Autism degree boosts BSU enrollment

MUNCIE, Ind. — Enrollment in Ball State University's Teachers College has reached a record high due to demand for analysis and treatment of autism spectrum disorder.

When Teachers College began offering an online-only master's degree in applied behavioral analysis (ABA) with an emphasis in autism six years ago, it expected 150 students at most. But the response was phenomenal.

By the fall of 2016, enrollment in the program had climbed to 1,556; this spring it's at 1,607. Now the college is planning to add an undergraduate degree in ABA-autism.

"The estimate is 1 in 68 children is identified with autism, so there is a great need out there for professionals to work with kids and adults in clinics, hospitals and other settings," says John Jacobson, dean of the Teachers College. "We got out in front of it and are still riding that wave, because every semester our enrollment keeps going up. We thought it would level out, but it just keeps going."

Graduates of the program must complete 1,500 hours of field work in a school, mental health center, hospital, group home, etc., before taking the exam to become board certified.

"Online education is the story here," Jacobson told The Star Press. "Online education basically allows us to be a campus for the world, not just a campus in Muncie or Fishers or Indianapolis. It's worldwide now."

Students enrolled in the program come from 49 states, including more than 100 from California and more than 50 each from Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania, as well as several foreign countries.

"We've just shattered all enrollment records in Teachers College," Jacobson told Ball State's board of trustees last month. "As you can see, since 2004, we have gone from a majority enrollment of undergraduates to a majority enrollment of graduates … " The biggest reason is autism graduate students, "many of them out of state paying full tuition and not receiving any graduate assistantships."

Total enrollment in Teachers College last fall was 4,097, more than a third of whom were online graduate students in the autism program. The next largest category was elementary education students preparing to become K-6 teachers.

The college last month received approval from the board of trustees to begin offering an online-only undergraduate major in ABA-autism, the only degree of its type in Indiana. The college expects to enroll 100 to 200 students.

State, regional and nationwide employer demand for bachelor's-level and master's-level analysts in the autism field is growing, and salaries are averaging $48,000 and $61,000, respectively, in Indiana, BSU's acting provost, Marilyn Buck, told trustees.

"If you’d like to be out on the frontier of a field facing a national shortage, where school children and adults struggle with autism and other developmental disabilities, and where the rewards are both personal and financial, it’s time to explore Ball State’s master’s degree in applied behavior analysis (ABA)," Ball State advertises. "Whether as a teacher, psychologist, ABA therapist, or other human service professional, you’ll find opportunities in schools, hospitals, mental health centers, behavioral centers, and residential facilities where you’ll help clients improve language, motor, social, and reasoning skills. Doors to corporations and industrial settings are now opening where applied behavior analysts teach job skills and promote work performance."

Signs of autism in children include lack of or delay in spoken language; repetitious use of language/motor mannerisms, such as hand-flapping and twirling objects; little or no eye contact; lack of interest in peers; lack of spontaneous or make-believe play, and persistent fixation on parts of objects, according to the Autism Society. The disability is treatable. Applied behavioral analysis techniques have been shown to produce improvement in communication, social relationships, play, self care, school and employment.

Teachers College also provides degrees and certificates in fields such as early childhood education (birth-kindergarten), elementary education (grades 1-6)  special education, school superintendency school psychology, gifted and talented education, adult education, and computer education for teachers.

Contact Seth Slabaugh at (765) 213-5834.