Behavior analyst Katy Mattern considers her and her team pioneers in bringing applied behavior analysis to the Yakima Valley.
Applied behavior analysis focuses on making incremental, but socially significant, changes that help people feel safe and happy in a given environment, like school. It has many applications, but Mattern specializes in working with K-12 students.
It rejects previously used punishment-based systems that try to change a person’s behavior. Instead, it involves one-on-one time between child and analyst, Mattern said. Behavior analysts teach the person coping skills.
Mattern and her team work with students with the most critical needs that exceed what their home schools are able to address. Often these students are close to being placed in residential treatment facilities. The goal is to return them safely to a general education environment, Mattern said.
The pandemic highlighted the importance of this work, she said. With many adults in survival mode, kids were not always getting what they needed from the people in their lives. Mattern and her team continued their service work during the pandemic.
In her leadership role, Mattern spends much of her time consulting with districts in Yakima and Kittitas counties. She also hired and trained new behavior technicians to work with kids.
Mattern comes from a family of educators but did not expect to enter the field herself. She said she initially pursued the path of clinical psychology. But after graduating from Washington State University with a degree in psychology, she worked odd jobs and went back to school to get her bachelor’s degree in education from City University of Seattle.
She worked as an elementary school teacher in Wapato, where she met a woman working as a behavior analyst. Mattern saw an opportunity to combine her love of psychology with her career in education and became a board-certified behavior analyst.
Mattern is passionate about her field and spends time educating others on it and is always learning more about it. She said she spends her free time in online applied behavior analysis group chats and listening to podcasts on psychology. She also advocated for expanded access to these services.
“It’s been five years and I’m just starting to really see that ball roll,” she said.
Her hard work has expanded the field locally. She said one of her proudest moments was seeing two women she helped train enter the field.
Still, the Yakima Valley exists in a treatment desert, Mattern said. She said there’s much work still to be done in expanding access to applied behavior analysis.
She said in the future, she’d like to see more people know about applied behavior analysis and enter the field. She’d like to see a full clinic at ESD 105 for students who need these services.
Mattern said working with students and seeing their growth is the most rewarding part of her career, particularly when students share their good habits with others. For her, no person is beyond help. Using applied behavior analysis, everyone can learn new skills to help them cope with the stresses of life.
“Applied behavior analysis can, in my opinion, truly save the world,” she said.
Profession: Behavioral Support Program manager at Educational Service District 105
Residence: Selah
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February 27, 2022 at 08:30AM
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Katy Mattern: Behavioral Support Program Manager at Educational Service District 105 - Yakima Herald-Republic
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