Fall 2009
Field Work in Psychology
Dates to Remember
| Oct 6 to 10 | First FW eval & Feedback |
| November 5 | Log Due |
| November 5 | Article Critique Due |
| November 19 | Exam |
Sandra L. Harris, Ph.D.,
Professor
sharris@rci.rutgers.edu
Psychology 830:396 & 397
Required Readings
Lee, D., & Axelrod, S. (2005) Behavior modification: Basic Principles,
3rd Ed. Pro-Ed.
Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center (2006). Tutor Handbook, New Brunswick: Author.
Schedule for Required Readings| September 10 | Tutor Handbook |
| September 17 | Tutor Handbook |
| September 24 | Lee & Axelrod, pp 2-31 |
| October 1 | Lee & Axelrod, pp 32-64 |
| October 8 | Lee & Axelrod, pp. 65-85 |
| October 22 | Lee & Axelrod, pp. 86-104 |
| November 5 | Lee & Axelrod, pp. 105-123 |
Campus-Wide Emergency Contact
The University Department of Emergency Services urges
everyone on campus to register with them for emergency
contact. Their website address is:
http://personalinfo.rutgers.edu/ens
Course Requirements
Grading
Your grade is based on two components: clinical
performance (70%) and academic proficiency (exam and
article critique) (30%). You will receive two evaluations
of your clinical skills during the semester. The first will
be for feedback, and the second will be used for grading
purposes. The criteria for that evaluation are
attached.
Readings and Exam
If you want to get the most out of the course you will
complete the readings by the suggested date since these
will be integrated into the lectures throughout the
semester.
Both books are at the Douglass Book Store.
Attendance
As in any job, we expect perfect attendance. This
applies to both your clinical work day and the Thursday
class meeting. Your attendance will affect your grade in
that if you are on the borderline between two grades and
your attendance has been less than perfect, you will
receive the lower grade. Every Thursday class meeting
counts as 1/2 of one workday. You will be allowed to make
up workdays and Thursday meetings that you missed providing
you have called the school by 8:30 a.m. to let us know you
are unable to make it in. Make-up days will occur during
the last two weeks of the semester, and you will be able to
arrange them ahead of time. This can only be done if you
were granted an excused absence.
Safety
One of our most important responsibilities as therapists
is to maintain a safe environment for our children. In most
classrooms, this entails keeping track of where the
children are at all times, not allowing them to engage in
dangerous activities, keeping dangerous articles (such as
scissors) out of their reach, etc. We regret having to
establish punitive contingencies regarding this, but should
a lapse in safety occur, this may be reflected in your
clinical evaluation for that period.
Article Critique
You will do a very brief critique of an article from the
Journal
of Applied Behavior Analysis. One of your tasks as
a Field Work student is to go the website of the Journal
of Applied Behavior Analysis, print an article and do a
very short critique of that article. Here are the specific
steps:
- Enter the JABA website at the following address: http://seab.envmed.rochester.edu/jaba/
- Go to "Selected Articles Archive"
- Open an article that has a title of interest and was written in the past 5 years
- Print a copy of the article
- Answer each of the following questions
in 2 to 5 typed sentences
- Give the APA style citation for the article. For example:
Ricciardi, J. N., Luselli, J. K., & Camare, M. (2006). Shaping approach responses as intervention for specific phobia in a child with autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 39, 445-448
- What is the problem that authors wanted to treat? (e.g., fear of animatronic objects)
- What methods did they use to treat it? (e.g., reinforcing approach behavior)
- Were their methods effective? (e.g., the graph shows an increase in approach behavior from 0% at baseline to 100% at final session).
Personal log
We expect you to keep a log of your reactions to your
experiences at the DDDC. After each day you spend at the
school, write down some of your thoughts and feelings about
the experience. Some days you may have no more than a few
lines while other days you might want to write a page or
two. It is up to you. Working with the kids will stir up a
variety of feelings in you and it helps to be able to talk
about them. Understanding one's feelings in a clinical
setting is an important aspect of professional development.
Grades will be based on your thoughtfulness in
describing your feelings, not on the feelings as
such. The logs are due in the middle of the semester and
will be returned to you after the discussion group leader
has read them. The topics you raise, (but not the personal
details of your experience), will form the basis for a
discussion of these issues in class.
Procedure for Delayed Openings or Closings
Listen to WCTC (1450 AM) or WMGQ (98.3 FM)
between 6:15 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. for school closing
information. It will be announced under Special
Facilities Closings.
If the school is on a delayed opening, staff and undergraduates will report at 10 a.m., and the students will arrive at 10:30 a.m. Staff are expected to come to work even if no students come to school.
If we have school during inclement weather and the conditions do not improve before midday, we will have an early dismissal at 1:15 p.m. If we have a delayed opening we will not have an early dismissal. It will be one or the other.
Inclement weather and building emergencies are unpleasant but to be expected. In keeping with the Delayed Opening/Closing Policy, we will also use a notification system called Connect-Ed to inform you when the school will have a delayed opening, when it will be closed, or if and when there will be an early dismissal. We will collect your information about points of contact to reach you (e.g. cell phone or e-mail) for this system.
Location
The DDDC is located in two buildings. One is the
Douglass School building on the Gibbons Campus (http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?id=111)
and the other is the Ryders Lane Building on the Douglass Campus (http://maps.rutgers.edu/building.aspx?id=511)
which houses the Elementary and Secondary Satellites and
the Adult program. To find the buildings and determine how
to get there by campus bus see the Locations page on the DDDC website
(http://dddc.rutgers.edu/locations/)
or go directly to the RU maps as noted above.
A FINAL NOTE
We realize that all of this printed matter with the
requirements, do's and don'ts, and assignments may seem
somewhat overwhelming to you at this point. Although it
seems like a great deal of work (which it is), it can also
be very rewarding for you to work at the DDDC, and FUN too!
Please give us suggestions and feedback often about what
you're getting out of your practicum experience and about
how you could be getting more. We'll do whatever we can to
make your experience here a positive one.
Topics and Locations for Thursday Lecture/Demonstration
| September 3 | Organization (Thompson 206) |
| September 10 | Classroom Teaching (Classroom) |
| September 17 | Classroom Teaching (Classroom) |
| September 24 | Classroom Teaching (Classroom) |
| October 1 | Advanced Topics in Reinforcement & Observation (Ryders Lane) (Professor Sloman) |
| October 8 | DRO, Shaping & Chaining as ABA Tools (Ryders Lane) (Ms. Marrero) |
| October 15 | Classroom Meeting |
| October 22 | Data-Based Decision Making /Writing an Article Critique (Ryders Lane) (Professor Sloman & Ms. Marrero) |
| October 29 | Classroom Meeting |
| November 5 | Behavior Reduction (Ryders Lane) Critiques & Logs Due (Professor LaRue) |
| November 12 | Classroom Meeting |
| November 19 | Class Exam (Ryders Lane) GAs |
| December 3 | Discussion of Logs (Ryders Lane) GAs |
| December 10 | Exams returned /Critique of course. (Ryders Lane) GAs |
"Classroom" refers to the classroom to which you have been assigned.
