Dr. Sharlyn Crump

Dr. Sharlyn Crump is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Dr. Crump is currently an Assistant Professor, Academic Program Co-Director, and Faculty Lead for National University's Applied Behavior Analysis Program. She earned her Doctor of Education degree from Pepperdine University in Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy Change. She received her Master of Arts degree from National University in The Art of Teaching with a specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from California State University, Long Beach in Psychology. Dr. Crump's first introduction into the behavior change process and Autism was under the direction of Dr. O. Ivan Lovass of UCLA. Dr. Crump's unique educational experience has set the foundation to focus on the behavior change process, primarily, in the public-school system. Throughout the 25 years of support and implementing interventions, Dr. Crump has assisted stakeholders by providing supervision, consultation, and trainings to administrators, educators, and direct service providers in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Positive Behavior Intervention Support (PBIS) both within the classroom and school-wide. Dr. Crump's research focuses on the purpose and the need to strengthen academic behavior skills. These pro-social and academic readiness skills are needed for students to be successful and to access the curriculum in the classroom environment. When students are displaying challenging behaviors in the classroom, there can be a linked to academic task difficulties and the maladaptive behavior connection. Dr. Crump developed an academic behavior tool and measured the psychometrics of the survey, The Classroom Behavior Continuum Scale (Crump, 2015). This behavior tool assists educators with limited knowledge of the behavior change process. The tool identifies both the student's behavior deficits, as well as, adaptive skill levels, for appropriate replacement skills and skill building. In addition, the psychometric properties of the demographic variables and the factor structure of the survey were measured to be valid and reliable. The analysis of the data found that the descriptive and inferential statistics supports the use of such a tool. Educators can benefit from using the behavior assessment tool for identifying behaviors and selecting the appropriate replacement skills for interventions during the development of the Behavior Plan and structuring classroom management. Further results show that the use of this tool may aid in early identification during the screening process for preschool age students, early intervention, and at Tier 1 or 2 of the RTI or Multi-Tier System of Support (MTSS) models. The CBCS may proactively identify deficits/behaviors before escalating to the Tier 3 level when extensive assessments, interventions, and support are legally mandated.