Additional specialized education content

There are many disciplines that require additional specialized education content, supervised practice experience, and submission of an application to an overseeing regulation or credentialling board organization. These organizations set the standards to which applications are evaluated against, and if the applicant meets the criteria for those standards. There is often a final evaluation in the form of a standardized board exam(s) for the applicant to pass in order to be listed as a registered/regulated/board certified professional of that discipline. The professional is required to adhere to an ethical code for their profession and are also required to take a specified number of ongoing educational credits per year in order to re-certify or re-new their registered status. These post-certification/post-registered educational credits must also meet the standards set by the organization to count as continuing education credits.

The BACB (Behavior Analyst Certification Board) has a worldwide recognized and rigorous certification process and many countries, US states and policy mandates have followed the BACB standards to set up licensure acts, law mandates and qualification standards for those practicing and providing supervision of ABA practices. Universities are also steadily increasing course delivery that meet quality standards in the content criteria towards certification (i.e., there are approximately 300 universities worldwide with Verified Course Sequences in ABA at the Master`s level degree- there are only 4 in Canada so far).

There are often differences and confusions between membership, certification, regulated, registered and licensed. Regulation(registered) and licensure are based within the location where the professional lives in order to adhere to the policies and laws in that location, for example within each US state or within each Canadian province. Being registered and licensed is often required by law in order to practice legally and ethically within that jurisdiction and is not a voluntary process. A credentialling body may or may not be a regulatory body, or may or may not have a rigorous application and exam passing process (it may resemble a person just belonging to a membership body without requiring an academic degree). One difference in managing the members of a credentialling body would be to have a disciplinary process that can be brought forth for review and the potential outcomes of an individual is losing their professional certification to practice. The variations of certifying organizations and variations in professional titles can become confusing for policy makers, consumers (families, schools, employers hiring practices), between professionals, etc.

The BACB standards protect consumers and inform organizations and policy makers in making recommendations and funding decisions to professionals that have the education, experience, supervision and expertise in the area of applied behaviour analysis and who are ethically responsible to engage in evidence-based practices.

As of June 2023, there are 210,887 individuals holding a BACB certification (62,856 are at the Master Degree level or higher as BCBAs). There are approximately 70 individuals with a BACB credential in all of Alberta.

Briefly discuss just one, some or all of the following:

Discuss why you think professionals, government ministries, consumers (families, schools) are unfamiliar with the certification process and designation title of a BCBA?

Discuss why you think there are many individuals in Alberta providing services in behaviour assessments and behavioural interventions using these principles of behaviour who are not certified?

Why or why not might a person pursue a credential with the BACB? (i.e., RBT, BCaBA, BCBA, or BCBA-D)

Any comments on how to advocate for the regulation of individuals in the field of applied behaviour analysis