3.00 Credits
The purpose of this course is to provide students with an ethical framework in which to provide both applied behavior analytic services and positive behavior support services. Behavior Analysts work in a variety of settings, but the ethical standards remain constant. However, due to the various settings Behavior Analysts must recognize how to generalize those ethical guidelines within that context. Students in this course will examine the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) Guidelines for Responsible Conduct in the context of: (a) responsible conduct; (b) responsibility towards clients, (c) assessing behavior, (d) providing treatment, (e) acting as a teacher and/or supervisor, (f) conduct in their workplace, (g) their ethical responsibility to the field of behavior analysis, (h) their responsibility to colleagues, (i) their ethical responsibility to society, and (j) research. In addition, students will analyze those guidelines relative to how they address the principles of improving problem behavior by making it irrelevant, ineffective, and inefficient. Students will also become familiar with potential disciplinary possibilities through the BACB (Professional Disciplinary and Ethical Standards). Finally, students will also examine evidence based practices and how they apply to their application of behavior analytic treatment. Throughout the course students will be guided through a process of examining ethical dilemmas and deciding how those dilemmas might be addressed in relation to the ethical guidelines in their professional field, including risk assessment. Students will access information through the texts, position papers, research review, online information, review and development of case studies, and discussions with behavior analysts.