Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)

This course provides the student with an introduction to the concepts and principles of Behavior Analysis. Core concepts including motivation, reinforcement, punishment, extinction, and rule-governed and verbal behavior will be covered, along with examples of behavior change techniques that employ these concepts. This course satisfies 45 hours in philosophical underpinnings (concepts and principles) required by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) in a free-standing course.

This course provides an overview of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Students will learn the cases, prevalence, diagnostic criteria, and related characteristics of the disorder, as well as behavioral manifestations. Students will also be introduced to the evidence-based practices developed to help children and adolescents with ASD to reach their full potential.

This is an undergraduate level foundation course in using the science of Applied Behavior Analysis to change behavior for the better of society. The course will cover basic principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and methods for implementing principles to produce socially significant behavior. Some of the principles reviewed are positive and negative reinforcement, extinction, motivating operations, punishment, discrimination, and stimulus control. Additionally, this course will review procedures and techniques used to change behavior. Examples of procedures and techniques that will be covered are prompting, fading, shaping, chaining, reinforcement schedules, time out, response cost, behavioral contracts, and token economy. Following the course you will have an understanding, using the science of Applied Behavior Analysis, about how to analyze and change behavior.

This course provides an overview of strategies for measuring and evaluating changes in behavior. Many fields, including applied behavior analysis, implement interventions to change a person's behavior and then seek to determine if those interventions are effective. The purpose of the course is to teach the skills involved in measuring a behavior that has been targeted for an intervention and utilizing specific analytic skills to evaluate whether that intervention was effective. Competencies include selection of dependent variables for measurement, measurement tactics, single case research design, etc. In addition to learning how to collect and analyze data, students will learn to analyze the validity of existing data and research already conducted. The methods discussed are not specific to any handicapping condition or age level; rather, they are a general set of methods for conducting and interpreting single-subject data analysis.

During this course, we will explore the issue of ethics in Applied Behavior Analysis by engaging in various activities including: case study discussions, role plays, functional analyses of unethical behavior, and article presentations. Some in-class activities will require preparation prior to arriving to class. This course satisfies 45 hours of the content in BACB Compliance Code and Disciplinary Standards in a freestanding course required by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). This course addresses specific guidelines for responsible conduct according to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board: http://bacb.com/ethics-code/.