Behavior Analysis for Effective Teaching

Modern classrooms face an increasing population of special needs students and “regular” students who have behavioural problems. At the same time, punitive methods of handling misbehaviour are increasingly coming under attack from laws such as IDEA and corporal punishment of students is being phased out state by state. Teachers and parents are looking for alternatives. The mission of this book is to show teachers and other human service professionals working in school settings how to employ non-aversive, behaviour analysis principles in classrooms and other school settings. Marked by its clear writing and multitude of real-classroom examples, this book is appropriate for undergraduate and graduate courses in teacher education, special education, school psychology, and school counselling. A course using this book as its basic text would qualify as one of the five courses required to sit for the Credentialing Exam of the Association for Behavior Analysis (ABA). Outstanding features include…

Classroom Focus – The book seamlessly integrates behaviour management with effective instruction within a classroom context. It explains topics that teachers frequently encounter such as functional analysis, functional assessment and behaviour support plans.

Up-to-Date – Explains the latest behavioural applications to topics such as tag teaching, precision teaching, verbal behaviour, autism, and computer-aided instruction..

Pedagogy – The pedagogy follows behaviour-centered principles and includes in-chapter cases and quizzes and end-of-chapter glossaries and problem-solving exercises.

Changes – Updated throughout, this edition includes the following changes.

1. Additional content on functional assessment.
2. Better contrast between effective and ineffective instructional procedures.
3. Additional examples clarify the classroom use of graphs in Chapter 6.
4. The links between basic science and classroom applications are strengthened throughout the book.

Website – A companion website includes the following items:
1. Videos that illustrate procedures or provide practice (e.g., recording behavior)
2. Additional concept checks (like those at the ends of the chapters) and timed quizzes.
3. Sample answers for the end-of-chapter analysis problems.
4. A test bank for midterm and final exams.
5. Links to other sites that have more information on the science, on regulations, or on particular procedures.

Julie S. Vargas, Ph. D. is a former third and fourth grade teacher. She taught behavior analysis to undergraduate education majors and practicing teachers for over 30 years. She is past president of the Association for Behavior Analysis International and one of the founding editors of The Behavior Analyst. Dr. Vargas has written three books and many chapters and articles on educational practices. She is currently President of the B. F. Skinner Foundation.