Curriculum

This course is designed to provide students an in-depth review of the BACB Professional and Ethics Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts and other relevant content and readings that further support student understanding of the topic area. Class discussions, review of case studies and student-led small group problem-solving activities will enable students to apply ethical and professional standards to their work, further promoting quality interactions between the children and adults they serve, families, teachers and other stakeholders.

This course provides an introduction to organizational behavior management (OBM). Students will learn how to assess work environments and implement function-based antecedent and consequent interventions with the goal of improving employee performance and business outcomes. Topics include performance analysis and management, supervision, staff training, behavioral systems analysis, organizational culture and leadership. Through a review of relevant literature and case studies, students will learn how to approach complex ethical scenarios and promote a diverse, equitable and inclusive organizational culture.

This course will examine the field of human and animal learning, including operant and classical conditioning. The history and evolution of psychology and the science of behavior will be discussed. The course will provide a foundation for understanding the behaviorism of B. F. Skinner. In addition, the course will describe current applications of applied behavior analysis.

This course focuses on research methods in behavior analysis. Students will develop operational definitions and identify data collection methods. Students will learn basic single-case experimental designs and how to assess internal and external validity. Students will analyze and interpret graphic data. Students will understand treatment integrity and social validity. Students will summarize and critically evaluate single-case-design research studies. Finally, students will describe ethical conduct in conducting research in school, home and community settings to improve life quality.

This course focuses on behavior assessment. It covers descriptive and functional assessment of problematic behavior as well as functional analysis. Students learn to conduct record review, determine the need for behavior analytic services, select socially significant behavior-change goals and conduct skill and preference assessment. Through case studies, students learn to describe the common functions of behavior. Examples of multi-disciplinary applications of behavior assessment are presented.

This course teaches the application of behavior analytic principles across varied child, adult and health contexts. Training is provided for procedures such as reinforcement, punishment, motivating operations, modeling, stimulus control, rules, shaping and chaining. Students explore methods for teaching simple to complex repertoires using discrete trials, Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior, group contingencies, self-management and strategies to maintain and generalize behavior. Topics include behavior change applications from a range of subject-matter experts across multiple uses of applied behavior analysis.