Below is a list of the five books new and seasoned behavior analysts might consider adding to their collections. Though an abstract is not enough to adequately describe the importance of any of the books listed below, hopefully it will be enough to pique curiosity.
Ethics for Behavior Analysts
Ethics for Behavior Analysts, written by Jon Bailey and Mary Burch, outlines and clarifies some of the more complex ethical standards from the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts. This book emphasizes the ethical decision-making process rather than rote memorization of the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts. Teaching the decision-making process is highlighted by a series of complicated, and sometimes gray, ethical situations the reader may encounter in practice. Don’t worry, the authors included the best course of action for the given scenarios.
Good Night, Sweet Dreams, I Love You: Now Get into Bed and go to Sleep
Patrick Friman wrote Good Night, Sweet Dreams, I Love You: Now Get into Bed and go to Sleep for parents and other caregivers who struggle with bedtime routines with their child. It’s also an extremely helpful resource for practitioners for multiple reasons. First, it empowers practitioners to effectively advise their consumers’ caregivers about sleep, which is a common problem among children and adults with disabilities. The book also serves as a model for effective ways practitioners can communicate with caregivers rather than using technical behavioral terms. Finally, practitioners who have read this book (or similar books) are likely to understand meaningful interventions, like sleep hygiene, are more imminent than anything that can be taught at a table using Discrete Trial Teaching.
Behaviorspeak: A Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
A difficult skill for new behavior analysts to learn is how to explain behavioral concepts without using technical language or mentalistic explanations of behavior. Behaviorspeak: A Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) helps practitioners learn that skill in creative and humorous ways. It’s also a helpful tool for caregivers of consumers receiving ABA services.
The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior Can Improve our Lives and Our World
This book, brilliantly written by Anthony Biglan, challenges behavior analysts to step outside traditional applications of behavior analysis. It’s simply a book about the ways in which basic behavior analytic procedures could be generalized to improve the world by solving common societal problems from education to depression.
Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph over Autism
Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph over Autism examines the multitude of treatments a family uses to support their child with autism. Treatment outcomes ranged from disastrous to triumphant. This book tacitly encourages behavior analysts to empathize with prior experiences consumers and families have in order to be the behavior analyst the consumer needs.
It’s impossible to summarize all that books from the behavior analytic literature that should be appear on behavioral bookshelves, so a list of honorable mentions is included below as well.
Verbal Behavior
How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst
25 Essential Skills & Strategies for the Professional Behavior Analyst
Multiculturalism and Diversity in Applied Behavior Analysis
Walden Two
The literary material a behavior analyst reads can illustrate areas of interest, values, and level of dedication to consumers and the behavior-analytic field. The titles listed above of just a few of the books that can expand a behavior analyst’s efficacy.
What does your bookshelf say about you as a behavior analyst?
References:
BAILEY, J. B. (2015). How to Think Like a Behavior Analyst: Understanding the Science that can Change Your Life. Place of publication not identified: Routledge.
Bailey, J., & Burch, M. (2010). 25 Essential Skills & Strategies for the Professional Behavior Analyst: Expert tips for Maximizing Consulting Effectiveness. New York.: Routledge.
Bailey, J. S., & Burch, M. R. (2020). Ethics for Behavior Analysts. Vancouver, B.C.: Langara College.
Biglan, A., Hayes, S. C., & Wilson, D. S. (2015). The Nurture Effect: How the Science of Human Behavior can Improve our Lives and our World. Oakland: New Harbinger Publications.
Conners, B. M., & Capell, S. T. (2021). Multiculturalism and Diversity in Applied Behavior Analysis Bridging Theory and Application. New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.
Friman, P. C. (2005). Good Night, Sweet Dreams, I Love You: Now Get into Bed and Go to Sleep! Boys Town, NE: Boys Town Press.
Maurice, C. (1994). Let Me Hear Your Voice: A Family’s Triumph Over Autism. Fawcett.
Newman, B., Heron, T. E., & Heward, W. L. (2003). Behaviorspeak: Glossary of Terms in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Place of publication not identified: Dove and Orca.
Skinner, B. F. (1988). Walden Two. New York: Macmillan.
Skinner, B. F. (1978). Verbal Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
