Dr. Berenice de la Cruz, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA has worked with people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities since 2001 in school, home, clinic, and community settings as a teacher, therapist, supervisor, director, and professor. Dr. de la Cruz has extensive experience providing didactic and hands-on training to caregivers, students, and professionals servicing people with disabilities. She has been an Assistant Professor at A&M-SA since 2020. Dr. Berenice de la Cruz is the inaugural Program Coordinator for the new Applied Behavior Analysis undergraduate at graduate program in the College of Education and Human Development. Prior to joining A&M-SA, Dr. de la Cruz was an Adjunct Professor at Pepperdine University’s ABA program and the CEO and owner of an ABA company. She regularly presents in English and Spanish at state, national, and international conferences. 

Dr. de la Cruz has been an active member of the San Antonio community since 2010, along with her husband their two children. Dr. de la Cruz served as the Chief Operating Officer at Autism Community Network, a local nonprofit that serves families of children with ASD. She was part of the leadership team since the inception of Autism Lifeline Links (ALL), a coalition of nonprofits aimed at connecting families to services in the community. Dr. de la Cruz has been an Executive Council member for the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis (TxABA) since 2021 and is currently the President-Elect of TxABA. She is the liaison for TxABAs Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity for Everyone (EDIE). In addition, she is an Advisory Board member for the TxABA Public Policy Group (PPG). Through the legislative work with TxABA PPG, ALL, and other agencies, licensure was granted by the state of Texas to behavior analysts in 2017. Furthermore, on July 15, 2019, ABA was added as a Medicaid benefit for persons under age 20 with a diagnosis of ASD. Dr. de la Cruz continues to work with TxABA PPG and other groups to ensure that the ABA Medicaid benefit is implemented in a way that is accessible to all families. Dr. de la Cruz has been a board member of the Autism Society of Texas since 2022 and is currently the Secretary. She is a founding member of the Mexican Association for ABA Practitioners (Organización Mexicana de Practicantes de Análisis Conductual Aplicado; OMPAC) and serves on OMPACs ethics committee. 

Research and Practice

Dr. de la Cruzs research and practice focus primarily on advocacy, ethics, and evaluating the application of ABA when used by parents, teachers, and other professionals to support individuals with developmental disabilities in the home, school, and community. 

Traumatic Brain Injury. Dr. de la Cruz is collaborating on a research and community grant with the University of Oregon to implement and evaluates a new program that increases support for students with traumatic brain injury. The project seeks to increase support for parents/caregivers, school personnel, and the community and inform legislative action. She and her colleagues developed a curriculum to support parents of early childhood students. Learn more about Traumatic Brain Injury System of Supports. 

NSF Undergraduate Research Experience on AI and ASD. Dr. de la Cruz is serving as a faculty mentor for a Research Experience for Undergraduate Students funded by NSF. The program is headed by Texas State University in collaboration with Texas A&M-San Antonio to engage undergraduate students in innovative Smart and Connected Health and Communities research. Students explore areas like AI-driven emotion recognition for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), enhanced firefighting systems, and tech-assisted sports assessments for spinal cord injuries. Projects apply machine learning, AI, and IoT to real-world challenges, such as developing AI-powered smart homes for individuals with ASD and improving chronic ankle instability diagnosis. Students also study advanced computer vision for object tracking in engineering. This interdisciplinary experience prepares participants for advanced STEM studies and careers. Dr. de la Cruzs project utilizes AI to support conversation in individuals with ASD. Interested students can learn more and apply on the website. 

Degrees 

Ph.D. August 2009
The University of Texas at Austin (UT)
Major: Special Education
Specialization: Autism and Developmental Disabilities
Dissertation: Use of a self-monitoring treatment package to support teachers in developing and implementing self-monitoring interventions for children with developmental disabilities
Dissertation Committee: Herbert J. Rieth, Ph.D. (Co-Supervisor), Jeff Sigafoos, Ph.D. (Co-Supervisor), David P. Wacker, Ph.D., Karrie A. Shogren, Ph.D, & Mark F. O’Reilly, Ph.D.

M.A. July 2004
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP)
Major:  Clinical Psychology
Thesis:  An investigation of the 5-methoxytryptamine and valproic acid rat models of autism
Thesis Advisor:  Donald E. Moss, Ph.D.

B.S. May 2002
UTEP
Cum Laude, University Honors Degree, & Departmental Honors
Major: Psychology
Minor: Statistics
Thesis: Symbolic and realistic threats: The cognitive processes that underlie them
Thesis Advisor: Michael A. Zárate, Ph.D.

Select Publications

de los Santos, M., Hernández-Eslava, V., Guerra, M. A., Lozano-Ramirez, F. L., Enriquez, J., Martinez, A. P., & de la Cruz, B. (2025). Applied Behavior Analysis in Mexico: Efforts and Challenges in Public Policy, Advocacy, and Regulation. Behavior Analysis in Practice Special Issue on Public Policy Advocacy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-024-01031-y 

de la Cruz, B., Bourland, G., Johnson-Patagoc, K. M., Dillen, J., Thommen, R., Fritz, J. & Crone, R. (2025). The Road to Licensure of Behavior Analysts in Texas: History, Lessons Learned, and Recommendations. Behavior Analysis in Practice Special Issue on Public Policy Advocacy. https://doi-org.tamusa.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s40617-024-01030-z

Kunze, M., & de la Cruz, B. (2023). Research Article: A Longitudinal Study of Behavioral Consultation in Inclusive Preschool Classrooms. Head Start Dialog: The Research-to-Practice Journal for the Early Childhood Field, 26(1), 35-46. https://doi.org/10.55370/hsdialog.v26i1.1461 

Olive, M. L., de la Cruz, B., Davis, T. N., Chan, J. M., Lang, R. B., & Dickson, S. M. (2007). The Effects of Enhanced Milieu Teaching and a Voice Output Communication Aid on the Communication of Three Children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 37(8), 1505-1513. https://doi-org.tamusa.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0243-6 

Sigafoos, J., O’Reilly, M. F., Cannella, H., Edrisinha, C., de la Cruz, B., Upadhyaya, M., Lancioni, G. E., Hundley, A., Andrews, A., Garver, C.,& Young, D. (2007). Evaluation of a video prompting and fading procedure for teaching dish-washing skills to adults with developmental disabilities. Journal of Behavioral Education, 16, 93-109. https://doi-org.tamusa.idm.oclc.org/10.1007/s10864-006-9004-z

Cannella, H., Sigafoos, J., O’Reilly, M., de la Cruz, B., Edrisinha, C., & Lancioni, G. E. (2006). Comparing video prompting to video modeling for teaching daily living skills to six adults with developmental disabilities. Education and Training in Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities, 41(4). https://www.jstor.org/stable/23879661