Fall 2025 SOWK 581 Class 09 Weekly Email

MyHeritage Syllabus Presentations Emails

Unit Introduction and What You Will Learn

Week 10 is asynchronous. You will engage in content regarding behavioral therapy. There are forums for you to reflect on the content, discuss single system design tracking, DBT, examples of engaging in behavioral modification, and evidence-based practices. In my lecture video I share about tracking and changing behavior with an example of what we did my EBD classroom.

Learning objectives this week include

• Understand strategies for tracking and modifying behavior
• Reflect on intervention strategies and the application of behavioral therapy principles in clinical practice
• Identify some of the common behavior therapy intervention techniques
• Analyze DBT techniques and their practical application in clinical practice.
• Applying theoretical behavior therapy to real-world clinical situations, encouraging critical thinking and practical problem-solving
• Apply evidence-based interventions to manage challenging behaviors in educational settings
• Complete documentation related to a psychosocial assessment

Unit Assignments

Content

• Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) Chapter 08 - Behavior Therapy: A Structural Approach
• Explore the resources described below
• Watch my lecture video

W-09 A-01: Asynchronous Participation and Engagement

The expectation is that each of your replies will be substantive and provide meaningful perspectives, contributing to the forum’s conversation and scholarship. They can be related to the prompts or building on conversations shared by peers. There are five forums for this week, and you are expected to make at least six replies across any of the forums. These forums include the following:

• The chapter eight reflection questions forum explores the readings and asks you to consider practical applications of behavioral therapy techniques, client engagement strategies, and the development of intervention plans for diverse clinical scenarios.
• The Single System Design Tracking forum explores the importance of data collection, assessment, and decision-making in behavior therapy, asking you to consider any of these topics: how to track progress pre- and post-intervention, reflect on personal behavior change efforts, and apply data-driven insights to improve service delivery with clients.
• The Findings and Thoughts About DBT Skills forum invites students to explore Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills. Students are asked to do any of the following: identify and describe a specific skill, examine how the skills are organized or taught, and reflect on how you could apply a particular skill.
• The Behavioral Therapy and Application Example forum asks students to discuss a client they are working with or have encountered in practice. Students are encouraged to analyze the case from a behavioral therapy perspective and consider possible recommendations or interventions that align with behavioral therapy principles.
• The Exploring Practice Guide in Challenging Behaviors forum invites students to review Christensen’s et al. (2015) best practices guide for addressing severe emotional and behavioral disorders. Students are encouraged to explore one of the problematic behaviors discussed and reflect on any of the topics, such as behavioral interventions, notable interventions for students, schools, and families, and how you could apply a strategy to practice.

A-03 Chapter Reading Quizzes

W-09 Reading Quiz for Cooper and Granucci Lesser (2022) Chapter 08 is due by Saturday 10/25, 8:00 AM.

Unit Resources

One crucial aspect of any behavioral approach is gathering, assessing, and decision-making based on data. In the program I was working at in the Pasco School District, we used software to track student behavior in at least seven areas each hour using a web app called Review360 by Pearson Clinical, but before we started using that we had paper trackers and a simple Excel document. The textbook mentions and provides some examples of single-system design students. I have written a description Single System Design Studies. You can also see an example of a paper I wrote using one on myself Turn Your Life Upside Down: An Individual Design Study.

You can find a copy of all of Linehan’s handouts included in the 2nd edition of her DBT Skills Training Manual. Christensen et al. (2015) Teaching Students with Severe Emotional and Behavioral Disorders: Best Practices to Intervention From Firwood & Oak Grove Schools is a great resource I’d like you to check out.

All of the presentations for this class can be found at https://presentations.jacobrcampbell.com. This week’s slides are Fall 2025 SOWK 581 Week 09 - Behavioral Tracking and Modification.

The Lecture Videos tab in the MyHeritage course is where you will be able to find class recordings. The video this week is at Fall 2025 SOWK 581 Week 09.

Reference

Christensen, B., Jaeger, M., Lorenz, S., Neuman, L., Rieke, E., Simpson, B., & Watkins, C. (2015). Teaching students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders: Best practices guide to intervention from Firwood & Oak Grove Schools. A Connecting IDEAS Project; Clover Park School District; Seattle University. https://ospi.k12.wa.us/sites/default/files/2022-12/bestpractices.pdf

Cooper, M. G., & Granucci Lesser, J. (2022). Clinical social work practice: An integrated approach (6th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

To-Do List

• Read the textbook chapter and do the reading quiz
• Complete six replies across any of the forums
• Engage with the resources provided
• Complete your psychosocial assessment (I gave you extra time!)