Syllabus

Instructor: Sunny Kim, Ph.D., BCBA
Required Texts:

• Koegel, R L., & Koegel, L.K. (2019). Pivotal Response Treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorders (2nd Ed). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookes Publishing.
• Additional journal articles will be posted on Gauchospace (GS

Purpose of Course:

The course focuses on the diagnosis, assessment, and intervention of children with autism and other severe disabilities. Students are first introduced to key tenants of respondent and operant conditioning. Afterwards, various methods of behavioral assessment (e.g., descriptive
assessment, functional analysis) are delineated and used to teach student how to select appropriate behavioral intervention strategies. Specifically, students are taught to use, organize, and interpret behavioral data to enhance the social validity and contextual support of interventions used and outcomes for behavioral interventions; identify measurable intervention strategies for teaching communication, spontaneous language, and social skills; design environments that enhance maintenance and generalization of skills and reduce the need for long-term behavior support; and modify intervention strategies based on data informing clinicians how children with autism are responding to treatment.

Specific competencies covered in this course:
• Concepts and Principles of Behavior Analysis
• Identification of the problem & assessment
• Intervention & behavior change considerations
• Behavioral assessment & selecting intervention outcomes & strategies
• Application of behavioral principles to understand autism and other severe disabilities