisition and problem behavior reduction within various settings such as center-based clinics, residential schools, in-home services, public and private schools, and early intervention preschools.
She is currently collaborating with other professionals in the field to conduct studies in decreasing motor and vocal stereotypy in individuals with ASD as well as teaching conditional discriminations (i.e., receptive language skills) to children with ASD. She has also begun recruiting participants to continue a line of research teaching children with ASD to label different features of their environment (e.g., sounds and textures).
Dr. Nicole Hanney is a member of two national organizations, Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI), Association for Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA), and a regional organization, Florida Association for Behavior Analysis (FABA). She recently participated in a work group with other behavior analysts from around the country at the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) in Denver, CO, developing materials for individuals pursing a BCBA or BCaBA.
Dr. Hanney first learned about Engage Behavioral Health through a professor at Florida State University who then got her connected with Jennifer Phelps, Founder and President of Engage Behavioral Health. After their first conversation, she was certain that EBH was an organization she would like to pursue her passion and future in the field. As the new Clinical Director, Dr. Nicole Hanney looks forward to the opportunity to initiate several new clinical programs, grow the new research program, and further disseminate best practice clinical guidelines to practitioners!
To learn more about Engage Behavioral Health visit their website here.
