Welcome
A note from the Chairperson of the Department of Psychology
Barry R. Haimson, Ph.D.
Dear Colleague:
According to the Center for Disease Control's Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, an average of 1 in 150 eight year old children was diagnosed with autism or a similarly related disorder (2007). There is great need for certified behavior analysts who work in the fields of mental health, developmental disabilities, autism and special education. The University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, in partnership with the Evergreen Center and Beacon Services, now offers professionals in these fields two programs that will enhance their expertise in applied behavior analysis:
- Master of Arts in Psychology - Applied Behavior Analysis option
- Behavior Analyst Post-Master's Certificate Program
The master's program is a three year, 36-credit program from an accredited university that includes the ABA specific courses, and fieldwork experience. The 15-credit certificate program includes the ABA specific courses plus optional fieldwork supervision. All courses are offered under the direction of the UMass Dartmouth Psychology Department, and specific ABA courses will satisfy the content requirements to sit for the Board Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA®) exam.
There are just over 3,600 BCBAs worldwide. Massachusetts ranks in the top three states in the nation with 350 BCBAs per capita, but we are still short. To put these figures into context, there are over 37,000 certified school psychologists in the US and 1,000 certified school psychologists in Massachusetts. The goal in offering these two programs is to reduce the shortfall in the number of qualified professionals.
There are only a limited number of programs in Massachusetts offering master's level certification preparation programs in ABA; however, many of these programs do not provide the fieldwork supervision component required for certification. The UMass Dartmouth programs offer that supervised fieldwork component, eliminating the barrier many candidates not active in the field may face.
The collaboration among the Evergreen Center, Beacon Services and UMass Dartmouth has been designed to provide high quality, convenient educational opportunities to practitioners of applied behavior analysis.
If you should have any questions or concerns about the ABA programs at UMass Dartmouth, please do not hesitate to contact one of our Graduate Admissions counselors at 508.999.8604 or graduate@umassd.edu.
Sincerely,
Barry Haimson, Ph.D.
Chancellor Professor and Chairperson
