Edward (Ted) Carr-A Life Worth Living

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Friends and admirers of Ted Carr from Stony Brook University were shocked and saddened by the news that he and his wife (Ilene Wasserman) were killed by a drunk driver not far from their home on Long Island on Saturday June 20th 2009. Most knew Ted through his many influential publications and some were fortunate to hear him speak--typically one of the most thought-provoking as well as entertaining speakers at any conference. Summing up such a productive and influential career is difficult, but Ted would certainly advocate that context is essential to understand anyone's behavior, so it is fitting to begin with some of his background. Ted grew up in Toronto, Canada in a typical middle class home. Several early stories about his childhood are revealing and seem to hold keys to understanding his later development. For example, he once shared a humorous but telling prank he pulled on his mother. One day she was outside a second story window of their home on a part of the roof, presumably washing the windows from the outside. A young Ted--perhaps 3 or 4 years old--was just inside watching her when something prompted him to close the window. As he told this story you could picture his devilish grin and the joy he must have experienced with his accomplishment. Unfortunately, his mother couldn't open the window and was now trapped on the roof. This so upset him that he cowered in the corner of the room, feeling powerless to help her. Finally, his mother caught the attention of some neighbors and they were able to get her back inside. When he told me this story we both laughed and I remarked, "She must have really punished you for that one!" He smiled ruefully and said, "In her eyes I could never do anything wrong." This type of support and unconditional regard undoubtedly contributed to his later courage and confidence, helping him break new ground in his research and writing. He also shared how his family had few books at home, but that a neighbor opened his home library to him and he was introduced to many of the great literary works. This was just the beginning of his insatiable thirst for new ideas. Ted started his graduate career doing operant conditioning research on pigeons with George Reynolds (a student of B.F. Skinner) at the University of California, San Diego and he received his Ph.D. in 1973. However, it was his post doctoral work with Ivar Lovaas at UCLA that would lay the foundation for his later work in autism. During his time at UCLA he met and worked with other pioneers in the field, including Bob Keogel, Laura Schreibman and Creighton (Buddy) Newsom (who passed away last year) and conducted research at Camarrilo State Hospital. He later contributed to the "lab manual" which most will recognize as the "Me Book" that served as the protocol for early intensive behavioral intervention efforts for years to come (Lovaas, 1981). He spent the rest of his career at Stony Brook University, becoming an assistant professor in 1976 and ultimately earned the rank of Leading Professor in 2000. This was a productive time and his experiences led to his publishing a seminal paper in Psychological Bulletin that outlined behavioral views of self-injurious behavior (Carr, 1977). It is difficult to overestimate the importance of this paper. At the time of its publication, the field of applied behavior analysis had no generally accepted model for conceptualizing self-injurious behavior (as well as other disruptive behaviors). The de facto view of these behaviors was simply that they were excesses to be reduced. Ted's paper, which synthesized the importance of a growing empirical base, articulated how these behaviors could serve different functions such as to gain the attention of others (based on the pioneering research of Ivar Lovaas) or to escape from unpleasant situations. This latter concept of escape from demands was demonstrated in experimental analyses conducted by Ted and his colleague Buddy Newsom, a collaboration that would prove to be highly meaningful for the field (Carr, Newsom, & Binkoff, 1976, 1980). …