Restricted Electives For The MA - Behavior Analysis Practice & Behavior Analysis Professional Practice: BEH5021, BEH5071, BEH5072, BEH5073, BEH5074, BEH5076
Students entering their fourth, fifth or sixth semester in the program should choose from the following list to register for the necessary 1-credit restricted elective course(s). Six restricted electives are available and can be taken in any order. Five elective credits are required for the program.
General Meeting Information For Restricted Electives:
These electives will have meetings that are somewhat different from meetings in other courses.
- Students complete an assignment or activity and load it into Canvas before the meeting.
- Students meet for 60 minutes with a co-instructor and their peers to discuss the activity as a large group and in smaller groups with their peers.
- Students are required to be on camera and speaking with a microphone throughout the meeting. Students must supply their own camera and microphone, ensure they are in working order for every class meeting and actively participate in each online meeting. The co-instructor will facilitate the meeting.
BEH5021: Coordinating Behavior Analysis With Psychiatric And Other Medical Services
Credits: 1
Offered: Starting fall 2021, block 1 (first 8 weeks of the semester)
Course Description: This graduate-level 15-hour course teaches students how to facilitate the integration of behavioral and medical services. When behavioral services are used to reduce problem behavior, psychotropic medication is also often prescribed by attending physicians. Techniques are discussed for coordinating medication trials with behavioral intervention phases to reduce potential confounds while evaluating treatment effectiveness, with a focus on single-subject research designs. The course will review medications most used to address problem behavior, their common side effects and other related issues. Coordination of ABA and medical services in relation to other, nonmedication-related issues likely to arise in clinical practice, is discussed.
Major Course Objectives
- List and describe the various classes of psychotropic medication.
- Evaluate the efficacy of medication trials using single subject designs.
- Discuss and describe challenges to, and techniques to facilitate, the coordination of behavioral services with medical or medication-management services.
Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule
Asynchronous content (video lectures) delivered over six instructional units
Eight weeks in duration:
- One week for orientation (week 1 of semester)
- Six units of content (weeks 2 through 7 of semester)
- One week for final exam (week 8 of semester)
Four required synchronous meetings with a BCBA® co-instructor
- Meeting 1: Orientation (week 1 of semester)
- Meeting 2: Unit 2 (week 3 of semester)
- Meeting 3: Unit 4 (week 5 of semester)
- Meeting 4: Unit 6 (week 7 of semester)
BEH5071: Assessment
Credits: 1
Offered: Starting fall 2021, block 2 (last 5 weeks of the semester)
Course Description: This graduate-level 15-hour course reviews B.F. Skinner's classic (1957) Verbal Behavior and the behaviorally based VB-MAPP (2008). Topics and techniques discussed include using language acquisition milestones of typically developing children to guide assessment and treatment of children with language delays as well as how to use the VB-MAPP as an assessment, curriculum guide and skills tracking system. Motivating operations and effective teaching procedures will also be discussed.
Major Course Objectives
- Identify and describe the elementary verbal operants.
- Explain and describe how to apply verbal behavior to language assessment.
- Describe and explain how to create a language intervention program based on a verbal behavior curriculum.
Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule
Asynchronous content (video lectures) delivered over three instructional units.
Five weeks in duration:
- One week for orientation (week 11 of semester)
- Three units of content (weeks 12 through 14 of semester)
- One week for final exam (week 15 of semester)
Four required synchronous meetings with a BCBA® co-instructor
- Meeting 1: Orientation (week 11 of semester)
- Meeting 2: Unit 1 (week 12 of semester)
- Meeting 3: Unit 2 (week 13 of semester)
- Meeting 4: Unit 3 (week 14 of semester)
BEH5072: ABA In Education
Credits: 1
Offered: Starting spring 2022, block 2 (last 5 weeks of the semester)
Course Description: This graduate-level 15-hour course reviews ABA practices for educational settings. Students learn some of the challenges of working with school systems as well as common teaching mistakes. Topics and techniques discussed include how to successfully collaborate with school systems, how to evaluate teaching procedures and how to select effective teaching strategies for individual students and groups of learners.
Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule
Asynchronous content (video lectures) delivered over 3 instructional units
Five weeks in duration:
- One week for orientation (week 11 of semester)
- Three units of content (weeks 12-14 of semester)
- One week for final exam (week 15 of semester)
Four required synchronous meetings with a BCBA® Co-instructor.
- Meeting 1: Orientation (week 11 of semester)
- Meeting 2: Unit 1 (week 12 of semester)
- Meeting 3: Unit 2 (week 13 of semester)
- Meeting 4: Unit 3 (week 14 of semester)
BEH5073: Instructional Design
Credits: 1
Offered: Starting spring 2022, block 1 (first 5 weeks of the semester)
Course Description: This graduate-level, 15-hour course provides students with a foundation in instructional design by introducing the basics of the instructional design process. Students will learn key principles for effective instructional design that lead to application and retention of the instructional concepts in corporate settings and practical advice for measuring and sustaining newly trained skills. Topics will include analyzing instructional content, designing instruction, sequence evaluation and strategies to motivate learners.
Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule
Asynchronous content (video lectures) delivered over three instructional units.
Five weeks in duration:
- One week for orientation (week 1 of semester)
- Three units of content (weeks 2-4 of semester)
- One week for final exam (week 5 of semester)
Four required synchronous meetings with a BCBA® Co-instructor.
- Meeting 1: Orientation (week 1 of semester)
- Meeting 2: Unit 1 (week 2 of semester)
- Meeting 3: Unit 2 (week 3 of semester)
- Meeting 4: Unit 3 (week 4 of semester)
BEH5074: Organizational Behavior Management Applications: Behavior Based Safety
Credit: 1
Offered: Starting summer 2022. Students can register for either: block 1 (first 5 weeks) or block 2 (last 5 weeks of the semester)
Course Description: This graduate-level 15-hour course reviews the field of organizational behavior management (OBM). Students learn how to implement assessment and behavior change procedures in business settings. Topics discussed include how to maintain behavior change, develop effective leadership, and deal with problematic behavior. Students will learn the importance of applying the science of behavior to employee management to create a productive work environment. The course concludes with a lecture on pedestrian and driver safety.
Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule
Asynchronous content (video lectures) delivered over 3 instructional units
Five weeks in duration:
- One week for orientation
- Three units of content
- One week for final exam
Three required synchronous meetings with BCBA® co-instructor
- Meeting 1: Unit 1
- Meeting 2: Unit 2
- Meeting 3: Unit 3
BEH5076: Behavioral Writing
Credits: 1
Offered: Starting spring 2022, entire 15 week semester
Course Description: This is a graduate-level, 15-hour writing course. Regardless of academic discipline, writing remains one of the most important skills in a student’s arsenal. Excellent writing skills demonstrate mastery of the learned material and clear thinking. Students will have the opportunity to hone their writing skills and communicate effectively and fluently to their most common audiences. Some activities will include writing behavior plans for clients, completing clinical notes for insurance agencies, explaining data to key stakeholders, marketing oneself and describing behavior analysis with and without scientific jargon. Students will also work on their feedback skills by editing the work of other students. This course offers a solid foundation for the graduate-level writing requirements that students will face throughout this program and as a practicing behavior analyst. Overall, students will understand that writing is a process—the first draft should never be the final draft.
Major Course Objectives
- Write a behavior plan.
- Describe behavioral procedures using layman’s terms.
- Provide both positive and corrective feedback to peers.
Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule
- 15 weeks in duration
- Synchronous 1-hour, weekly meetings via Zoom
If you have questions about your program plan, please contact abaonline@fit.edu.
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