The Long-Form Interview as Professional Development
IN FEBRUARY 2016, Matt Cicoria launched the Behavioral Observations Podcast with a simple premise: publish long-form interviews with leading behavior analysts, discussing current topics in a casual format. A decade later, the show has become one of the most recognized and widely downloaded podcasts in the field of applied behavior analysis, with a catalog of more than 200 sessions and a download count that crossed 1.4 million.
Cicoria himself is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who has held the BCBA credential since 2002. His clinical background spans schools, residential programs, and in-home and clinic-based early intervention — the full range of settings in which ABA services are delivered. That practitioner experience informs the podcast’s editorial sensibility: conversations are grounded in clinical realities, not abstract theory.
The show’s guest list reads like a directory of ABA’s most influential practitioners and researchers. Cicoria has interviewed figures including Dr. Greg Hanley, Dr. Jonathan Tarbox, and dozens of other thought leaders whose work has shaped the field’s clinical standards, ethical frameworks, and research priorities. The long-form format — episodes frequently run 45 minutes to over an hour — allows for the kind of substantive discussion that conference presentations and journal articles cannot accommodate.
The Behavioral Observations Podcast occupies a unique position in ABA’s media ecosystem: it is simultaneously a professional development resource, a CE delivery mechanism, and an informal conference where the field’s leading voices explore ideas in real time. That combination of institutional credibility and conversational accessibility is central to the show’s influence.
Continuing Education Infrastructure
One of the features that distinguishes the Behavioral Observations Podcast from other ABA media platforms is its integration with the continuing education system. Listeners can earn BACB-approved Continuing Education Units (CEUs) by completing activities associated with selected episodes. The CE integration is available through behavioralobservations.com/get-ceus, positioning the podcast not just as content but as a formal professional development tool.
This CE function has significant implications for the podcast’s reach and influence. BCBAs and RBTs are required to complete continuing education to maintain their certifications. By embedding CE opportunities within podcast episodes, Cicoria has created a delivery mechanism that meets practitioners where they already are — commuting, exercising, or working — rather than requiring them to attend in-person workshops or navigate online learning management systems.
The CE model: Listeners access approved episodes through the show’s website, complete associated learning activities, and receive CE credits. This model aligns continuing education with content consumption, reducing the friction that typically separates professional development from practitioners’ daily routines.
Topic Range and Editorial Approach
The Behavioral Observations Podcast covers the full spectrum of ABA practice, including functional behavioral assessment, acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), functional communication training, verbal behavior, ethics, organizational behavior management, and the application of behavior analysis in juvenile justice, school settings, and adult services.
Cicoria’s interview style emphasizes substance over performance. Conversations are structured to allow guests to develop ideas at length, explain their reasoning, and address the nuances that typically get compressed in conference presentations or social media exchanges. This editorial approach has made the show a destination for practitioners who want depth rather than summaries.
The podcast also serves as a platform for emerging voices and practitioners working in specialized areas. While marquee guests like Hanley and Tarbox drive initial downloads, episodes featuring lesser-known clinicians and researchers expose the audience to perspectives and applications that they might not encounter through conventional professional development channels.
In a field where continuing education is often reduced to slide decks and multiple-choice quizzes, the Behavioral Observations Podcast has demonstrated that long-form conversation — practitioners listening to other practitioners think out loud about difficult clinical and ethical questions — can be both more engaging and more instructive than traditional CE formats.
What the Behavioral Observations Podcast Means for ABA
The show’s influence extends beyond its download numbers. By providing a platform where ABA’s thought leaders discuss their work in an accessible format, the Behavioral Observations Podcast shapes how practitioners understand and interpret the field’s evolving standards. When a researcher explains the reasoning behind a new clinical framework on the show, that explanation reaches thousands of practitioners who may never read the underlying journal article.
For ABA practice owners and organizational leaders, the podcast represents a channel through which professional norms and clinical expectations are disseminated. Practitioners who listen regularly are exposed to the field’s leading-edge thinking on ethics, treatment approaches, and professional conduct — information that influences their clinical decisions and their expectations of the organizations they work for.
At a structural level, the Behavioral Observations Podcast demonstrates the growing role of independent media in shaping ABA’s professional culture. The show is not affiliated with a university, a professional association, or a corporate ABA provider. It is an independent production built on one practitioner’s ability to create a space where the field’s most important conversations happen in public, on the record, and available to anyone with a podcast app.
AT A GLANCE
Name: Matt Cicoria, MS, BCBA
Podcast: The Behavioral Observations Podcast (behavioralobservations.com)
Type: ABA Media / Podcast Influencer
Launched: February 2016
Episodes: 200+ sessions
Downloads: 1.4 million+
BCBA since: 2002; clinical experience in schools, residential, in-home, and clinic-based early intervention
CE integration: BACB-approved Continuing Education Units available for selected episodes
Platforms: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, Libsyn; website: behavioralobservations.com
Notable guests: Dr. Greg Hanley, Dr. Jonathan Tarbox, and virtually every major figure in behavior analysis
Industry signal: Independent podcast media is increasingly shaping ABA’s professional culture, clinical norms, and CE infrastructure outside traditional institutional channels
SOURCES & REFERENCES
1. – Behavioral Observations. About Matt Cicoria, MS, BCBA. https://behavioralobservations.com/about. Accessed March 2026.
2. – Behavioral Observations. The Behavioral Observations Podcast. https://behavioralobservations.com/be_obs/. Accessed March 2026.
3. – Apple Podcasts. The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-behavioral-observations-podcast-with-matt-cicoria/id1086413253. Accessed March 2026.
4. – LinkedIn. Matt Cicoria — Producer & Host of The Behavioral Observations Podcast. https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-cicoria-16910474/.
5. – Behavioral Observations. Podcast-based BACB Continuing Education Events. https://behavioralobservations.com/get-ceus. Accessed March 2026.
6. – Spotify. The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria. https://open.spotify.com/show/5vqgUuhhevnTO2RXKrxIJQ.
7. – ABA Inside Track. Episode 124: School Consulting w/ Matt Cicoria. April 29, 2020. https://www.abainsidetrack.com/home/2020/4/29/episode-124-school-consulting.
