Entry requirements
Master’s students in Psychology with specialisation Child and Adolescent Psychology.
Description
This course introduces behaviour therapy for the benefit of children. Lectures, workgroups, and self study prepare the student for the central assignment of the course, which is to teach two children, between 4 and 8 years old, different useful skills. The first is a self-help skill, which is often easy to teach. It serves as a warming-up for the second skill, which concerns social behaviour, academic content (language, reading, math, writing), or task-related behaviour. The second skill is often more difficult to teach. The student searches for a school, and chooses the children in consultation with teachers in Groups 1-4 (kindergarten, first or second grade). The student visits the school 3 times per week, for a period lasting 8 to 10 weeks.
Course objectives
At the end of this course, the student should be capable of:
Seeing basic forms of learning in stories about children's behaviour; and
Devising a program for treating a simple behaviour problem in a child.
These two objectives are essential for child behaviour therapy, which is practised world wide.
Timetable
For the timetables of your lectures, work groups and exams, please select your study programme in:
Psychology timetables
Registration
Course
Students need to enroll for lectures and work group sessions.
Master’s course registration
Examination
Students are not automatically enrolled for an examination. They can register via uSis from 100 to 10 calendar days before the date. Students who are not registered will not be permitted to take the examination.
Registering for exams
Mode of instruction
1 1-hour lecture explaining the goal and the practical matters of the course
7 2-hour lectures discussing the principles and procedures of behaviour training with children.
7 2-hour work group sessions facilitating the central assignment of the course
The total work load of the course is:
15 hours lectures
14 hours workgroup sessions
56 hours self study
54 hours central assignment
1 hour of individual consultation with workgroup facilitator
Assessment method
Students' learning is assessed on the basis of (1) study questions answered during the course and (2) written reports of central assignments. The study questions address interpretations of children's behaviour (Objective 1) and the construction of treatment program elements (Objective 2). The report of the central assignment has four sections devoted to treatment program elements (Objective 2); three of these describe interpretations of children's behaviour (Objective 1).
The Faculty of Social and Behavioural Sciences has instituted that instructors use a software programme for the systematic detection of plagiarism in students’ written work. In case of fraud disciplinary actions will be taken. Please see the information concerning fraud.
Reading list
Martin, G., & Pear, J. (2015). Behavior modification: What it is and how to do it. (10th ed) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Contact information
Dr. Harrie Boelens
boelens@fsw.leidenuniv.nl