Practicum Placements

The mission of Psychology's MS ABA program is to ensure that our graduates will experience the breadth and depth of applied behavior analysis from an evidence-based, scientific perspective through their coursework and from hands-on, clinical experience through their practicum training. Our program is purposefully designed to not train specialists in a targeted area of study – rather, our graduates will acquire knowledge and skill sets about ABA interventions across behavior disorders, applications, and age groups. As such, our practicum placement program provides 1500 hours of training with several clinical populations through a range of settings and treatment modalities. 

In addition, all students are required to enroll each semester in the ABA Practicum course which meets every week. Not only do students receive additional case supervision from a licensed ABA faculty member but PSB 580/PSB 583 (summer) is also an opportunity for students to present and discuss their cases using a Grand Rounds model, an important teaching and learning tool within clinical graduate training.

The practicum experience course and placements are ONLY available to students enrolled in Psychology's MS ABA program.

Practicum Placement Rotation Schedule

Year 1 First Semester Rotation: Starting the fourth week of Fall semester, students rotate through three practicum partner locations for four weeks each. This allows students to directly experience different ABA treatment settings, clientele, and organizations in the Phoenix Metro Area.

December Match Day: For Practicum Placement #1, students and practicum partner locations are matched based on the student’s rank order list of desired experience/location, and the practicum partner location’s ranked list of students. Every student in the program is assured of a practicum placement although a student's choices cannot be guaranteed.

Year 1, Practicum Placement #1: Practicum Placement #1 begins Spring semester and lasts through the entire semester at the student’s matched practicum location. ASU’s academic calendar is in effect for holidays and semester breaks. A small stipend is available based on the student's practicum hours. (Total length of placement: ≈ 4 months)

April Match Day: For Practicum Placement #2, students and practicum locations again participate in a match; however, students will not be allowed to rank their first practicum placement location nor can locations rank those students. Every student in the program is assured of a practicum placement although a student's choices cannot be guaranteed.

Year 2, Practicum Placement #2: Practicum training begins the first week of Summer Session A and continues through the last week of Spring semester of the following year at the student’s matched practicum location. ASU’s academic calendar is in effect for holidays and semester breaks. A small stipend may be available based on the student's practicum hours. (Total length of placement: ≈12 months).

Our Practicum Partners