Kale M. Kritch, Ph.D.

Doctor of Philosophy, Interdisciplinary: Instructional Technology and Behavior Analysis, University of South Florida, 1995

Master's of Education, Instructional Technology, University of South Florida, 1992

Bachelor's of Science, Social Science Education, University of South Florida, 1990

AMI programs contract with state departments of juvenile justice and school boards to provide cognitive-behavioral and educational services.  All programs employ token economies, point cards, rank systems, contingency contracting, and staff apply techniques of behavior modification daily basis.  Students experience a curriculum of courses taught by certified teachers and can earn high school and college credit.  AMI programs have been cited as some of the most successful and effective programs for rehabilitating youth and preventing them from re-offending upon release.

In addition to designing, evaluating, and performing follow-up recidivism studies on students released from AMI programs, I was also responsible for developing instructional materials and delivering trainings to program staff on principles and techniques of behavior modification. Over the years I developed the on-line tutorials (based on the behavioral instructional technology of Programmed Instruction (PI)) and created the Basic Principles of Behavior Modification Course. The overall goal of this course is to teach teachers, parents, and staff the critical and essential principles and techniques of behavior modification to successfully manage, work with, and modify the behavior of children and youth in real-life family, school, and social program situations.

Throughout the years of delivering hands-on trainings to program staff I developed the training materials in the Behavior Modification Training Package.  This package can be used by a person responsible for delivering training to teachers and staff at your location, who is knowledgeable of behavior modification principles, to deliver effective trainings in behavior modification.  Ideally, staff work through the tutorials in the Basic Principles of Behavior Modification Course, and then attend the hands-on training to problem-solve and apply their learnings to specific behavioral problems at their schools and programs.