During the past 25 years, the attitude toward behavior analysis in Israel’s educational and clinical systems has gradually changed –– from rejection to unswerving support. While only a handful of behavior analysts were active in Israel during the 1980s and early 1990s, today there are several hundred. The evolution of the applied behavior analysis (ABA) professional establishment was a carefully planned process of dissemination based on the following principles: training educators and clinicians from various sectors; supporting basic implementation of quality behavioral programs in schools and institutions; ongoing cooperation with superintendents and decision makers; “rehabilitating” students with severe “behavior problems” that the education system could not cope with and then returning these students to the system; writing books in Hebrew and maintaining a systematic research program in areas pertaining to the improvement of behavior and the inclusion of students with difficulties; and using “common” language.
Dr. Eitan Eldar is the founder and director of the Applied Behavior Analysis Center (Teaching, Community Services & Research) at the Zinman College in Israel. He has been widely acknowledged by the educational community for his extraordinary efforts to fulfill the goals, values, and mission of disseminating behavior analysis. He has written numerous papers and books, authored the first applied behavior analysis (ABA) textbook in Hebrew and served as the first chairman of the Israeli Association of Applied Behavior Analysis. Dr. Eldar designed a model for individual full inclusion in general education settings for autistic students that has been adopted by the Ministry of Education countrywide.
Dr. Eldar has organized workshops and conferences on various topics related to the enhancement of services the ABA science can offer to improve the quality of daily living for parents, para-professionals, and educators.
ד”ר איתן אלדר – ניתוח יישומי של התנהגות
