UHV to offer new master’s concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis
The University of Houston-Victoria School of Education & Human Development will offer a concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis for the first time this fall to help increase the expertise of those teaching people who have disabilities.
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| Andria Young |
“This will help meet the need of educators and other professionals working with people with disabilities in schools, community service agencies and residential settings who want to know more about ABA and how to collect behavioral data in order to create positive behavior interventions,” said Andria Young, special education coordinator for the School of Education & Human Development.
ABA strategies frequently are used with children who have autism and other development disabilities, Young said. The ABA approach identifies the reasons a child is engaging in a challenging behavior, such as being aggressive toward others. Once the reasons are identified, new triggers and reinforcers are used to teach the child a different behavior.
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| Lawrence Rossow |
UHV graduate students working toward the all-online Master of Education in special education will be able to select from a diagnostician concentration or the new ABA concentration starting in the fall when the first ABA class, “Principles of Behavior for the Educator,” will be offered. Students must take 36 semester credit hours to obtain their master’s degree and can take an additional 9 credits for a concentration.
Post-bachelor students or students who have earned a master’s degree in another area also can take the courses in the concentration, Young said.
“The UHV School of Education & Human Development will be the only school in this area offering an ABA concentration,” said Lawrence Rossow, the school’s dean. “Teachers are requesting this knowledge, and I am glad we will be able to meet their needs.”
Young developed the concentration in collaboration with UHV special education faculty members Rachel Martinez and Paul Carlson. For more information about the concentration, contact Young at (361) 570-4270 or younga@uhv.edu.
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 80 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.
