This course is designed to introduce you to the basic principles of behavior analysis and to assist you in the application of these principles for solving problems in schools and other service agencies. You will gain a basic understanding of the principles and be examined on them. You will also be provided with opportunities for application of these principles through the selection of an activity option at the end of each unit. As a final activity, you will conduct a behavior-analysis project as described in Appendix II.
This course emphasizes the responsible use of behavior analysis. During the past two decades, new mandates for early childhood, public school, and postsecondary special education programs for handicapped children and youth have required behavior analysts to continue developing and refining their practices. The movement toward both the "deinstitutionalization" of persons with mental retardation and emotional disturbances and their inclusion into schools, community services, and training programs has influenced behavior analysts to study behavior in the context of the public school and of formal and informal community settings in which expectations and adaptations are guided by rules that might differ markedly from those of a school setting. Such differences are evident when one compares social expectations among the school, church, place of employment, and the bowling alley, for example.
Despite the nature of "applied" behavior analysis, teachers and other providers of services to children and youth often are left in a cloud of impracticality as behavior analysts pursue new techniques, more fruitful areas of inquiry, and issues that require an ethical as well as an experimental perspective. Not only is it often unclear from technical and ethical standpoints exactly how a procedure should be applied in a given case, but the terminology may also produce confusion and uncertainty on the part of practitioners. On rare occasions, this confusion has led to dangerous misapplications of behavioral principles. Please read carefully the section in your text regarding the concerns about behavioral analysis (Chapter 2, pp. 42-52).
The goal of this course is to provide students with a sound foundation in the basic principles of behavior analysis. How these principles are defined and relate to each other and how they can be applied ethically and effectively are primary concerns. The following course objectives are stressed:
This Independent Study course uses three instructional resources:
The following Web site is recommended for students enrolled in this course:
www.utm.edu/research/iep/b/behavior.htm
(The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy's
discussion of behaviorism.)
The course is divided into four units. Each unit consists of three or four lessons that group the unit's principles into clusters for conceptual clarity. Each lesson will provide a set of objectives, an assignment from the text, a glossary of the principles covered in the lesson, and the quick-review-test items associated with those terms.
It is suggested that you proceed according to the sequence of units and lessons. For each lesson, the following steps are suggested:
Following your completion of the lessons in a given unit, do your activity option, and complete and send in your writing assignment. You should also answer the unit sample-examination essay questions. Be sure to include an Independent Study cover sheet with each submission.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageThere will be two proctored examinations, a midterm and a final. The midterm will cover the material in Units I and II. The final exam will cover the material in Units III and IV. Each exam will contain 50 multiple-choice items and eight essay questions from which you will choose four to answer. The quick-review tests will help you prepare for the multiple-choice questions (answers to quick-review-test items are included in Appendix I). At the end of each unit are sample examination essay questions that will help you prepare for the midterm and final.
As you proceed through the units, however, we suggest that you plan for the Behavior Analysis Project described in Appendix II. Think about who you will have as a subject, whose written permission you'll need on his or her behalf, behavior(s) you will target for change, and the principles on which you'll base your intervention procedures.
At least four weeks before you anticipate starting your project, you'll need to submit a signed informed-consent statement and a description of your target behaviors and your intervention procedures to your instructor for approval by KU's Advisory Committee on Human Experimentation (ACHE). The ACHE will review your procedures and consent statement expeditiously and notify your instructor of the project's approval or denial. Your instructor will notify you of approval or denial; in the latter case, you will need to make the appropriate changes. You will not be allowed to submit any writing assignments for the Behavior-Analysis Project until the ACHE Approval Form has been returned to you. Appendix III provides directions for ACHE approval and a model of an informed-consent statement.
There are a total of 500 points possible for this course. Following are specific point allotments and grading procedures.
| Requirements | Total Points |
|---|---|
| 1. Midterm and Final Exams Multiple Choice (50 items worth 1 point each), Total 50 points Essay (4 questions worth 10 points each), Total 40 points |
180 |
| 2. Activity Options (4) Each assignment will be given a letter grade: Essay (2 questions worth 10 points each), Total 20 points |
120 |
| 3. Behavior-Analysis Project Phase I: 80 points Phase II: 80 points Phase III: 40 points |
200 |
Grades
A = 450-500 points
B = 400-449
C = 350-399
D = 300-349
F = <300
We suggest that, before you begin the first unit, you read Chapter One, "Roots of Applied Behavior Analysis," and Chapter Two, "Responsible Use of Applied Behavior Analysis Procedures," in the textbook. This will provide you with an historical perspective on behavior analysis, as well as a current perspective on its appropriate uses.
Use the chart at the end of this study guide to help you plan a schedule for submitting your assignments so that you may finish the course on time and to record your progress.
Sally Roberts is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Kansas and area coordinator of the Deaf Education program area. She has been the instructor of this Independent Study course since 1995 and is also the instructor for the SPED 725 Independent Study course. Dr. Roberts has degrees in elementary education, speech/language pathology, and deaf education, and earned her Ph.D. in special education from the University of Kansas in 1992.
H. Earle Knowlton is an associate professor of special education and the coordinator of the Mental Retardation Program Area at the University of Kansas. He has been a teacher in regular and special education. He is currently involved in research related to the transition of handicapped students from school to community living. Dr. Knowlton received his Ed. D. from the University of Kentucky.