Brenda Terzich-Garland

Brenda J. Terzich-Garland received her Masters degree in Psychology (with a concentration in Behavior Analysis) from the California State University, Sacramento and is Board Certified Behavior Analyst. She is the Co-founder, CEO and President of Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc. (ABC, Inc.) and has been an officer of the California Association for Behavior Analysis. Ms. Terzich-Garland also has been certified by Pyramid Educational Consultants, Inc. as a PECS Supervisor and Implementer and is an ACT Therapist. She is a member of the International Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA), California Association for Behavior Analysis (Cal-ABA) and has served as a Board Member for the B.F. Skinner Foundation. Ms. Terzich-Garland has received the Certificate of Merit: Outstanding Poster Award (1988, Association for Behavior Analysis), Outstanding Alumni Award in Psychology, Outstanding Service Award presented by Families for Effective Autism Treatment (FEAT), Outstanding Service on Behalf of Children and Adults with Intellectual Disabilities, and “Good Works” Award, presented by Healing Pathways, Inc. by Dr. Paul Copeland (Psychiatrist).

Ms. Terzich-Garland is the author of the book The R.E.A.L. Model, Rethinking Generalization published in 2020. This publication is the basis for ABC’s staff training nationally and internationally. She has over 25 years of ABA clinical experience in the behavioral treatment of autism/ASD (autism spectrum disorders) for children of all ages through adulthood. She also has over 18 years of experience in ABA intervention for ADHD/ADD and other behavioral disorders specializing in child intervention, parent training and ACT. All ABA intervention services are built upon The R.E.A.L. Model for home, school and infant-toddler and center-based programs. Ms. Terzich-Garland is also the developer of ABC’s clinical staff training programs (Caring and Effective ABA, 1993) and continues to develop new clinical staff training and quality assurance standards as the field of ABA evolves.

She has conducted numerous workshops and in-services on ABA including discrete trials; verbal behavior in the teaching of functional communication; PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System); social behavior, play assessment analysis and generalization, as well as parent training and ACT. She has also presented nationally and internationally on a wide range of topics concerning the treatment and education of children with autism, ADHD and other developmental disabilities. Ms. Terzich-Garland has co-authored and presented several research papers on the behavioral treatment of autism. Her work was first described in the textbook, “Behavior Analysis and Learning (Epling and Pierce, 1995 2nd & 3rd Edition, Pierce and Cheney 2013 4th & 5th Edition).”

In 1987 Ms Terzich-Garland co-founded Applied Behavior, Consultants, Inc. where she continues to oversee and manage all domestic and international clinical programs for ABC, Inc./ABC School, Infant-Toddler Programs and Center-Based Sites. She works toward keeping the mission and vision of the company alive by cultivating a culture of compassion and caring for clients as well as employees. She assures that “the kids continue to come first” and that employees are treated with respect and dignity, that all clinical programs meet the ABA standards, that both client and parent receive the highest standard of clinical care while also adequately assuring all staff are appropriately educated and trained to provide effective clinical services for ABC’s clients.

Internationally, ABC has been instrumental in disseminating ABA in Europe, Iceland, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East. These services include, consultation, setting up in-home ABA programs and behavioral schools in, Iceland, Algeria, Romania, China, Portugal Bahrain and Durban and center-based services in Singapore and the Philippines. V Ms. Terzich-Garland and Dr. Morrow have participated in ABAI’s international delegations. They continue with their efforts in spreading ABA to all who need the technology world wide. For more information on ABC’s international contributions click here (write Morrow or Terzich).