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MHS 3204.001F19

Fundamentals of Applied Behavior Analysis

Course Syllabus

Instructor:

ABA Minor Coordinator/Instructor

Applied Behavior Analysis Program

Department of Child and Family Studies

College of Behavioral and Community Sciences

University of South Florida

Email:

Phone:

Office Hours: MHC 2334: Thursdays 2:00pm-3:00pm, or by appointment

Course Prerequisite: N/A

Passing Grades

Enrolled at USF before 2019-2020 Catalog C

Entered at USF under Catalog 2019-2020 B-

Classroom: MHA 126E

Class Times: T/TH: 11:00 a.m.-12:15 pm

First class: August 27th, 2019

Last class: December 5, 2019

Last exam: Tuesday Dec 10th, 2019; 10:00 a.m.- 12:00 p.m.

Important Dates:

8/26/19: First Day of semester

10/29/18: Last day to drop with “W”, no refund & no academic penalty

In the event of an emergency, it may be necessary for USF to suspend normal operations. During

this time, USF may opt to continue delivery of instruction through methods that include but are

not limited to: Canvas, Elluminate, Skype, and email messaging and/or an alternate schedule.

It’s the responsibility of the student to monitor Canvas site for each class for course specific

communication, and the main USF, College, and department websites, emails, and GoBull

messages for important general information.

Course Objectives

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This course provides the student with an introduction to the concepts and principles of Behavior Analysis.

This course covers basic behavioral principles and then discusses behavioral procedures with an emphasis

on the principles underlying each procedure. This course will be the first step in becoming prepared to sit

for the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) exam. This course covers 45 hours of

“Philosophical Underpinnings; and Concepts and Principles” from the BACB Task List (5th edition).

Course Objectives

After the course, students will be able to:

Identify, explain, and apply basic behavior analytic principles

Describe behavior change procedures and their relationship to basic behavioral principles

Describe the concepts and principles underlying the functional model of intervention selection

and application

Student Learning Outcomes

Students will be able to explain the basic behavioral principles

Students will be able to apply the basic behavioral principles

Students will be able to compare behavior change procedures to the basic principles

Students will be able compare the functional model of intervention to non-function models

BACB ® Content

A-1 Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control)

A-2 Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g.,

selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, and pragmatism)

A-3 Describe and explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism

A-4 Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis,

and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis

A-5 Describe and define the dimensions of applied behavior analysis (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968)

B-1 Define and provide example of behavior, response, and response class

B-2 Define and provide examples of stimulus and stimulus class

B-3 Define and provide examples of respondent and operant conditioning

B-4 Define and provide examples of positive and negative reinforcement contingencies

B-5 Define and provide examples of schedules of reinforcement

B-6 Define and provide examples of positive and negative punishment contingencies

B-7 Define and provide examples of automatic and socially mediated contingencies

B-8 Define and provide examples of unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized reinforcers and

punishers

B-9 Define and provide examples of operant extinction

B-10 Define and provide examples of stimulus control

B-11 Define and provide examples of discrimination, generalization, and maintenance

B-12 Define and provide examples of motivating operations

B-13 Define and provide examples of rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior

B-14 Define and provide examples of verbal operants

B-15 Define and provide examples of derived stimulus relations

Text

Miltenberger, R. G. (2016). Behavior modification: Principles and procedures (6th ed.). Boston, MA:

Cengage.

Articles (obtain from library)

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Baer, D. M., Wolf, M. M., & Risley, T. R. (1968). Some current dimensions of Applied Behavior

Analysis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1 (1), 91-97

PodCast

ABA Inside Track. (2016). Episode 2- Conditioned Reinforcers in the Social Setting. Found out:

https://www.abainsidetrack.com/home/episode2conditionedreinforcers

Class Format

Prior to each class, a power point presentation will be posted on Canvas under Lectures to aid in

note taking during class.

Every class will begin with a brief quiz over the reading materials to prepare students for the class

discussions and activities.

Following the review, the instructor will expand upon the assigned reading and highlight the key

points through lecture, demonstrations, and activities.

Throughout the semester, class will conclude with unannounced, pop quizzes.

Grades Grades will be based upon the following categories:

A. Class participation (10%)

B. Quizzes (30%)

C. Exams (60%)

D. Extra Credit (up to 2%)

A. Participation. Class participation will be based on attendance in class. Students are expected to

be on-time for class.

a. There will be a class sign-in sheet for each class. It is the student’s responsibility to sign

in at the beginning of each class, if you arrive late for class it will be your responsibility

to notify the instructor and sign in on the attendance sheet (arriving late may impact your

ability to take the quiz, see quiz information below). Any student whose initials do not

appear on the sign in sheet will not earn participation points for that day. One point will

be given for each class for a total of 27 points. Participation will be worth 10% of the

grade.

B. Quizzes. Up to 40 quizzes will be administered throughout this course. Scheduled quizzes will be

held from 11:00-11:10 a.m. Unscheduled, pop quizzes will either be the first or last ten minutes

of class. Scheduled quizzes administered at the beginning of class will consist of 5-20 questions

covering the assigned reading for that day and/or key terms from the assigned readings.

Unscheduled, pop quizzes will consist of 5-15 questions covering any materials discussed in class

up to the date of being administered. Students must be present during these times to take the

quizzes. Scheduled quizzes will be turned in at 11:10 am. There are no make ups for quizzes. In

lieu of a makeup policy, the lowest 2 quiz scores will be dropped for all students at the end

of the semester.

C. Exams: Five exams will be administered throughout the course. Exams will consist of multiple-

choice and short answer questions. Exams will cover information from assigned readings,

practical exercises, and lectures (see PowerPoints). The only three reasons you will be allowed to

make up a missed exam are: a) presenting a doctor’s note, b) presenting a funeral announcement,

or c) religious observance. For no other reasons can an exam be made-up.

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a. Please Note: Doctor’s notes should not include information about your personal medical

information (e.g., diagnosis, treatment). The note only needs to state you were seen by

the doctor. Doctor’s notes will not be collected by the instructor, the student should be

prepared to only show the note and it will be immediately returned. For your protection

and privacy, do not email doctor’s notes to the instructor – email is not secure.

b. During quizzes and exams students are not permitted to have out of storage electronic

devices including by not limited to cell phones, laptops, and/or tablets or notes.

Electronic devices and notes may not be out for the entire duration of the quiz/exam

administration. For example, if a student finishes a quiz early and other students are still

completing a quiz, the student may not use any electronic device until all quizzes have

been collected. If a student does use an electronic device or notes while said student or

other students are still completing a quiz/exam, the student will be award a zero on the

respective quiz/exam.

c. If a student feels the need to use an electronic device or notes while quizzes/exams are

still being administered, said student may exit the class to do so after turning in his or her

quiz/exam for grading.

d. Once the first student has exited the class after completing a quiz/exam, late students will

not be permitted to complete a quiz/exam (To avoid not being permitted to complete a

quiz/exam, be on time to class).

D. Extra credit will be offered in this course. First, Students may earn 2% extra credit by either

participating in an ABA research study as a participant or by serving as a research assistant in an

ABA study. Research opportunities will be presented throughout the semester via email, in class

announcements, and posts to Canvas. Students must have the researcher email the instructor

stating that the student participated in a study or served as a research assistant for a study by no

later than Nov 27th.

Second, Students may earn 2% extra credit by taking a definitions exam over the key terms from

the assigned readings over the course of the semester. Students will be given a list of 40 terms

selected from ALL the chapters covered in this course. Students will need to write down the

exact definition to receive credit. Each correctly written term is worth .05 extra credit for a

possibility of 2% added to overall grade. The exam will be available the week before finals. If a

student would like to take this exam, he or she must notify the instructor via email by Nov 13th.

Requests to take this exam after this date will not be granted.

Letter grades will be assigned according to the following scale:

A+ 98 - 100% C 73 – 77.99% A 93 – 97.99% C- 70 – 72.99% A- 90 – 92.99% D+ 68 – 69.99% B+ 88 – 89.99% D 63 – 67.99% B 83 – 87.99% D- 60 – 62.99% B- 80 – 82.99% F 59.99% or

lower

Email Policy

Please use (rdhaynes@usf.edu) to email me. I will not be checking email through CANVAS.

• Emails during the week and during business hours (Monday through Friday, 9am-5pm),

will be answered within 48 hours. Emails on the weekend will likely not be answered

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until Monday morning. Therefore, it is recommended if the student has any questions

regarding an assignment or a question pertaining to the exam, that he or she begin the

assignment with sufficient time to email with questions (if needed) between Monday and

Friday.

OTHER CLASS POLICIES Right to Change Syllabus If necessary, some components of this syllabus may change. However, any such changes will be announced to the students in class and posted on Canvas. The student is responsible for any such announced changes. Course Attendance at First Class Meeting Students are required to attend the first class meeting of undergraduate courses for which they registered prior to the first day of the term. Names of students who register prior to the first day of the term are printed on the first class roll for each course section. The first class roll is used by professors to drop students who do not attend the first day of class. Students having extenuating circumstances beyond their control and who are unable to attend the first class meeting must notify the instructor to the department prior to the first class meeting to request waver of the first class attendance requirement. Students who add course or late-register during the first week of classes will not be on the first class roll and, therefore, will not be dropped for nonattendance by the instructor. To avoid fee liability and academic penalty, the student is responsible for ensuring that he/she had dropped or been dropped from all undesired courses by the end of the 5th day of classes. Class Notes Please be aware that students are not permitted to take notes in class for remuneration or for the purpose of sale to any person or entity. Video/Audio Recording Please be aware that students are not permitted to video or audio record during any portion of the class without explicit, written consent from the instructor.

INSTITUTIONAL POLICIES

Policies about disability access, religious observances, academic grievances, academic misconduct, and several other topics are governed by a central set of policies that apply to all classes at USF. These may be accessed at: https://www.usf.edu/provost/faculty-info/core-syllabus-policy-statements.aspx. 1. Student Handbook:

May be found at: https://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/dean-of-students/resources/handbooks-and-guides.aspx 2. Student Conduct: USF Student Rights/Responsibilities: https://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/student-rights-responsibilities/conduct/rights-responsibilities.aspx

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USF Student Code of Conduct: https://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/student-rights-responsibilities/conduct/index.aspx 3. Incomplete Grade: Definition: An Incomplete grade (“I”) is exceptional and granted at the instructor’s discretion only when students are unable to complete course requirements due to illness or other circumstances beyond their control. This applies to all gradable courses, including pass/fail (S/U). Students may only be eligible for an “I” when:

The majority of the student’s work for a course has been completed before the end of the semester

The work that has been completed must be qualitatively satisfactory The student has requested consideration for an “I” grade as soon as possible but no later

than the last day of finals week. Policy may be found at: http://ugs.usf.edu/policy/IGradePolicy.pdf

4. Safety and Student Well Being Center for Victim Advocacy and Violence Prevention: (813) 974-5757 http://www.sa.usf.edu/ADVOCACY Counseling Center: (813) 974-2831 http://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/counseling-center/ Student Health Services: (813) 974-2331 http://www.usf.edu/student-affairs/student-health-services/

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Class BACB Task List Agenda Readings Quiz

27-Aug A-2, -4 Class overview / Intro to Bx Mod None -

29-Aug A-1, -2, -3, -4, -5 Intro to Bx Modification Continued Chapter 1; Baer, Wolf,

& Risley, 1968)1

3-Sep B-1, -2 Observing and Measuring Behavior Chapter 2 2

5-Sep A-1, -5, Graphing and Measuring Change Chapter 3 3

10-Sep B-3 Respondent Behavior Chapter 8 4

12-Sep

A-1, A-2, A-3, A-4, A-5, B-

1, B-2, B-3EXAM 1 (Ch. 1-3, 8) -

17-Sep B-4, -5, Reinforcement & MO Part 1 &2 Chapter 4, PodCast 5

19-Sep B-7, -8, -12 Reinforcement & MO Part 2 - 6

24-Sep B-9 Extinction Chapter 5 7

26-Sep B-6, -8, -12 Punishment & MO Chapter 6 8

1-Oct B-4, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -12 Exam 2 (Ch. 4-6) -

3-Oct B-10 Stimulus Control Part 1 Chapter 7 9

8-Oct B-10 Stimulus Control Part 2 Chapter 7 10

10-Oct B-11 Prompting Chater 10 11

15-Oct B-1, -4, -9, -10, -13 Shaping Chapter 9 12

17-Oct B-11 Chaining Chapter 11 13

22-Oct B-12, -11, -13 Exam 3 (Ch. 7,9-11) -

24-Oct B-3, -4, -7, -10, -12 Functional Assessment Chapter 13 14

29-Oct B-3, -4, -7, -10, -12 Functional Assessment Chapter 13 15

31-Oct B-12, -9, -6, -8 Using Extinction Chapter 14 16

5-Nov B-4, -7, -10, -11 Differential Reinforcement Chapter 15 17

7-Nov B-2, -10, -12 Antcedent Control Procedures Chapter 16 18

12-Nov

B-3, -4, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10,

-11, -12 Exam 4 (Ch. 13-16) -

14-Nov B-6, B-8, B-12

Time-out/Response Cost/Positive

Punishment Chapter 17/18 19

19-Nov B-11 Promoting Generalization Chapter 19 20

21-Nov B-14 Verbal Operants NA 21

26-Nov B-13, -15

Rule governed behavior; Derived

relational responding NA 22

28-Nov 0 hours Thanksgiving Holiday (no class) No Class

3-Dec B- 5, -12, B-13 Self Management/Contracts Chapter 20 23

5-Dec 0 hours University Reading Day No Class

10-Dec

B-5, 6, -8, -11, -12, -13, -

14, -15 EXAM 5 (Ch. 17-20) Finals Week 10:00am-12:00pm You will be expected to watch a 1 hour podcast before class on 9/17/19. 44 in-class content hours + 1 hour of podcast instruction = 45 content hours Please Note: Student Midterm grades will be submitted the week of October 22, 2019. Midterm grades are due by October 23, 2019. All quiz grades along with Exams 1&2 will be included in the submission of midterm grades.