Careers & Opportunities
Prepare for a career in a variety of possible settings, including social service agencies and educational institutions. Graduates of the Applied Behavior Analysis MSEd program may choose to work as applied behavior analysts or become Board Certified behavior analysts.
Field Experience
You are required to complete six credit hours of practica in a variety of settings to learn how different agencies implement behavior analytic approaches in order to change socially important behaviors. The practica will consist of two different experiences, 150 hours each, at sites outside of your regular workplace. You’ll gain hands-on experience applying the science you learn in the classroom to a real-world setting for a minimum of 10 hours per week.
Options for practica include working with individuals with autism and intellectual disabilities, substance abuse histories, and traumatic brain injuries as well as supporting staff and supervisors. Practicum service delivery may be in areas such as assessment and treatment of challenging behavior, behavioral economics, effective educational strategies, and organizational behavior management. Students may work in settings including clinics, general education classrooms, special education classrooms and residential settings, among others.
Some examples of practicum sites include
- the Southeastern Pennsylvania Autism Resource Center (SPARC),
- the Kinney Center and
- Bancroft Lindens.
Some or all of your Temple practicum hours may be used to partially fulfill the Behavior Analyst Certification Board supervised experience requirements if these hours meet the BACB’s criteria. Practicum hours are considered verified supervised experience by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.