Special Education: Applied Behavior Analysis

Master of Arts

Provides beginning graduate students with an overview of issues surrounding the fields of special education and rehabilitation, including legal principles, concepts of assessment; and principles of teaching and counseling. Students will examine and develop their personal philosophies regarding assessment of, services to and intervention with individuals with exceptionalities.

Grounds participants in the basic behavioral principles and techniques needed to successfully complete effective Functional Behavior Assessments (FBA), function-based interventions, and Behavior Intervention Plans (BIP).  Participants complete an FBA, develop an intervention based on the results, and design a BIP.

Information to aid teachers in dealing with responsibilities and concerns in school settings with regard to P.L. 94-142. Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Family Education Rights and Privacy Act, and other legal issues.

Provides a theoretical base and practical approach to the study of special needs of students with language and cultural differences; basic premises of bilingual special education and the interface of the two fields.

Addresses environmental factors that affect student behavior and continues to develop competency in FBAs, function-based interventions, and effective BIPs.  Participants complete a second FBA, develop and test a function-based intervention, complete a BIP, implement and monitor the intervention, and make data-based decisions about whether to continue or revise the intervention based on their data.

Addresses other factors that can affect development and implementation of interventions such as legal issues, crisis intervention, and teaming and collaboration issues.  Participants complete two FBAs and develop and monitor two function-based interventions and BIPs.  A certificate identifying skills learned is awarded at the end of the three course sequence.

Addresses advanced skills and knowledge in applied behavior analysis and the factors that affect the application of behavior principles within school settings. Topics examined include reinforcement, punishment, extinction, stimulus control, self-management, verbal behavior, and functional analysis.

Enables students to explain the need for ethical guidelines, identify appropriate ethical standards and guidelines of behavior analysis and their own profession, if different, and apply the ethical guidelines to real-life situations.

Basic concepts essential in applying applied behavior analysis in personnel supervision and management of employees, parents, and other professionals.

Basic concepts essential to the comprehension of research in education, including measurement principles and descriptive statistics.

Addresses the advantages and disadvantages of various research designs and how to select a research design appropriate to a given scenario. Participants learn to critically evaluate professional research that incorporates single subject research designs, create data graphs, and develop a comprehensive research proposal.

An original applied project in an area of behavior analysis. Projects are supervised by individual faculty and are conducted in lieu of a master’s thesis.