ABA for Speech Therapy Course

Lesson 1 • History and Scope of ABA

Traces ABA's origins from behaviorism to modern practice and defines its seven dimensions. Grounds students in the field's identity before clinical application.

Lesson 2 • ABA in Speech-Language Pathology

Maps ABA principles onto speech-language pathology goals and service delivery models. Students identify where ABA and SLP scopes of practice intersect.

Lesson 3 • Reinforcement Principles

Explains positive and negative reinforcement and their role in strengthening communication behaviors. Students distinguish reinforcement from reward to avoid common clinical errors.

Lesson 4 • Punishment and Extinction Basics

Introduces punishment procedures and extinction with emphasis on ethical use in speech contexts. Connects these concepts to behavior reduction planning covered later.

Lesson 1 • Writing Operant-Specific Goals

Translates verbal operant profiles into measurable, function-based therapy goals. Students draft goals that specify operant, stimulus condition, response, and criterion.

Lesson 2 • Listener Behavior and Textual Operants

Covers listener responding, textual behavior, and transcription as verbal operants. Expands the framework to include reading and writing targets in therapy.

Lesson 3 • Primary Verbal Operants

Defines mand, tact, echoic, and intraverbal operants with clinical examples. Students practice classifying real client utterances to each operant category.

Lesson 4 • Assessing Verbal Operant Deficits

Introduces standardized and informal tools for profiling verbal operant strengths and gaps. Students select appropriate assessment tools based on client profile.

Lesson 1 • Conducting ABC Data Collection

Teaches structured antecedent-behavior-consequence recording in therapy and naturalistic settings. Students practice coding live and video samples for inter-rater reliability.

Lesson 2 • Graphing and Visual Data Analysis

Introduces equal-interval and semi-logarithmic graphs for displaying behavioral data. Students interpret trend, level, and variability to make data-based clinical decisions.

Lesson 3 • Preference and Reinforcer Assessments

Guides students through structured preference assessments to identify potent reinforcers. Reinforcer identification directly supports effective therapy session design.

Lesson 4 • Measurement Systems for Communication

Covers frequency, rate, duration, latency, and trial-by-trial recording for speech targets. Students match measurement type to the dimension of behavior being targeted.

Lesson 1 • Structure of a Discrete Trial

Breaks down the SD, response, consequence, and inter-trial interval components of a trial. Students identify each component in video examples before delivering trials themselves.

Lesson 2 • Troubleshooting DTT Implementation

Addresses common DTT errors including prompt dependency, reinforcer satiation, and rote responding. Students use data to identify problems and adjust program variables.

Lesson 3 • Prompting Strategies and Hierarchies

Covers physical, model, gestural, and verbal prompts and their systematic application. Students select prompt levels based on learner skill and fade prompts to independence.

Lesson 4 • Designing DTT Programs for Speech Goals

Guides students through writing complete DTT programs including materials, SD, criterion, and data sheet. Programs are aligned to verbal operant goals from Chapter 2.

Lesson 1 • Pivotal Response Treatment

Introduces PRT's pivotal areas of motivation, self-management, and social initiation. Students apply PRT components within naturalistic play and communication activities.

Lesson 2 • Balancing DTT and Naturalistic Approaches

Guides decision-making on when to use structured versus naturalistic teaching for each target. Students create session plans that integrate both approaches based on client data.

Lesson 3 • Milieu Teaching Procedures

Covers mand-model, time delay, and incidental teaching as core milieu procedures. Students practice each procedure in role-play before applying them with clients.

Lesson 4 • Enhanced Milieu Teaching for Language

Presents EMT as a combined responsive interaction and milieu teaching model for language growth. Students identify responsive interaction strategies that set up teaching opportunities.

Lesson 1 • Teaching PECS Using ABA Principles

Walks through all six PECS phases using behavioral teaching procedures and data collection. Students implement each phase with correct prompting and reinforcement strategies.

Lesson 2 • Functional Communication Training

Teaches FCT as a function-based replacement behavior strategy for challenging communication. Students identify the function of problem behavior and select a matched communicative replacement.

Lesson 3 • Building Manding with AAC

Applies mand training procedures specifically to AAC modalities across motivating operations. Students sequence mand targets from high-preference items to abstract requests.

Lesson 4 • AAC Systems and Modalities

Surveys unaided and aided AAC systems including PECS, SGDs, and core vocabulary boards. Students match AAC modality to client profile and communication function.

Lesson 1 • Response Generalization Techniques

Teaches how to broaden response topographies and promote flexible language use. Students design programs that reinforce variability rather than single correct forms.

Lesson 2 • Maintenance Schedules and Booster Sessions

Explains thinning reinforcement schedules and scheduling maintenance probes over time. Students write maintenance plans with specific probe schedules and re-teaching criteria.

Lesson 3 • Dimensions of Generalization

Defines stimulus generalization, response generalization, and maintenance as distinct outcomes. Students distinguish among types to select the correct programming strategy.

Lesson 4 • Strategies for Stimulus Generalization

Covers training multiple exemplars, common stimuli, and general case programming. Students apply each strategy to communication targets from previous chapters.

Lesson 1 • Antecedent Interventions

Teaches environmental modifications and antecedent manipulations that prevent problem behavior. Students redesign therapy environments and schedules to reduce behavioral triggers.

Lesson 2 • Identifying Interfering Behaviors

Defines behaviors that compete with communication learning and prioritizes them for intervention. Students use FBA data from Chapter 3 to operationally define target behaviors.

Lesson 3 • Extinction in Communication Contexts

Applies extinction to escape- and attention-maintained behaviors within speech therapy sessions. Students plan for extinction bursts and combine extinction with reinforcement procedures.

Lesson 4 • Behavior Intervention Plan Development

Guides students through writing a complete, function-based behavior intervention plan. Plans integrate antecedent, teaching, and consequence strategies with measurable goals.