Practicum Experience

Students must secure a practicum site that satisfies the program standards and the Association for Behavior Analysis International accreditation standards for experiential learning. The practicum site must be appropriate for, and support, conducting the thesis research project. The practicum site and site supervisors are vetted and approved by Simmons University faculty (i.e., the Practicum Director), at the discretion of the faculty, before a student may begin Practicum.

Students who are currently working in the field at a site that meets BACB® fieldwork standards under supervision of a worksite BCBA® who meets BACB® supervision standards may begin accruing BACB® fieldwork hours at their worksite during term 1 of the program.

In term 1, students will receive orientation materials and tools that help familiarize students with BACB® Fieldwork Standards, and help prepare students to begin accruing supervised fieldwork hours with their worksite supervisor(s).

Students who begin accruing supervised fieldwork hours with their worksite supervisor during term 1, and accrue the maximum hours per month, may accrue 2,000 experience hours by the end of the 4th term in the program. (Note: students who accrue 2,000 BACB® experience hours must still accrue the minimum required Practicum supervised experiential learning hours when enrolled in Practicum courses).

Students are required to work at a behavior analytic work site, completing behavior analytic activities, by the end of the first term in the program. Students who do not work in a behavior analytic agency by the end of the first term may be required to take a leave of absence. The Simmons placement team partners with each student to help them find a behavior analytic work site. While students will be required to secure their own work site, our team supports them throughout this process and helps perform outreach to potential sites in or near their communities.

Students are welcome to propose work sites or complete their work at their place of employment if already working at a behavior analytic agency, performing behavior analytic activities with clients for whom behavior analytic services are appropriate. However, all work sites must meet Simmons requirements, and will be reviewed every term by Simmons faculty and/or the placement team.

All work sites must provide behavior analytic services that are supervised by a BCBA® employed at the site. When supporting students in their search for a work site, the placement team will make every attempt to find a site as close to students’ preferred location as possible. Students may need to travel up to 75 miles to their work site.