Dr. Camille Kolu, BCBA-D is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who received her doctorate in the Behavioral Neuroscience field of Psychology.
Approach
Dr. Kolu brings together creative service, best practices, and a background in both behavior analysis and behavioral neuroscience to strengthen community fabrics through education, relationships, and behavioral support. Our supports can be described as “trauma-informed” (read more about why I use the term “TIBA” here).
Experience and Educational Background
Dr. Kolu has about 20 years of autism treatment experience, including ten years of experience practicing under the supervision of or in collaboration with Board Certified Behavior Analysts and BCBA-Ds in Texas, New Jersey and Colorado. Kolu has collaborated with or worked for nonprofits, families, diverse educational facilities, and groups in Texas and Colorado to provide effective autism treatment and support for those affected by developmental or other disabilities.
At the University of North Texas, Kolu’s master’s thesis was completed under Dr. Jesus Rosales-Ruiz, BCBA-D (see a link to his work on the behavioral cusp here) and Dr. Ala’i-Rosales, BCBA-D. In the Department of Behavior Analysis, Kolu led the Autism Research Laboratory under supervision of Dr. Ala’i-Rosales, investigating the measurement of emerging play, language and social skills, while providing behavior analysis-based teaching in an integrated preschool for children with autism and their peers. Also at UNT, Kolu taught introductory courses in Behavior Analysis before supervising the Behavior Analysis Teacher Assistant and Teacher Fellow System under supervision of Dr. Sigrid Glenn, BCBA-D. Kolu was supervised by Dr. Ala’i Rosales to design and implement distance learning curriculum for Board Certification students. After graduating from the University of North Texas with both Bachelor’s and Master’s of Science degrees in Behavior Analysis, Kolu studied Biopsychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University. There Kolu published work on the neurobiology of contextual learning, and completed her doctoral work by developing a novel test of early social and play behaviors in an autism model.
Current work: Dr. Kolu works in the Colorado community with behavioral agencies, families, universities, and human health and service agencies. She teaches in the behavior analysis course sequence at University of Colorado Denver instructing Principles in Applied Behavior Analysis, and Ethics and Professionalism. Current emphases of her work include functional behavior assessments and transition supports for clients with concurrent mental health and behavior challenges, and families experiencing early intervention, foster care, adoption and/or behavior challenges. Dr. Kolu is involved in her community as a board member of the Broomfield Early Childhood Council, active member of the Four Corners Association for Behavior Analysisa, and an Advisor for the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.
Dr. Kolu’s commentary on Dr. Henry Schlinger’s article Behavior Analysis and Behavioral Neuroscience was published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. She was recently invited to speak at the Association for Behavior Analysis conference about her work on schedules of reinforcement and trauma in treating young children. Her work on trauma-informed behavior analysis has been shared at numerous workshops around North America.
Cusp Emergence 
Dear Dr. Kolu,
I write to in hopes of becoming a stronger trauma informed behavior analyst. I work with adults in residential care and children in foster care.
The more research I read about trauma and it’s effects on learning the more discouraged I become about creating meaningful change. I recently read https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ861353.pdf which highlights that changing caregiver behavior may not influence the learner due to difficulty faulty stimulus control and challenges with building relationships. While I believe that the best way to promote dignity is to use positive reinforcement, I fear that these methods will not be effective.
Nicole, thank you very much for your comment! I am so glad you have found the page, because it is my goal to contribute toward a more informed community of people using behavior supports with our clients who need them most. I think it is wonderful that you are growing as a behavior analyst to become more informed in the work that you do with those suffering from experiences with trauma in their past. How challenging.
Somewhat similar to you, I work with adults and children in residential care, and children in foster care. The more I do this work, the more I see that we ARE having a positive impact. Lives are changing. As I combine appropriate behavioral methods (stimulus control, carefully looking into histories, supporting individuals to grow in their adaptive repertoires) with strong collaboration with their mental health therapists and other team members, the more things change. People I have worked with are getting out of mental institutions in which they lived for decades; children are transitioning to the community from residential agencies. clients are getting out of jails and learning adaptive repertoires; and mothers are breaking the cycle of 4 previous decades of abuse. Now, notice I didn’t use the word “positive reinforcement” yet in my entire comment. This website has become a place for me to share a few of my own stories and resources, to share with other behavior analysts (and foster families and social workers and educators, etc) some of the more innovative ways we can and must work together. I think lumping behavioral methods into one phrase would absolutely mischaracterize the field. I couldn’t agree more that using “positive reinforcement” with someone’s behaviors that are not operant (e.g., primarily influenced by their consequences) is harmful and wrong, and certainly not what a behavior analyst worth their salt would do. I thank you for sharing the article you shared, and I agree that we have to address not just a caregiver’s behavior but the faulty stimulus control and some of the challenges with relationships. I love this work and appreciate that you are interested in learning more about the ways we can all contribute to making meaningful
change for people who need it. Kind regards, -Dr. Kolu
Hi Dr. Kolu, I’m a psychologist and BCBA in the Denver area and would love to connect with you regarding resources for children with a history of trauma in need of ABA services. I included my email below and am hoping we can connect. Kind regards, Jonna