Applied Behavior Analysis

Advanced Certificate in Applied Behavior Analysis

This certificate program will satisfy the coursework requirements for licensure in New York State as a Behavior Analyst (LBA) as well as the requirements for certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA).  Both the NYS licensure and BCBA requirements include a graduate degree in education or psychology, specified coursework in behavior analysis, supervised experience, and exam(s).  We offer the practicum experience in conjunction with the coursework, for a more comprehensive, integrated program.

The 23-credit program can be completed in as little as one calendar year and students may begin the program at any point during the academic year (Fall, Spring, or Summer).  During the semester when students are enrolled in practicum, a minimum of 2 days per week (10-15 hours per week for a minimum of 150 hours over the 15-week semester) in an approved practicum site is required. Outside of that, students can continue to gain the necessary 2000 supervised experience hours in approved settings under the supervision of appropriately qualified individuals (e.g., LBA/BCBAs).  Such training opportunities will depend upon availability in university-approved settings, as well as commitment on the part of the student to adhere to all policies and expectations of the training site.  Students will be responsible for keeping accurate and ongoing records of their experience hours, including supervision hours, as per LBA and BCBA requirements.

Required Courses

HBSE 4015 ABA I:  Concepts and Principles in Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Management (3 credits)

HBSE 4016 ABA II:  Foundational Concepts and Epistemology of Basic and Applied Behavior Analysis (3 credits)

HBSE 4044 Methods 1:  Research Methods in Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Management (3 credits)

HBSE 4045 Methods 2:  Curricular and Pedagogical Operations for Teaching the Foundations of Functional Academic Literacy (3 credits)

HBSE 4047 Record-Keeping in Applied Behavior Analysis (2 credits)

HBSE 4048 Working with Families of Children with ASD (3 credits)

HBSE 4049 Professional and Ethical Issues in Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis (3 credits)

HBSE 4304* Practicum in Applied Behavior Analysis (3 credits)

OR

HBSE 4704 Student Teaching Practicum (for students enrolled in the ABA MA program only) (3 credits)

*Students must take HBSE 4304 for 3 credits in the semester during which it is offered as a class; they may continue to register for sections of HBSE 4304 for 0 credits for subsequent semesters to indicate that they are completing experience hours, if necessary.

OR—FOR SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGY EdM STUDENTS ONLY:

HBSE 4304** Practicum in Applied Behavior Analysis (1 credit in the first semester, 0 credits for all semesters after that). 

AND

HBSK 5050 Cognitive and Behavioral Interventions (3 credits)

Students are encouraged to review all requirements and regulations for both the LBA (https://www.op.nysed.gov/licensed-behavior-analysts) and BCBA (https://www.bacb.com/bcba/), particularly as they relate to the necessary supervised experience.

The Masters degree program accreditation is awarded by the Association for Behavior Analysis International Accreditation Board.

Our program is recognized for its excellence in training teachers in using scientific tools to bridge the educational gap and accelerate learning for all children (Greer, 2007). It is also internationally recognized for training teachers, researchers, and leaders in early educational and language developmental interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders (ages 2-5) and effective inclusion practices. The objective of our MA program is to prepare teachers, teacher trainers, and clinicians to use measurably effective instructional practices to accelerate all children’s educational progress, including measurable increases in enjoying learning and schooling, academic literacy, problem solving, and self-management. A key to doing this is the acceleration of children’s language development. Recent research findings provide exciting new ways to do this. In order to meet our educational objectives, we provide instructional experiences to teach our graduate students the following aspects of effective teaching:

• Utilize research-based procedures for all aspects and subject areas of teaching preschool and elementary-age children.
• Manage classrooms and schools such that children are well behaved and motivated to learn, using positive and non-coercive practices.
• Master the existing science of learning and teaching as it is applied to the varied needs of children.
• Master protocols to identify and induce missing language developmental cusps and capabilities that result in children learning to learn material they could not learn before and how to learn in new ways (e.g., by observation and incidental experiences).
• Master how to use key educational standards and how to match existing tested curricula and tested teaching practices to categories of students and individual students in order to ensure that the standards are achieved.
• Master how to continuously and directly measure all students’ progress in achieving standards and new developmental stages and use that measurement to drive instructional practice, including the selection of alternative scientific practices when initial best practices are not successful with children.
• Master how to scientifically analyze the source of student learning problems and inadequate teaching.
• Learn to draw on evidence from cognitive learning,developmental research, and reading/writing literacy research implemented through procedures from teaching as applied behavior analysis.
• Master how to teach children to be self-learners.

The Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis Program is an approach to behavior analysis and teacher training in which all instruction used by behavior analysts/teachers is based on scientific evidence and the use of scientific procedures to fit the appropriate science-based practices to individual students’ varied learning and language developmental needs. 

Students may also apply for certification in other states according to state-specific processes and requirements, and inter-state reciprocal agreements. The program is accredited by the Association for Behavior Analysis, International, which allows our students to meet the coursework requirements for the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) credential. Earning one’s BCBA is also part of a pathway to becoming a Licensed Behavior Analyst in New York (LBA-NY). In addition to coursework, both BCBA and LBA requirements include completion of supervised fieldwork hours, many or all of which can be gained while in the program. The last step in becoming a BCBA includes passing the BCBA exam. 

During the two-year MA program, students complete student teaching requirements during internships in schools and classrooms that practice teaching as applied behavior analysis, under the mentorship of supervisors who are BCBAs and certified teachers (and often graduates of our training model). Students need to work at internship sites for 20-40 hours per week and during two semesters students have to work full time in order to meet teacher certification requirements. These experiences include supervision from appropriately credentialed BCBAs/LBAs. 

All of the training is done in an approved practicum/internship site in educational settings. We partner with sites that provide paid opportunities. Students are trained in internship positions, under the supervision of experienced scientist-practitioners in school placements and attend classes in the evening. What is done with the children in the classrooms is the content of our core graduate courses--scientific findings and teaching procedures. What is taught in the core courses and the related courses is placed into practice daily. All of the work in the classroom and school settings is tied to our core courses in the MA program that are devoted to classroom management, curriculum design, effective pedagogical practices, and the advancement of a science of teaching. The other classes in the program are devoted to various scientific approaches to instruction, learning, and development. MA students rotate placements across different types of students and ages until they achieve minimal mastery of the relevant scientifically based teaching repertoires.

Research is an important component of the MA program. Several courses require research tied to improving the educational attainment of children our students work with. This work culminates in an Integrative Project that functions as a thesis.

Successful applicants will present evidence of excellent undergraduate academic performance in liberal arts degrees or degrees with strong liberal arts requirements, strong recommendations, and a passion for working with children whose future prognosis depends on highly effective instructional interventions. The program is academically rigorous, and the applied component is demanding. Graduates of the program are highly sought after by public schools and graduate programs. Between 15 and 20 applicants are accepted annually.

Specialization Requirements, Applied Behavior Analysis:

• HBSE 4015 ABA I: Concepts and Principles in Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Management
• HBSE 4016 ABA II: Foundational Concepts and Epistemology of Basic and Applied Behavior Analysis
• HBSE 4017 ABA III: Verbal Development, Curriculum, and Pedagogy
• HBSE 4044 Methods 1: Research Methods in Pedagogy, Curriculum, and Management
• HBSE 4045 Methods 2: Curricular and Pedagogical Operations for Teaching the Foundations of Functional Academic Literacy
• HBSE 4046 Methods 3: Curricular and Pedagogical Operations for Teaching Advanced Functional Academic Literacy
• HBSE 4048 Working with Families of Children with Autism
• HBSE 4049 Professional and ethical issues in behavior analysis
• HBSE 4704 Observation and student teaching in special education: Applied behavioral analysis and behavioral disorders (4 terms)
• IND 4000 Master’s Candidate (Integrative Project, i.e., thesis) (2 credits)

Breadth Requirement and Reading/Math Requirement:

For the list of required cognate courses that provide breadth scholarship and practice, contact the program coordinator or the special education secretary. In order to broaden the student’s background in education, two Teachers College courses outside the Teachers College major program must be completed. Independent of this, students are required to complete two reading courses and one mathematics course. This means two math/reading courses have to come from outside the program and one course can come from within the program, or outside the program. Examples of acceptable courses (faculty approval required for alternative courses):

• HBSK 4072: Theory and Techniques of Assessment and Intervention in Reading
• MSTM 5010, Mathematics in the Elementary School
• HUDK 4027: Development of Mathematical Thinking
• HBSK 4074: Reading and Comprehension Strategies and Study Skills

(Alternatively, students may take HBSK 5099: Writing Interventions Theory and Practice in lieu of one of the reading courses if scheduling conflicts exist.)

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) mandates teacher certification requirements that are needed for program completion and graduation which are listed in the Office of Teacher Education section of the catalog.

Research and Evaluation Emphasis:

Students with excellent potential as researchers and theoreticians who are interested in scholarly careers in special education, education, and related social sciences may apply for the Ph.D. degree program, which represents the highest level of achievement in the Arts and Sciences. This degree program is administered jointly by Teachers College and the graduate faculty of Columbia University.

Prospective students may obtain information on program offerings by contacting the program office.

Ph.D. in Special Education: Applied Behavior Analysis

The Ph.D. in Special Education: Applied Behavior Analysis degree program accreditation is awarded by the Association for Behavior Analysis International Accreditation Board.

The Teaching as Applied Behavior Analysis M.A. and Ph.D. programs incorporate an approach to behavior analyst and teacher training in which all instruction used by behavior analysts and teachers is based on scientific evidence and the use of scientific procedures to fit the appropriate science-based practices to individual students’ varied learning and language developmental needs. Students accepted into the program are placed in paid teacher assistant positions (M.A. students and Ph.D. students taking the M.A. core) or paid teacher positions (Ph.D. students who have completed at least 3 semesters of the M.A. core) in schools and classrooms that practice teaching as applied behavior analysis. The training of behavior analysts and teachers is also based on scientifically tested procedures. Teacher trainees are taught until they master the science and its application with all children from 2 years through grade 6.

Research is a central component of the training—both the applications of research using science-based tactics and measurement and the generation of new research. Ph.D. students engage in research throughout their program, building on their research training in the M.A. program and culminating in a dissertation that identifies and investigates a topic related to our mission. Dissertations must make contributions to both applied and basic science. The faculty and the students generate a substantial body of research leading to publications and presentations at international scientific conferences each year, and this is a key component of the Ph.D. training. Programmatic research is conducted in the following areas: effective classroom practices, language/verbal development interventions that result in children learning to learn in different ways, observational learning, and systems-wide scientific approaches to education, to name some of the areas.

Students who already hold M.A. degrees from other institutions must take the ten M.A. core courses, because the core prepares them with the means to be successful in completing milestone Ph.D. requirements. Ph.D. students also need to be dually certified in New York State for teaching children from birth to grade 2 and grades 1-6. The teaching placement is a critical part of the program, because it provides the opportunities to train M.A. students and to be involved in cutting-edge research. In that role Ph.D. students are critical instructors for the first- and second year M.A. students, an experience that prepares the doctoral candidate to teach and mentor graduate-level students. Our Ph.D. candidates play a significant role in our record of providing measurably superior instruction and bridging the educational gap. 

Program objectives:

• Use single-subject and group-design research to evaluate all aspects of an educational system, including educational interventions for children, staff and parent training, and teacher training.
• Train and supervise classrooms and schools such that children are well-behaved and motivated to learn, using positive and non-coercive practices.
• Master the existing science of learning as applied to the varied needs of children, master teaching others to implement the science of learning independently, and empirically evaluate the effects of such training.
• Master protocols to identify and induce missing language developmental cusps and capabilities, and master teaching of others to implement these protocols and empirically evaluate the effects of protocols and a child’s development.
• Master how to use key educational standards and how to match existing tested curricula and tested teaching practices to categories of students and individual students, and master how to teach others to implement these competencies and empirically evaluate the effects of such training.
• Teach others how to measure all students’ progress continuously and directly in achieving standards and new developmental stages and empirically evaluate such training.
• Empirically evaluate teaching practices when initial best practices are not successful with children.
• Teach others to scientifically analyze the source of student learning problems and empirically evaluate such training.
• Draw on evidence from behavior analysis, cognitive learning, developmental research, special education research, reading/writing literacy research and implement procedures in accordance with Applied Behavior Analysis and teaching as a science.
• Teach others to teach children to be self-learners and empirically evaluate such interventions.
• Design functional curricula building on the theory and science of verbal behavior, radical behaviorism, and the foundations of pragmatism. Teach others to design functional curricula and empirically examine the effectiveness of functional curricula.

Department Courses Required for All Student Majors in Degree Program Core Requirements for all Ph.D. Majors in the Applied Sciences of Learning and Special Education Cluster

• HBSE 5010 Study of the philosophic foundations of special education
• HBSE 6001 Research in special education: Research/experimental design
• HBSE 6010 Advanced study of problems and issues in special education
• HBSE 6031 Research in special education: Single-case design
• HBSE 7500 Dissertation seminar in special education
• HBSE 8900-8910 Dissertation advisement in special education

Non-Department Courses Required for All Student Majors in Degree Program

• HUDM 4122 Probability and statistical inference
• HUDM 5122 Applied regression analysis

Specialization Requirements, Applied Behavior Analysis:

• HBSE 5304 Advanced practica in special education: Behavioral disorders
• HBSE 6404 Advanced internship: Behavior disorders
• HBSE 5904 Problems in special education: Behavioral disorders (supervision)
• HBSE 6008 Behaviorism
• HBSE 6015 The verbal behavior model: Individual educational programming
• HBSE 6504 Advanced seminar in special education: Applied behavior analysis and behavioral disorders