From Amazon to Autism Care: AI Powered Tools for ABA and Diagnostics: Frontera Series on AI with Grant Sickle

The Behavioral Observations Podcast with Matt Cicoria

In this episode of The Behavioral Observations Podcast, I talk with Grant Sickle, former Amazon product leader and current head of product at Frontera, a company building AI-powered platforms to improve autism care.

Grant shares how his team is developing assessment and diagnostic tools to shorten waitlists, streamline reporting, and support clinicians in delivering more efficient ABA therapy. We also discuss how Frontera's digital phenotyping app enables HIPAA-compliant behavior tracking, parent engagement, and asynchronous supervision — while addressing the issue of fraud prevention.

This conversation highlights both the promise and the challenges of using AI in clinical settings, emphasizing the importance of clinician oversight, robust validation, and feedback loops. Grant also shares insights from Frontera's home-based pilot program, which helps parents capture real-world behavior data to support better generalization and treatment planning.

Whether you're a BCBA, RBT, parent, or researcher, this episode offers a fascinating look at the intersection of technology, autism care, and ethical ABA practice.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• How Frontera is building AI-driven assessment and diagnostic tools for autism care
• Why clinician oversight remains critical in AI-powered healthcare solutions
• Insights into fraud prevention in ABA therapy using videographic evidence and facial recognition
• How home-based video tracking is supporting behavior generalization and parent engagement
• The challenges of adoption among BCBAs versus RBTs and parents
• Future directions for AI in ABA, including outcome measurement and identifying autism subpopulations
• The technique Amazon's founder used to find and correct problems

Links to Related Resources

• The inaugural Frontera Series interview with Founder, Amol Deshpande
• AI, and the Future of Clinical Tools with Sydney Holmes
• Follow Frontera on LinkedIn and Instagram
• An overview of fraudulent billing practices in ABA
• Why Jeff Bezos' email address is publicly available