Natalia A. Baires | SIU

Behavior Analysis Therapy (Online)

Dr. Natalia Baires (pronounced "by-res") is a Clinical Assistant Professor and the Program Director for the online Behavior Analysis and Therapy programs. An English-Spanish bilingual, doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D), Dr. Baires earned her Ph.D. in Psychology with a specialization in Behavior Analysis and Therapy from Southern Illinois University (SIU) in 2020. Her research interests include culturally responsive interventions/service delivery, social justice and equity within and outside the field of behavior analysis, verbal behavior, the role of language and cognition from a Relational Frame Theory framework, and the use of Acceptance and Commitment Training to ensure sustainable behavioral flexibility and psychological well-being.

As a clinician, Dr. Baires has worked with individuals with and without developmental disabilities across the lifespan (from infants to young adults) in home and clinic settings. Much of her professional experiences have included providing and supervising behavior-analytic services, conducting behavioral assessments, training behavior technicians, collaborating with parents/caregivers, and more.

As a scholar, Dr. Baires regularly participates in symposia and panels at national and international conferences on topics such as pay disparity among behavior-analytic practitioners, contextual speech analyses of political discourses, increasing social skills in adults with autism via observational learning, and more. She also frequently conducts invited presentations and workshops on topics such as cultural considerations within behavioral service delivery. Dr. Baires also conducts presentations in Spanish to teach families about services based on applied behavior analysis. Further, Dr. Baires serves as a guest reviewer for peer-reviewed journals such as Behavior Analysis in Practice, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Behavior and Social Issues, and The Psychological Record. Dr. Baires has the honor of serving as a co-guest editor for Behavior Analysis in Practice’s special issue titled “Impactful Leaders – Latin American Women in Behavior Analysis."

As an educator, Dr. Baires views teaching as reciprocal, in that she teaches her students, but she also learns from her students. By embedding evidence-based teaching practices and including multiple ways to evaluate student performance, Dr. Baires tries to curate learning environments that are highly rigorous yet accessible, flexible, collaborative, and engaging.

Dr. Baires completed the Illinois Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) fellowship program, participated in SIU's Women's Civic Institute, and served as a student representative for the Association for Contextual Behavioral Science's (ACBS) Women Special Interest Group. She also holds several leadership positions in the field, including President of the Illinois Association for Behavior Analysis (ILABA), former Board Member at Large (with a DEI focus) of the Southern California Chapter of the ACBS, co-chair for the American Psychological Association Division 25’s (Behavior Analysis) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee, and an advisory board member for grant-funded projects.