About this course

Understanding Your Child's Behavior takes principles that behavior specialists use every day in schools and clinics and puts them in language a parent can use on a Tuesday evening. It is not a graduate course, and it is not written to impress anyone with terminology.

Who wrote it

Emilee Simmons, M.Ed. is a behavior specialist with fourteen years in public education, much of it spent working with students whose behavior was standing between them and school success — and with the parents trying to figure out what to do at home.

• M.Ed. in Education Administration, Lamar University
• Graduate Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis, University of Arkansas
• 14 years in public education supporting students with behavioral challenges

How the course is built

Five modules, three lessons each. Module 1 teaches you to read behavior. Module 2 covers reinforcement — what it actually is, and why it isn't bribery. Module 3 is about preventing problems before they start. Module 4 covers prompting and, more importantly, fading your help so your child doesn't need five reminders. Module 5 puts it together into a plan for reducing a specific challenging behavior.

Every lesson ends with something small to practice that week. Each module comes with a family worksheet, a parent reflection sheet, and a quick reference, and Module 1 adds a week-long ABC behavior tracker — 16 printables in all, designed to be filled in on a phone or printed.