The MSABA is a flexible degree program at Forest Institute. It is offered during the evenings in two locations to support the schedule of working professionals.
The curriculum requires the completion of 48 hours of course work, practicum and a thesis. Upon graduation, students in the MSABA are prepared to pursue a doctoral degree or enter the mental health field. Graduates of Forest's programs in ABA are eligible to take the exam from the Behavior Analysts Certification Board® to become Board Certified Behavior Analysts®, which is recognized nationwide.
The faculty, staff and administration of the program are focused on students and strive to provide the best possible student service and instruction. Instructors in the program are professionals in the mental health field who bring their everyday hands-on experience and expertise to the classroom.
The Master of Science in Applied Behavior Analysis (MSABA) program can fit into almost any schedule and is designed for both working professionals and full-time students. Those who choose the master's program take one or two evening classes, depending on the session, every eight weeks. With continuous enrollment, students can complete the program's required 48 credits, practicum and thesis in five semesters, including one summer session.
The prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the U.S. is estimated at 1 in 110 children, and relatively few people become behavior analysts each year. This means mental health professionals trained in ABA are in very high demand nationally.
Learn more about Applied Behavior Analysis by visiting one of the links below:
Behavior Analyst Certification Board
Association of Professional Behavior Analysts
Association for Behavior Analysis International
Missouri Association of Applied Behavior Analysis
APA Division 25 - Behavior Analysis
Competencies and Curriculum
Program Goals and Objectives
Graduates of the Applied Behavior Analysis program will demonstrate the requisite knowledge, skills, and attitudes in the following competency areas to:
1. Behavior-Analytic Principles, Processes, and Concepts
a. Demonstrates understanding of the philosophical assumptions of behavior analysis including, but not limited to, the lawfulness of behavior, empiricism, experimental analysis, and parsimony.
b. Demonstrates understanding of behavioral principles including, but not limited to, behavior, response and response class, stimulus and stimulus class, stimulus control, establishing operations, functional relations, generalization, and discrimination.
c. Demonstrates understanding of language principles including, but not limited to, echoics, imitation, mands, tacts, and intraverbals.
d. Can define and provide examples of behavioral paradigms including respondent and operant conditioning.
e. Can distinguish between contingency-shaped and rule-governed behavior.
2. Within-Subjects Research Methodology Measurement and Interpretation of Research Data
a. Understands how to define measurable dimensions of behavior including, but not limited to, frequency, rate, duration, latency, and inter-response time.
b. Understands the pros and cons of using continuous measurement procedures and sampling techniques.
c. Demonstrates ability to select appropriate measurement procedures.
d. Understands how to use observation and recording procedures including, but not limited to, percent of occurrence, trials to criterion, and interval recording methods.
e. Demonstrates ability to use data to create graphs that effectively communicate quantitative relations, including equal-interval graphs and standard celeration charts.
f. Understands data interpretation for decision-making.
g. Able to interpret articles from the behavior analytic literature.
3. Behavioral Assessment
a. Understands rationale for conducting descriptive assessment.
b. Demonstrates understanding of procedures for gathering, organizing, and interpreting descriptive data.
c. Demonstrates understanding of procedures and rationale for conducting a functional analysis.
d. Demonstrates methods for organizing and interpreting data from a functional analysis.
4. Behavioral Interventions
a. Understands the principles of experimental evaluation of behavioral interventions including, but not limited to, manipulation of independent variables, withdrawal designs, reversal designs, alternating treatment designs, changing criterion designs, and multiple baseline designs.
b. Demonstrates ability to conduct a component analysis
c. Demonstrates ability to conduct a parametric analysis
d. Demonstrate ability to conduct a task analysis
e. Demonstrates ability to identify target outcomes based on client characteristics, context, assessment results, and best available scientific evidence
f. Demonstrates ability to state intervention outcomes in measurable terms
g. Demonstrates ability to make recommendations for behavior change
h. Demonstrates ability to implement strategies for behavior change
i. Demonstrates ability to monitor intervention outcomes and adjust accordingly
j. Demonstrates ability to implement environmental modifications to reduce need for behavior analysis services
5. Behavior Change Procedures
a. Understands and applies a variety of behavior change procedures including, but not limited to, positive and negative reinforcement, positive and negative punishment, extinction, contingency contracting, token economies, and self management strategies.
b. Understands and applies a variety of behavior training procedures including, but not limited to, discrimination training, modeling, shaping, chaining, direct instruction, precision teaching, discrete trials, and language acquisition/communication training programs.
c. Understands Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior and can apply this understanding to communication training.
d. Demonstrates ability to apply behavior change procedures to promote stimulus and response generalization and maintenance of behavior change.
6. Systems Support
a. Demonstrates ability to design and implement systems for monitoring performance and reinforcement systems and the procedural integrity of those systems.
b. Demonstrates ability to establish other support in natural settings to maintain client gains.
c. Understands the rationale and methodology for competency-based training in behavioral assessment and change procedures.
7. Ethical Principles in Applied Behavior Analysis
a. Appreciates ethical considerations for the selection and implementation of behavioral assessment and behavior interventions.
b. Appreciates that decision-making in applied behavior analysis requires an understanding of psychometrics and intervention efficacy.
c. Appreciates that decision-making in applied behavior analysis requires an understanding of the limits of one’s professional competence, and can articulate his or her own limits of competence.
d. Understands the need to appropriately seek consultation, supervision, and training, or to make referrals, when he or she is lacking competence in a particular area or when the practitioner-client relationship is compromised.
e. Can work with clients to make applied decisions that are: (1) consistent with the scientific basis of the discipline, (2) consistent with any applicable laws, and (3) consistent with ethical/professional standards.
f. Can explain the importance of informed consent and confidentiality in applied behavior analysis.
Curriculum
The MSABA requires completion of the following 48 credit hours:
|
Year |
Session |
Fall |
Spring |
Summer (1 session) |
|
1 |
A |
ABA 551:
Foundations of ABA I |
3 |
ABA 5013: Ethical, Legal, & Professional Issues in ABA |
3 |
|
|
|
1 |
A |
|
|
ABA 5093: Behavior Assessment |
3 |
ABA 5713: Practicum |
3 |
|
1 |
B |
ABA 510: Measurement & Interpretation of Data |
3 |
MACL 5940: Lifespan Development |
3 |
ABA 540: Verbal Behavior* |
3 |
|
1 |
B |
ABA 552: Foundations of ABA II |
3 |
ABA 590: Behavior Change and Support |
3 |
MACL 5700: Clinical Risk Management |
1 |
|
|
|
|
9 |
|
12 |
|
7 |
|
2 |
A |
MACL 521: Cognitive Assessment |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
A |
MACL 525: Human Diversity |
3 |
MACL 519: Psychopathology I |
3 |
|
|
|
2 |
B |
|
|
ABA 588: Advanced Topics in ABA* |
3
|
|
|
|
|
B |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2 |
A & B |
Thesis |
1 |
Thesis |
1 |
|
|
|
2 |
A & B |
ABA 5723: Practicum |
3 |
ABA 5733: Practicum |
3 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 |
|
10 |
|
|
|
Overall Credits (48) |
19 |
|
22 |
|
7 |
*Elective Courses
Transfer Credit Limit: 15 credits, no practicum transfer