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Behavior analyst · Brooklyn and New Jersey

Jason C. Vladescu

I study how to teach more in less time and how to train the people who do the teaching. That work started with children with autism and has grown to include caregivers, medical students, and public health skills like safe infant sleep, infant CPR, and responding to an opioid overdose.

The Capstone Center ↗

Jason Vladescu, smiling, in a navy blazer and light blue shirt

Founding Chair & Professor, Applied Behavior Analysis

SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University

Editor-in-Chief

Behavior Analysis in Practice

Partner & Director

The Capstone Center

My cumulative record

Behavior analysts track progress with cumulative records, so here's mine: 101 peer-reviewed papers since 2007. About three in four were first-authored by graduate students.

2,812 citations · h-index 32

Google Scholar, Oct 2026

Peer-reviewed papers, cumulative total by year, 2007 to 2026

Chart of cumulative peer-reviewed papers by year, rising from 1 in 2007 to 101 in 2026

A 2026 study of 196 behavior analysis graduate programs ranked Downstate's ABA program first in the U.S. and Canada for research output per faculty member. I ranked fourth among individual faculty. Read the study

What I work on

Nine doctoral students have finished dissertations with me. They now teach and practice at places like Hunter College, Daemen University, and the Kennedy Krieger Institute.

Research, papers, and students

Faster teaching

Which prompting, feedback, and reinforcement arrangements help learners with autism pick up the most in the least time.

Training that sticks

Video modeling, computer-based instruction, and behavioral skills training for staff, parents, and students.

Safety and public health

Safe infant sleep, infant CPR, car seats, food allergens, and opioid overdose response.

Generalization and emergence

Skills that carry over to new people and places, and new skills that emerge without direct teaching.

Recent papers

All publications     Google Scholar

2026

Teaching adults to respond to suspected opioid overdose: A proof-of-concept evaluation of behavioral skills training

Vladescu, Segal, Schnell-Peskin, & Day · Behavioral Interventions

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2026

A survey of open science practices in behavior analysis

Jennings, Breeman, Vladescu, & Cox · Behavior Analysis in Practice

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2026

Determining learner-specific prompt type and prompt-fading procedures for adults with autism spectrum disorder

Kemmerer, Vladescu, Sidener, DeBar, & Bell · Behavioral Interventions

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2025

A potential life-saving skill: Teaching caregivers to perform infant cardiopulmonary resuscitation

Aciu, Vladescu, Day-Watkins, & Schnell-Peskin · Behavioral Interventions

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Talks

256 presentations, 36 of them invited, from Honolulu to Recife to Abu Dhabi.

All talks    Invite me to speak

2026

It takes a community: Partnering with community-based organizations to promote safe infant sleep

Invited talk · ABAI Annual Convention, San Francisco

2025

Training, maintenance, and other adventures in supporting caregivers and medical personnel to follow safe infant sleep recommendations

Invited talk · Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysis, Marlborough

2023

Behavioral skills training: Recent research and guidelines

Invited talk · Autism: Challenges and Solutions Conference, Abu Dhabi

The Capstone Center

Since 2016 I've been a partner and director at The Capstone Center, a New Jersey practice where doctoral- and master's-level BCBAs provide ABA services for children and adolescents with autism, in the center, in schools, and with families.

Get in touch

For talks, collaborations, media, or questions about graduate training.

Jason.Vladescu@downstate.edu

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