The Advanced Autism Practicum syllabus outlines expectations for undergraduate students training to administer Discrete-Trial Therapy to preschool children with autism. Students must develop procedures to address specific skill deficits, collect and analyze data, and present on their experiences. Attendance is mandatory at both the weekly seminar and 10 hours per week at an off-campus learning center. Students are expected to meet pacing criteria when working one-on-one with children or assisting other students. Professional conduct is required, and academic dishonesty will result in failure of the course.

2. All practicum students are subject to the rules and regulations of Kalamazoo Regional Educational Services Agency (KRESA). For instance, verbal or physical abuse will not be tolerated. If a WMU student engages in verbal or physical abuse of any kind, then the student will be terminated as a staff member of KRESA and the WMU student must drop the course. If it is too late to drop the course, then the WMU student will receive an “E” for the course.

3. Dress Code - CAS is a professional site and you are expected to adhere to the dress code.

4. Examples of acceptable attire: clean jeans, khakis, walking shorts, stretch pants, casual dresses and skirts, sweatshirts, tennis shoes, and sandals.

5. Examples of unacceptable attire: Any dirty, torn, patched, or stained clothing, cut-offs, beach wear, low-cut shirts, bare-midriff shirts, short skirts or shorts ("Daisy Dukes"), T-shirts inappropriate for an educational setting (sex, drugs, alcohol, etc.), exposed undergarments, and clothing worn inside out or backwards.

6. Grading

7. Participation

8. 20 points per seminar, 10 points per practicum hour

9. Monitoring Score

10. approx. 2 scores a week, 100 points for each

11. Professionalism

12. 100 points a week, deductions are taken when necessary

13. Homework

14. Quizzes, 7 at 10 points each

15. Literature reviews, 3 at 10 points each

16. Oral report, Pre-proposal, procedure draft, 10 points each

17. Procedure Final Draft, 20 points

18. Paper, 5 at 10 points each

19. Final Paper, 55 points

20. Red Dot

21. First Presentation & rehearsal, 20 points

22. Presentation, 50 points

24. Accommodation for disabilities Any student with a documented disability (e.g., physical, learning, psychiatric, vision, hearing, etc.) who needs to arrange reasonable accommodations must contact Ms. Beth Denhartigh at 387-2116 or at beth.denhartigh@wmich.edu at the beginning of the semester. A disability determination must be made by this office before any accommodations are provided by the instructor.

25. Student academic conductYou are responsible for making yourself aware of and understanding the academic policies and procedures in the Undergraduate or Graduate Catalogs (found online, http://catalog.wmich.edu) that pertain to Student rights and responsibilities. These policies include cheating, fabrication, falsification and forgery, multiple submission, plagiarism, complicity, and computer misuse. If there is reason to believe you have been involved in academic dishonesty, you will be referred to the Office of Student Judicial Affairs. You will be given the opportunity to review the charge(s). If you believe you are not responsible, you will have the opportunity for a hearing. You should consult with me if you are uncertain about an issue of academic honesty prior to the submission of an assignment or test.

26. We go by Croyden’s calendar, not WMU. Therefore if WMU is closed for a certain holiday, break, etc., Croyden may still be open and you are required to attend your shift.

27. Responsibilities for an Advanced Practicum Student

28. Weekly seminar (Wednesday 6-8pm)

29. 10 hours a week at Croyden

30. Create procedure for your child

31. Implement procedure

32. Weekly updates on progress of procedure

33. Evaluate procedure

34. Write paper on procedure

35. Presentation about your experience

36. At least one Red dot for a child

37. Analyzing whistle blown procedures

38. Making decisions based on data analysis

39. Subphases

40. Presenting updates during weekly seminar

41. Homework assigned in seminar

42. Includes readings and literature reviews

43. You will be given one article for a literature review, but you must find the other 3 on your own

44. Quizzes in seminar based on syllabus and special lectures

45. Training basic practicum students during first 2 weeks of semester if needed

46. Observing other practicum students throughout the semester

47. Semi-weekly meetings with Carmen, Margaret, Joe, and Amanda at Croyden (this may be scheduled outside of your Croyden shift).

48. Higher monitoring criteria

49. Croyden Expectations

50. Practicum students are expected to

51. Inter-trial Interval (ITI): 3-5 Seconds

52. Inter-procedure Interval (IPI): 60 seconds or less

53. Reinforcer Duration: 5-10 seconds

54. Goal: to do at least 4 meaningful procedure trials per minute

55. How to meet these expectations:

56. When doubled up—

57. One tutor is working with the child

58. The other is:

59. Helping to prompt

60. Setting up materials / preparing for next procedure

61. Help give SDs (when appropriate)

62. Make reinforcers more easily accessible

63. When alone:

64. Come in a couple of minutes early to

65. Organize materials

66. Read over procedures

67. Ensure you have everything you need

68. (e.g. icons, reinforcers, etc)

69. Other Recommendations—

70. When doubled up and outside the booth (in the playroom, snack, speech, etc) one tutor stays with the child, and the other should:

71. Clean/organize the booth

72. Set up materials

73. Reorganize materials

74. All of which will help pacing.