INTRO TO ABA: BEHAVIOR INTERVENTIONS I

In addition to being a required Special Education graduate course for all students, this course meets the requirements of the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) graduate certificate program, and serves as the third course in this sequence of instruction. It is also one of the three required courses in the Autism concentration/endorsement program. Instruction and related activities will cover advanced concepts related to behavioral theory, and behavioral assessment and intervention techniques related to teaching, learning, and management of aberrant behaviors within the group-oriented context of the classroom. Of particular interest will be the application of basic principles of operant conditioning to group-oriented behavioral contingencies, the development of systems support concepts to ensure that such interventions may actually be carried out, the incorporation of solid behavioral principles in teaching practices and curriculum design, strategies to develop self-management, generalization procedures, strategies to promote independence within classroom routines, and differential schedules of reinforcement. Students will have the opportunity to review behavioral assessment techniques and applications, reinforcer assessment, singlesubject research design, and data analysis. Above all, this course will focus primarily on practical applications of ABA within a group/systems context.