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

1. List and describe the various classes of psychotropic medication.
2. Evaluate the efficacy of medication trials using single subject designs.
3. 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)

Credits: 1

Offered: Starting Spring 2025, (entire 15-week semester)

Course Description: Many people incorrectly equate applied behavior analysis (ABA) services to autism services. This graduate-level, 15-hour, elective course surveys additional areas and populations who can benefit from ABA. Topics may include health, fitness and wellness; safety; behavioral pediatrics; gerontology; traumatic brain injury; developmental disabilities and other current or emerging areas of practice.

Disclaimer:  This course includes topics that may be uncomfortable for some students. Video lectures may include explicit discussions of sexuality and providing sexual education for teenage and adult clients. This content could be offensive to individuals who are sensitive to the public discussion of these topics. Please assess whether this course aligns with your academic and professional goals before the end of the add/drop date period. 

Major Course Objectives

1. Expose students to the broad scope and capabilities of ABA beyond traditional clinical applications in autism treatment.
2. Describe domains of practice including populations, importance and issues involved.
3. Students will expand their perspective on how behavior analytic methods can be applied in innovative and meaningful ways, to have an understanding of the versatility of ABA.

Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule

Asynchronous content (video lectures) delivered over three instructional units.

Fifteen weeks in duration:

• One week for orientation (week 1 of semester)
• Three units of content (weeks 2-13 of semester)
• One week for final exam (week 14 of semester)
• One week for course reflection (week 15 of semester)

Four required synchronous meetings with a BCBA® co-instructor, , 75 minutes in length

• Meeting 1: Orientation (week 1 of semester)
• Meeting 2: Unit 1 (week 3 of semester)
• Meeting 3: Unit 2 (week 7 of semester)
• Meeting 4: Unit 3 (week 11 of semester)

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

1. Identify and describe the elementary verbal operants.
2. Explain and describe how to apply verbal behavior to language assessment.
3. 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)

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)

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)

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

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

1. Write a behavior plan.
2. Describe behavioral procedures using layman’s terms.
3. Provide both positive and corrective feedback to peers.

Course Duration, Delivery, and Schedule

• 15 weeks in duration
• Synchronous 1-hour, weekly meetings via Zoom