About our authors

John Cooper, Tim Heron and Bill Heward were faculty members at The Ohio State University for a combined 90 years. Together they trained special education classroom teachers and leadership personnel guided by the philosophical, scientific and technological principles of applied behavior analysis. The Ph.D. program in special education and applied behavior analysis that they and their colleagues developed at OSU was the first doctoral program accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis International. John, Tim and Bill each received the Alumni Award for Distinguished Teaching, OSU’s highest honor for teaching excellence. They are joint recipients of the Ellen P. Reese Award for Communication of Behavioral Concepts from the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

John O. Cooper, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. His research and teaching interests include precision teaching, inner behavior, fluency building and verbal behavior. He is a past president of the Standard Celeration Society, past member of the Board of Directors for the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis, and Applied Representative to the Executive Council and as Chairperson, Graduate Program Accreditation Committee of the Association for Behavior Analysis International.

Timothy E. Heron, Ed.D., is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Tim’s research interests include tutoring systems, inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms, consultation and self-correction instructional approaches. Tim is co-author of The Educational Consultant: Helping Professionals, Parents, and Students in Inclusive Classrooms, 4th Edition (with Kathleen Harris, 2001). Since 2000, Tim has been an active Federal Aviation Administration, Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor; has authored the text Instrument Flying: 10 Indispensable Principles to Know and Remember; and continues to apply the principles and procedures of applied behavior analysis to the next generation of aviators.

William L. Heward, Ed.D., BCBA-D, is Professor Emeritus in the College of Education and Human Ecology at The Ohio State University. Bill’s interests include “low-tech” methods for increasing the effectiveness of group instruction and promoting the generalization and maintenance of newly learned skills. He has authored or co-authored 5 other books, including Exceptional Children: An Introduction to Special Education, 11th Edition (with Sheila Alber-Morgan and Moira Konrad, 2017), and Sign Here: A Contracting Book for Children and Their Parents (with Jill C. Dardig, 2016). A Fellow and Past President of the Association for Behavior Analysis International, Bill is a recipient of the Fred S. Keller Behavioral Education Award from Division 25 of the American Psychological Association and the Distinguished Psychology Department Alumnus Award from Western Michigan University.