MALKA217 Early Intervention for Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders Course description

The course prepares participants for working in intensive programs designed to accelerate learning for young children with pervasive developmental disorders. Applied Behavior Analysis is the treatment of choice, and this course teaches application of several behavioral technologies that have been shown to be effective, especially for the acquisition of communication skills.

Coursework requirements from MALK 4000-401, 4000- 402 and MALKA 211 and 212 or equivalent must be approved to participate and submit coursework requirements in MALKA217.

If the course is offered to outside applicants, a working knowledge of basic concepts of behavior analysis is required for participants to get the full benefits of instruction and coursework.

On successful completion of the course, the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge, skills and competence:

KnowledgeThe student can

• describe the common elements of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, and discuss the pros and cons of different service delivery models
• discuss the outcomes reported in the literature, and the quality of the evidence for Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions and other interventions for Autism Specter Disorders
• explain important predictors of outcome and describe quality control measures
• discuss the validity of the most commonly employed outcome measures
• describe commonly used assessment instruments
• describe the difference between standardized and non-standardized assessments

SkillsThe student can

• demonstrate and monitor Discrete Trial Teaching, Precision Teaching, shaping, chaining, and preference assessments

CompetenceThe student can

• discuss the application of intervention protocols for teaching listener responding
• discuss the application of Sufficient Exemplar Training
• discuss advanced considerations when teaching vocal imitation, assessments, target selection and procedures for teaching
• apply knowledge of single-case experimental designs in clinical settings, and give examples on how to achieve experimental control

Authorized materials: Norwegian-English dictionary

Emnebeskrivelsen finnes kun på engelsk. Velg engelsk versjon av nettsiden for å se fullstendig emnebeskrivelse.

For kull 2025: Coursework requirements from MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212, and MALKA214 or equivalent must be approved to participate and submit coursework requirements in MALKA215.

For tidligere kull: Coursework requirements from MALK4000-401, MALK4000-403, MALKA211, MALKA212, and MALKA214 or equivalent must be approved to participate and submit coursework requirements in MALKA215.

On successful completion of the course the student has the following learning outcomes classified as knowledge:

Knowledge

The student can

• describe and discuss important aspects of verbal behavior
• describe and discuss verbal governance and contingency shaping of behavior
• describe and discuss principles involved in joint control
• describe and discuss important aspects of stimulus equivalence
• describe and discuss the naming hypothesis
• describe and discuss Relational Frame Theory
• describe and discuss problem-solving, thinking, remembering, and higher-order classes of behavior

Skills

The student can

• analyze variables influencing complex human behavior
• present theories of complex human behavior and the scientific data underlying these theories in a manner striving for fairness, honesty, and excellence

Campus-based lectures, discussion from readings, exercises and Interteaching are the main teaching methods. Literature from the curriculum for the Interteaching sequences are announced at the university’s digital learning platform. Feedback is used on written assignments.

The following required coursework must be approved before the student can take the exam:

• 3 individual written assignments submitted digitally, each with a maximum length of 6000 characters, including spaces. References are to be included in the 6000 characters.

Individual school examination, 3 hours. Exam questions are in English. Students may submit their exams in Norwegian, Swedish, Danish or English.