Congratulations to Claire and Elisha on their Masters

Claire Birrell and Elisha Mont, two of Learning For Life’s Clinical Supervisors, recently graduated to receive their Masters of Education specialising in in ABA Therapy, from Monash University.

A big congratulations to Claire and Elisha! They should both be very proud of their wonderful efforts and achievements. They share with us their experience in accomplishing their Masters, below.

We have both been incredibly lucky to be part of the Learning for Life clinical team (and community in general) over the last decade or so. Throughout that time we’ve been immersed in a culture that is consistently striving to deliver best practice therapy. We have had the privilege of learning the principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and countless associated strategies from our mentors, superiors and colleagues. As proclaimed “lifers” of ABA, we were both excited by the opportunity to enhance our knowledge of ABA and its applications when Monash University inaugurated a Masters of Education specialising in Applied Behaviour Analysis, the first such course in Australia. We were fortunate enough to be accepted into the first and second cohorts and were able to provide support for each other throughout.

While a significant amount of the coursework was already familiar through our day-to-day practice, the course helped to solidify this knowledge. Furthermore, it opened doors to new resources, built our technical language base, provided us with opportunities to meet and collaborate with our ABA peers and enhanced our interest in the science of ABA in a broader context. It was so interesting to learn how behavioural principles and strategies are used around the world in a variety of fields and settings (beyond the autism context) to support education, disability, sleep, sport and organisation behaviour management. Learning about these applications has enabled us to consider how ABA can be utilised to better our own practices beyond therapy programming, such as in staff training.

Having now both graduated, we have met the coursework requirement for a certification with the Behaviour Analyst Certification Board (BACB). Once we have completed 1500 supervised hours and passed the reportedly ‘big and scary’ exam, we will be Board Certified Behaviour Analysts (BCBAs). The perfect outcome for us ABA lifers!

Update: Claire and Elisha, have each officially become a BCBA (Board Certified Behaviour Analyst). Congratulations Claire and Elisha! Click here to read more.