Table of Contents

PART 1: INTRODUCTION AND BASIC CONCEPTS

Definition and Characteristics of Applied Behavior Analysis

Basic Concepts and Principles

PART 2: SELECTING, DEFINING, AND MEASURING BEHAVIOR

Selecting and Defining Target Behaviors

Measuring Behavior

Improving and Assessing the Quality of Behavioral Measurement

PART 3: EVALUATING AND ANALYZING BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Constructing and Interpreting Graphic Displays of Behavioral Data

Analyzing Behavior Change: Basic Assumptions and Strategies

Reversal and Multielement Designs

Multiple Baseline and Changing Criterion Designs

Planning and Evaluating Applied Behavior Analysis Research

PART 4: REINFORCEMENT

Positive Reinforcement

Negative Reinforcement

Schedules of Reinforcement

PART 5: PUNISHMENT

Positive Punishment

Negative Punishment

PART 6: ANTECEDENT VARIABLES

Motivating Operations

Stimulus Control

PART 7: VERBAL BEHAVIOR

Verbal Behavior

PART 8: DEVELOPING NEW BEHAVIOR

Equivalence-based Instruction

Engineering Emergent Learning with Nonequivalence Relations

Imitation, Modeling, and Observational Learning

Shaping

Chaining

PART 9: DECREASING BEHAVIOR WITH NONPUNISHMENT PROCEDURES

Extinction

Differential Reinforcement

Antecedent Interventions

PART 10: FUNCTIONAL ASSESSMENT

Functional Behavior Assessment

PART 11: SPECIAL APPLICATIONS

Token Economy, Group Contingencies, and Contingency Contracting

Self-Management

PART 12: PROMOTING GENERALIZED BEHAVIOR CHANGE

Generalization and Maintenance of Behavior Change

PART 13: ETHICS

Ethical and Professional Responsibilities of Applied Behavior Analysts

About the Author

About our authors

John Cooper, Tim Heron and Bill Heward were faculty members at The Ohio State University for a combined 90 years. Together they trained special education classroom teachers and leadership personnel guided by the philosophical, scientific and technological principles of applied behavior analysis. The Ph.D. program in special education and applied behavior analysis that they and their colleagues developed at OSU was the first doctoral program accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International. John, Tim and Bill each received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, OSU’s highest honor for teaching excellence. They are joint recipients of the Ellen P. Reese Award for Communication of Behavioral Concepts from the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

John O. Cooper, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. His research and teaching interests include precision teaching, inner behavior, fluency building and verbal behavior. He is a past president of the Standard Celeration Society, past member of the Board of Directors for the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and Applied Representative to the Executive Council and as Chairperson, Graduate Program Accreditation Committee of the Association for Behavior Analysis International.

Timothy E. Heron, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Tim’s research interests include tutoring systems, inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms, consultation and self-correction instructional approaches. Tim is co-author of The Educational Consultant: Helping Professionals, Parents, and Students in Inclusive Classrooms, 4th Edition (with Kathleen Harris, 2001). Since 2000, Tim has been an active Federal Aviation Administration, Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor; has authored the text Instrument Flying: 10 Indispensable Principles to Know and Remember; and continues to apply the principles and procedures of applied behavior analysis to the next generation of aviators.

William L. Heward, Ed.D., BCBA-D, is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Bill’s interests include “low-tech” methods for increasing the effectiveness of group instruction and promoting the generalization and maintenance of newly learned skills. He has authored or co-authored 5 other books, including Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 11th Edition (with Sheila Alber-Morgan and Moira Konrad, 2017), and Sign Here: A Contracting Book for Children and Their Parents (with Jill C. Dardig, 2016). A Fellow and Past President of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Bill is a recipient of the Fred S. Keller Behavioral Education Award from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and the Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award from Western Michigan University.