<p>Hello, everyone, I'm new to this site but it seems like a lot of people get good help here so I decided to try it out.</p>
<p>I'm a senior in High School, and am planning on attending community college and signing a TAG with a UC.</p>
<p>My first question is this: I've recently decided that in the future I want to possibly be a Behavioral Analyst, working with autistic kids and other ABA's doing research to help further advance treatments for autism. However, I'm not 100% sure on which major would help me achieve this goal, but I figured it would be Psychology or Human Development. If I am wrong or if there are any other details please let me know.</p>
<p>My second problem is, even after my hours of online searching, I can't seem to find how the UC's are ranked in these different majors. If anyone knows of a website or anything I can look at that can also help me with that, would be great.</p>
<p>To become a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, eventually you would need at least a master’s degree; at the Bachelor’s level, you can be certified as a Behavior Analyst Associate. Further information might be obtained from the Association for Behavior Analysis International and the Behavior analysis Certification Board. Both have websites. In CA, there is a regional chapters of ABAI in both the northern and southern parts of the state.</p>
<p>Behavior Analysts are found is found in several disciplines. Most graduate programs are in psychology or special education departments. A few programs have their own department. Some psychology departments primarily have a behavioral orientation; in others, behavior analysis is a specialty track. For ABA work with autistic kids, also consider Special Education. You also might consider Speech Pathology, or possibly a double major. Special Education as the advantage of teacher certification. (Of course you may not need BA certification to work as a teacher, just the teacher certification.) Speech pathology has the advantage of certification (the CCC) which requires a master’s degree. Thee is even a relatively new journal focused on Speech Path & Behavior Analysis. A few states are looking at licensure of Behavior Analysts, which has both Pros and Cons. And of course, there are psychologists, social workers, etc. who do behavior analysts but may not be Board-Certified or have their training from a program with a strong behavioral orientation; they’re pretty much covered under the license for their professional, but for work with autistic kids, I’d go for a behaviorally-oriented program with Board Certification after the requirements for that are met. Some relevant programs might be found in Early Childhood Education if there is a track for developmental disabilities. The well-known program at U Kansas was in the Dept of Human Development, but I think it’s been renamed as Dept. of Applied Behavioral Science. I don’t know of others in an HD Dept, though there may be some.</p>
<p>I assume by UC, you mean the University of California. At UCLA, you take do some course work, practicum, and possibly some research as an undergrad in the Psychology Dept. At UCSB, most of the activity is with the Koegel’s group in Special Education. Both are well-known. I don’t know about the other UC campuses. Among private universities, U Pacific has a program.</p>