Episode Details

Drs. Jason Vladescu, Lauren Schnell, and Jessica Day-Watkins join me in Session 220 to talk about their research in training parents and caregivers on safe sleeping habits for infants.

As you'll learn, there are sleeping practices that are recommended by Pediatric groups that reduce the likelihood of Sudden Unexpected Infant Deaths (SUIDs) in general, and Accidental Suffocation and Strangulation in Bed (ASSB) incidents. If those are new terms to you, don't worry, we get into what they mean, how frequently they occur, and lots more.

And while this may seem like a depressing or morbid topic, and I've known people who've had children succumb to this, I also see this as a story of hope in that studies like these will lead to a wider adoption of sleeping practices that, over time, should reduce unnecessary infant deaths.

Jason is a Professor in the Applied Behavior Analysis Department at Caldwell University, Lauren is an Assistant Professor at Hunter College, and Jessica is an Assistant Professor at the AJ Drexel Autism Institute.

Together they worked on several projects in the area of infant safe sleeping, which culminated in some publications in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, which we discuss in this podcast.

What I found fascinating about this topic is that it allowed us to discuss a wider range of issues that transcend safe sleeping practices. These include staff training, cultural humility, public health and policy, contingency management, video modeling, dissemination... the list goes on. There's an angle here for everyone.

Here are some links to what we discussed:

• Vladescu et al. (2020).
• Mery et al. (2022).
• Mery et al. (2023).
• Inside JABA 14.
• Inside JABA 6.
• American Association of SIDS Prevention Physicians.
• AAP Safe Sleep Recommendations.

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