The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts: Responsibility in Practice – In this episode of the BACB’s Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts podcast series, CEO Dr. Jim Carr and Director of Ethics Dr. Tyra Sellers tackle Section 2 of the updated ethics code for BCBAs and BCaBAs: Responsibility in Practice. Listen now to learn more.
You can find all of the BACB’s videos on our YouTube channel.
The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts: Responsibility as a Professional – This episode of Inside the BACB is the second in an ethics-based series titled The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. Join CEO Dr. Jim Carr and Director of Ethics Dr. Tyra Sellers as they systematically break down and analyze the first section of the new Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, Responsibility as a Professional.
You can find all of the BACB’s videos on our YouTube channel.
Introduction to the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts – In this episode of Inside the BACB, join CEO Dr. Jim Carr and Director of Ethics Dr. Tyra Sellers as they discuss the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, an updated ethics Code for BCBAs and BCaBAs. Listen now to get the inside scoop on the revision process, important additions to the Code, and more.
You can find all of the BACB’s videos on our YouTube channel.
First things first—congratulations! You met your eligibility requirements, passed your examination, and earned your certification. You just successfully finished what some believe to be the hardest part of becoming an RBT, BCaBA, or BCBA.
But now you’re facing a whole new set of challenges, including maintaining your certification and assuming your new role. To help you start off on the right foot, here are a few tips for your first weeks as a certificant.
When you earn your certification, it’s important to review your BACB account and update any outdated or incorrect information. Although the BACB strongly encourages applicants to review and update their contact information as changes occur, this tip is especially important once you pass your examination and earn your certification.
But why is this review so crucial?
For one, within 4–6 weeks of passing your BCBA or BCaBA examination, your official certificate will arrive at the mailing address listed in your BACB account—however outdated that address may be. So, to prevent a mailing mishap, be sure to update your home address. Also take care to review your name, phone number, and email address, as outdated or incorrect information in any of these fields may create a problem down the line.
The Certificant Registry is a database that includes vital information about all BACB certificants, including their location; certification number, status, and activation/recertification date; disciplinary actions or sanctions, if any; and availability for supervision services. It’s a valuable resource for employers, service recipients, applicants, and certificants alike, so we recommend getting to know it a little bit better.
As a new certificant, you will not appear in the database immediately. Like your certificant number, which may take up to 24 hours to appear in your BACB account, your name may take up to 48 hours to appear in the Certificant Registry. At that point, your certification information will become public.
Once your information is public, potential employers and supervisors can use the Certificant Registry to verify your certification. You can also use the registry to find and contact supervisors in your area if or when necessary. But be careful—as stated earlier, if your address is not updated in your BACB account, the registry may not reflect your current location.
We encourage you to give the Certificant Registry a try—maybe even search your own name to see how you will appear to others!
This tip is as short and sweet as they come, but it’s important nonetheless: Don’t forget to list your new certification on your resume and/or curriculum vitae! Once you enter the working world, you’ll want to ensure that your new title—and all of the hard work that went into getting it—is reflected on paper for potential employers to see.
If you are a BACB certificant who intends to practice in the United States, you must adhere to your state’s licensure requirements before practicing or billing. This tip may be the most crucial in this list, as ABA practitioners who practice without licensure in regulated states may face serious consequences, such as disciplinary actions against their certification or even incarceration.
Follow these steps to learn more:
“There’s no such thing as too early!” – Bird that got the worm
It never hurts to be prepared, which is why it’s a great idea to begin establishing a plan to meet the maintenance requirements for your certification as soon as possible. As an RBT, BCaBA, or BCBA, you must meet specific requirements and complete certain tasks before you are able to recertify. It’s helpful to keep those to-dos in mind and plan ahead to avoid a last-minute panic or, at worst, an expired certification.
To create a maintenance plan, find out the length of your recertification cycle, the continuing education (CE) requirements that you must meet, if any, and the tasks that you must complete within the 45-day period before your recertification date. Then, do your research! Visit the Continuing Education tab in your BACB account to find a summary of the continuing education units needed for your current certification cycle or review the RBT Renewal Competency Assessment Packet—maybe even mark your target milestones on a calendar or planning app.
To get started, check out the following table to see a basic overview of the current BACB maintenance requirements for each certification.
| Overview of Maintenance Requirements | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Certification | Recertification Date | CE Requirements | Ongoing Requirements | 45 Days Before Recertification Date |
| RBT | 1 year from original certification date | Not applicable |
|
|
| BCaBA | 2 years from original certification date |
|
|
Recertify |
| BCBA/BCBA-D | 2 years from original certification date |
|
Abide by BACB ethics and self-reporting requirements | Recertify |
For more detailed, in-depth information about current BACB maintenance requirements, please visit the RBT, BCaBA, or BCBA Handbook.
As a new BCBA or BCaBA, you have access to multiple behavior-analytic scholarly journals and databases. These journals and databases may be helpful resources for you as you integrate current research into your behavior-analytic practice activities—and the best part is that through your BACB account, they’re free!
We encourage you to take some time to explore the Resources tab, as spending time in behavior-analytic literature is one of the best ways to stay in the know about advancements in the field. In fact, in a profession that is rapidly advancing, your education will continue long after you pass your examination.
These six tips are not the end-all, be-all of your first weeks as a BACB certificant. No matter how thoroughly you plan and prepare, you will surely run into hiccups and roadblocks at one point or another. That’s simply the nature of doing something new. Even so, we hope that these tips help you more confidently assume your new role.
Thank you for your hard work and dedication to applied behavior analysis. We are so happy to have you as a certificant. Best of luck!
Note: The information in this blog may be outdated.
Finding a specific piece of information online isn't always the easiest task. And sometimes you aren't even sure what you're looking for until you find it.
Whether you're already certified as a behavior analyst or researching your career options, the BACB website can be a valuable resource. But you may not have discovered these five time–saving gems yet.
When you're considering a career in behavior analysis, it's important to look at the big picture. Understanding the growth curves for RBTs, BCaBAs, and BCBAs can give you the confidence and insight to make informed choices about which certification is appropriate for you to pursue.
That's why the BACB publishes certificant trends on its Certificant Data page. You can quickly find answers to these questions:
Understanding ethics requirements is a vital part of the profession of behavior analysis. That's why the BACB is scaling up the resources on its Ethics page.
You may already be familiar with the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, which outlines what behavior analysts must do—and must not do—to best protect clients and others. The Code provides guidance on many ethics–related situations you may encounter as a behavior–analytic practitioner, such as:
But there's much more to the BACB ethics resources than the Code documents. You'll also want to check out the following important sources of support for navigating ethics dilemmas.
In this section, you can access:
If you need support in deciding whether to report a violation, you'll find what you need in this section, including:
To learn about the steps that the BACB can take against someone's exam eligibility or certification, take a look at this section. The Code–Enforcement Procedures is your go–to resource, but you'll also see information about the types of and possible outcomes for disciplinary sanctions.
Ethics touches every aspect of a behavior analyst's professional life. The BACB's extensive ethics resources will help you obtain and maintain your certification so that you can continue changing lives.
The profession of behavior analysis is known primarily for its success in treating individuals with autism spectrum disorder and developmental disabilities. However, behavior analysis also offers opportunities in a variety of other subspecialties. Staying aware and knowledgeable about these other areas as the profession grows is a good strategy for anyone researching a career in behavior analysis.
An RBT, BCaBA, or BCBA might work with a variety of clients, including:
To learn more about areas that would interest you, the BACB has published a library of informative videos and fact sheets focusing on a wide range of behavior analysis subspecialties.
Each BACB video features a subject matter expert who shares details about working in the subspecialty, such as problems a behavior analyst might treat and the science behind those methods. For example, if you like the idea of helping to improve performance in the workplace, you can learn about organizational behavior management (OBM) from Dr. John Austin, a leading expert in the field. He shares how research has shaped the industry and allowed OBM practitioners to empower employees and leaders for success.
If you want to see a snapshot of each subspecialty and associated sub–areas with resources and recommended reading, check out our handy Subspecialties Areas document.
We know that waiting is one of the hardest parts of obtaining certification, especially when submitting applications or other electronic documents. That's why our Customer Service team shares daily updates about processing times on the BACB website. Our team processes materials in the order they are received, so you can be sure we'll get to yours as soon as possible.
For example, if you submitted your renewal application electronically on May 20th, you can check the Customer Service page regularly to see if we're processing materials received on that date yet.
In addition to processing times, you'll see instructions for system errors or notifications related to your BACB account.
Still haven't found what you need? The Customer Service page also includes links to frequently accessed resources for each certification, such as renewals, requirements, and applications.
The BACB Resources page provides a wealth of information about job demand, BACB activities, past ethics violations, and much more. Here's what you'll find:
Finding the right links, documents, and data doesn't have to be an accident. Bookmark these indispensable BACB resources to stay in the know and save time.
It doesn’t matter if you have been a BACB certificant for many years, are newly certified, or are just starting to explore becoming a practitioner of behavior analysis—it is likely that you have a number of questions about the landscape of the applied behavior analysis (ABA) profession. This is where the importance of understanding the role of the BACB in the profession comes in.
The BACB was established in 1998 to meet the credentialing needs of ABA practitioners, governments, and consumers of ABA services. In the BACB’s early years, its certification programs grew consistently but slowly. In its first 13 years, the BACB certified 10,000 individuals. In the last several years, this number has grown to more than 120,000 certificants! In addition, since 2009, 34 states have passed laws to license behavior analysts. These developments mean that professional certification and the credentialing of ABA practitioners are relatively recent events, about which many people have questions. These include: What is the BACB’s role? What is credentialing and why is it important? Why can’t the BACB speak for behavior analysis? To get a better understanding of how it all works, read on for answers to these common questions.
The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) is:
As mentioned earlier, the BACB’s certification programs exist as a regulatory–like mechanism to protect consumers of behavior–analytic services. To protect consumers, the BACB establishes entry–level eligibility standards for education and training AND provides a mechanism to address behavior analysis practitioners who violate BACB ethics code(s).
Credentialing is vital to the profession of behavior analysis because of the particularly vulnerable populations that a majority of behavior analysis practitioners serve. Without credentialing, how would we know who is qualified to enter the profession and who isn’t?
Two of the many differences between private certification and government–issued licensure are highlighted in the following text boxes because these are the two primary ways behavior analysts are credentialed to practice.
In the ABA profession, practitioners who obtain certification by the BACB have a great deal of mobility because their certification will meet licensure requirements in almost any state with licensure for the practice of behavior analysis. For more information about US state licensure, please refer to the BACB’s US Licensure of Behavior Analysts web page or visit APBA’s Licensure and Other Regulation of ABA Practitioners web page.
All three of the BACB’s current certification programs are accredited by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). The BACB must adhere to NCCA–established accreditation processes, similar to the way BACB certificants and applicants must meet BACB requirements.
Using the NCCA accreditation processes, the BACB convenes groups of subject matter experts (SMEs) to evaluate and potentially revise requirements for each BACB credential. SME recommendations are then voted on by the BACB Board of Directors before they are adopted. Through this process, the requirements change as needed to ensure greater consumer protection through standards that accurately reflect the ever–evolving practice of behavior analysis. As usual, everything comes back to consumer protection.
For anyone interested in a little more reading about the processes that are used by the BACB to develop standards and examinations, they are outlined in a number of publications that can be found on our BACB Resources web page. In addition, you can give us feedback if you have suggestions for SMEs to consider when they revise requirements by submitting a Certification Program Requirements: Request for Change form.
The major professional organizations in ABA have very specific missions and roles and substantial limitations on their activities from various sources. These limitations include state laws where the organization was founded as a nonprofit, IRS rules, and for the BACB, our NCCA accreditation requirements. Let’s start with the role of the BACB.
To recap, the BACB’s job is to credential practitioners of behavior analysis and to coordinate with regulatory authorities. Although we are sometimes called upon to engage in advocacy and political and social commentary, our involvement in these activities is necessarily restricted by some of the entities mentioned earlier. In our regulatory–like role, the BACB is prohibited from engaging in political activity and has very strict limitations on its acceptable activities. That said, a number of the questions we receive indicate that some think of the BACB as a professional membership association, with flexibility about our public behavior. Although we sometimes wish we could engage in a broader array of advocacy activities, we have a very limited role in ABA—again, due to restrictions imposed upon us by certain legal statutes and IRS rules. It’s useful to think about the BACB as similar to a licensure board since we serve a similar and often interrelated regulatory function. It is notable to mention here that other professions may have certification boards that look like the BACB in function but are regulated differently under law and IRS rules, which allows them greater flexibility than the BACB. We know that this makes understanding our limitations pretty tricky!
A professional membership association is charged with representing the interests of its members and speaking on behalf of a profession. The BACB doesn’t have members; we have certificants. Fortunately, ABA has a number of state, provincial, and national professional associations to serve the membership role.
Two major professional membership associations in behavior analysis are the Association of Professional Behavior Analysts (APBA) and the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI). These organizations were established to provide different services than a certification board and are permitted much more flexibility in their permissible activities, including making public statements and taking a stand on social issues. We strongly encourage our certificants to become members in their state and national professional associations if they have not already. In fact, at the very beginning of a certificant’s professional experience, we send a welcome letter encouraging them to join and become involved in their relevant professional associations. The professional membership associations are permitted to engage in a wide range of important activities. They are truly the voice of behavior analysis and have the primary obligation to represent our profession. Together, membership associations, the BACB, and, most importantly, behavior analysis practitioners and stakeholders can work to improve the discipline of behavior analysis.
We hope that this information answers some of your questions about what the BACB does and why. If you’re interested in hearing more about this topic, check out our podcast episode, The BACB’s Role in the Profession of Behavior Analysis.
Addressing Potential Ethics Violations With Others – In this episode of Inside the BACB, join Dr. Tyra Sellers, Director of Ethics for the BACB, as she discusses when, why, and how to approach others about possible violations of the BACB's ethics standards.
You can find all of the BACB’s videos on our YouTube channel.
Inside the BACB’s Ethics Department – In this episode of Inside the BACB, join Drs. Tyra Sellers, Sarah Lichtenberger, and Holly Seniuk for a glimpse into the BACB's Ethics Department, including its mission and structure, and available ethics resources.
You can find all of the BACB’s videos on our YouTube channel.
The History of Ethics at the BACB – In this episode of Inside the BACB, learn about the history and evolution of ethics standards at the BACB from Misty Bloom, the BACB's Director of Regulatory Affairs and Chief Legal Counsel, and key members of the Ethics Department.
You can find all of the BACB’s videos on our YouTube channel.