Who is this course for?

We have designed our Understanding Dementia course specifically for 

• BCBAs/BCaBAs/RBTs/UKBA(Cert)s who work with other populations e.g., people with ASD or IDD but would like to move into work with older adults with dementia.
• Students of ABA who want to learn about applications of ABA outside of the typical populations. 
• Behaviour Analysts who love their work with another population, but who love learning about  applications of ABA with other populations.
• People who have taken our Introduction to Behavioural Gerontology course and wish to learn more about dementia specifically. 
• Anyone who would like to learn about interventions for people with dementia based on ABA (course coming soon!) but need the foundational understanding of how we conceptualise dementia before moving on to that content.  

Some prior knowledge of ABA is assumed- we will use terms like reinforcement, environment, and MOs without definition. No prior knowledge of work with people with dementia is needed to enjoy the course!

What topics do you cover?

The course is separated into six sections: 

1. Course Introduction - Here we welcome you to the course, introduce ourselves so you know who your instructors are, and give you an overview of the course content along with some background information about how dementia is represented in the wider behavioural gerontology literature. 
2. Dementia Basics - In this section we teach you the general perceptions of dementia, the types and diagnosis of dementia, the progression and behavioural profiles of dementia and why that information is relevant for behaviour analysts working with clients with this diagnosis. 
3. Conceptualising Dementia from a Behaviour-Analytic Perspective - In this section we work through the different cognitive domains that are used to diagnose dementia and reconceptualise them behaviourally to start to understand how we understand dementia as behaviour analysts. 
4. Examples and Research Evidence - Here we cover the research in behaviour analysis that supports our understanding of dementia from a behaviour analytic perspective and discuss different examples of typical behaviours seen displayed by people with dementia and how they are related to the underlying behavioural processes in place. 
5. Implications for Practice - In this final content section, we discuss what this conceptualisation of dementia means for working with older adults from a behavioural perspective in regards to the types of interventions we design and also the value of single case experimental designs in working with this population. 
6. Conclusion - We finish the course with a summary and some further details.