Our director, Ashleigh O’Connor is a BCBA, so what exactly is this certification and how does it benefit families? We interviewed her to find out more.
- What Is BCBA?
- What Does A Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) Do?
- What Does the Qualification Involve?
- How Long Did It Take To Complete the Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA)?
- What Is The Role of The Behaviour Analyst Certification Board?
- How Many People are BCBA certified in Australia?
What Is BCBA?
BCBA stands for Board Certified Behaviour Analyst. It’s an International certification in behavioural analysis.
‘BCBA certification is the leading behaviour analyst credential’ [1].
What Does A Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA) Do?
A BCBA studies the science of behaviour and uses this knowledge to increase socially significant skills as well as decrease behaviours that may be impacting the person’s ability to learn and engage appropriate with others and their environment.
What Does the Qualification Involve?
Firstly, you need to have a relevant graduate degree (e.g.., master’s or doctoral). For me this was my Master’s Degree in Education (Applied Behaviour Analysis) from Monash University. You also need to obtain supervised independent fieldwork hours.
Once I had completed my supervised hours, I then applied to sit for the BCBA exam.
How Long Did It Take To Complete the Board Certified Behaviour Analyst (BCBA)?
It takes about 2 years to study a master’s degree, in which you can start to accrue supervision hours during and after.
Then it takes between 2.5 – 4 years to accrue your supervision hours, depending on how often you are able to meet with your supervisor.
What Is The Role of The Behaviour Analyst Certification Board?
The primary role of the board is to protect the consumers of behaviour-analytic services, as well as the providers themselves, it does this by providing professional standards of practice.
As well as establishing practice standards, the board provides certifications which includes examinations and the requirement to follow the behaviour analysis ethics guidelines.
The Board is a non-profit organisation based in the United States. They have been the leader in behaviour analyst certification for over 20 years.
How Many People are BCBA certified in Australia?
There aren’t many of us, just over 100 people are certified in Australia. You can verify that someone is BCBA certified as they will appear on the registry.
At Mosaic Early Intervention we want to deliver the best possible outcomes for our families, this certification is an example of our commitment to providing this through exceptional service and on-going improvement.