Newsletter
Volume 30 | 2007 | Number 3
Behavior Analyst Certification Board Update
By Dr. Gerald L. Shook, Chief Executive Officer
Accreditation of BACB Certification Programs
The National Council for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) has accredited the Behavior Analyst Certification Board’s (BACB) Board Certified Behavior Analyst and Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst professional certification programs. The NCCA is the accreditation body of the Washington DC-based National Organization for Competency Assurance, the premiere organization in professional certification and credentialing nationally. The NCCA accreditation indicates that the BACB certification programs meet the rigorous standards of the NCCA, an accomplishment that speaks to the high quality of the BACB programs.
Autism Specialty
In its May meeting, the BACB Board of Directors reviewed the outcomes from a subject matter expert panel convened in February to determine the next course of action regarding potential specialty certification in autism. The panel produced a list, similar to the current BACB Third Edition Task List, that represents the additional knowledge and skills that BCBAs who work with people with autism should possess. In developing this list, the panel found that the skills and knowledge required beyond the BACB were not fundamentally behavior analytic but, rather, information specific to autism. The list includes skills such as expertise in communicating the history and culture surrounding autism to others, extracting relevant information from data provided by other sources, explaining diagnostic procedures, educating others about non-behavior analytic interventions, and implementing safe emergency procedures, among others. Based upon all of the information collected regarding specialties, the BACB has decided not to continue development of a specialty certification at this time. However, it has released the autism task list generated by the panel to the public. We believe this information can be of value to BCBAs working with people with autism, as well as to consumers and the general public. The list is posted on http://www.BACB.com. For more information on the process that was used to develop and determine the potential uses for the Task List for Board Certified Behavior Analysts Working with Persons with Autism, please see the latest BACB newsletter.
We wish to thank the following members of the subject matter expert panel for their important contributions:
Shahla Alai-Rosales, Ph.D., BCBA
Helen Bloomer, MS, BCBA
Tom Evans, Ph.D., BCBA
Maurice Feldman, Ph.D., BCBA
Gina Green, Ph.D., BCBA
Richard Laitinen, Ph.D., BCBA
Neil Martin, Ph.D., BCBA
Benjamin Mauro, Ph.D., BCBA
Kathleen Zanolli Prosch-Jensen, Ph.D., BCBA
Robert Ross, MS, BCBA
Leslie Sinclair, MA, BCBA
Mary Jane Weiss, Ph.D., BCBA
Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst
Effective January 1, 2009, individuals certified as Board Certified Associate Behavior Analysts will be certified as Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts and must document supervision by a BCBA. Please see the current BACB newsletter for more details.