In this episode, we’re honored to welcome Dr. Ana Dueñas, Assistant Professor of Special Education at San Diego State University and Verified Course Sequence Coordinator for their BCBA program. Identifying as transferisa — having grown up crossing the border daily between Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego — Dr. Duenos brings a deeply personal and culturally informed perspective to her work. Her teaching and research focus on Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs) and how to culturally adapt them to meet the needs of diverse communities. She shares her path to this work, the challenges of embedding NDBI content into traditional ABA course sequences, and her leadership in co‑founding the ABAI NDBI Special Interest Group (SIG) — a collaborative space to support instructors, practitioners, and researchers interested in integrating NDBI into practice.

Episode Highlights:

• The ABAI NDBI SIG – How it supports educators, practitioners, and researchers; maps NDBI strategies to the BCBA Task List; and funds NDBI research and conference presentations.

• Her 4‑Year Cultural Adaptation Project – Working with a transborder rural community in the Mexicali/Calexico region to adapt NDBI parent‑mediated interventions for families facing long service waitlists.

• Cultural Contexts & Service Gaps – From the family‑centered strengths of Mexican households to the systemic challenges of limited autism specialists, scarce agencies, and year‑long delays in service access.

• Why NDBIs Work Well for Adaptation – Their flexibility, play‑based nature, and emphasis on caregiver empowerment make them a strong fit for cultural responsiveness.

• Bilingual Resources – Including Help Is in Your Hands ESDM modules in Spanish, Project Impact in Spanish, and the need for region‑specific language adjustments.

• Adapting Existing Interventions – Why focusing on cultural adaptation is more efficient and impactful than creating entirely new interventions.