BCBA credential after PhD?

[futureapppsy2]

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Probably won’t get many responses here, but worth a shot.

My masters is in school psych and included some ABA work (early intensive behavioral intervention with young children with ASD—very standard ABA training) and a few ABA publications (published in sped journals with pretty well known people, not part of the JABA crowd). My PhD (at another university) was essentially a dual PhD in ABA in educational settings and traditional counseling/psychology, to the point where I took two sets of comps—ABA comps (single-subject research and content literally taken directly from the BCBA task list) and psychology comps. I published a couple of SPED-focused articles while there but mainly focused my research on psychology and group design research, etc. That said, ABA half of the program was very much radical behaviorist—in addition to our ABA comps, we had required classes in advanced ABA and were expected to think and conceptualize as radical behaviorists.

My primary work now isn’t in behavior analysis, but I’m starting to do some side work in this area, mostly looking at behavior analytic approaches to mental health/psychological things and vice versa. The issue I’m coming up against is that it’s hard for new people in the field to be taken seriously for publishing, adjuncting, etc., without a BCBA credential, especially as ABA moves towards licensure, “behavior analyst” as a protected term, etc. I’m toying with doing the coursework and fieldwork requirements to get a BCBA in my “spare time”, but wondering if it would be worth it. Tuition would probably be about $15,000 or so and there would be time cost associated with the coursework, field experience, exam, etc.

Thoughts?

 

[WisNeuro]

Do you have a current position that would pay for some of the tuition/cost?

 

[ClinicalABA]

Any chance that you'd qualify for the "Option 3" standards- 10 years full time work in ABA post Ph.D.? That's how I got mine.
Would any of your graduate classes count towards the BCBA?

I find the dual credential pretty useful and would encourage it. It gives you more options for billing, as well as for teaching. We actually have most of our psychologist where I work obtain the credential. This is typically done through a hybrid program with which we are affiliated. I'm kind of surprised that you've run into some bias in regards to publication without a BCBA. As for teaching, yeah- I believe courses have to be taught by BCBAs to be approved by the board. A lot of licensure, however, does not require a BCBA. In my state (MA) you can be a Licensed Applied Behavior Analyst (LABA) without the BCBA as long as you meet the educational standards. Also, I believe that if you are practicing ABA as a licensed psychologist and as part of psychological services you are exempt from the licensure standards.

I'm guessing that, with your background, you'd find the coursework pretty straightforward and a lot less work and time commitment relative to your Ph.D. program. While shunned (with good reason) in regards to clinical psych training, there is not the same stigma towards online or hybrid BCBA course sequences. They are typically done concurrently with your supervised fieldwork, so there is regular face-to-face contact with a credentialed provider even if you are doing on-line courses. I think, with the credential, you'd be able to recoup that 15K tuition with increased clinical and teaching duties over the course of ~5 years.

 

[bcliff]

Isn't there an option to be BCBA eligible via ABPP board certification in cognitive-behavioral psychology? I thought I remembered reading that somewhere, but maybe I'm mistaken.

EDIT: Went back and looked, seems like you can do BCBA supervision with ABPP-CB but might not be able to get the BCBA itself? Seems a little backwards to me.

REQUIREMENTS FOR SUPERVISORS – Behavior Analyst Certification Board

BCaBA BECOMING BCBA – Behavior Analyst Certification Board

 

[futureapppsy2]

Do you have a current position that would pay for some of the tuition/cost?

Unfortunately, no—my current university doesn’t offer a VCS.

Any chance that you'd qualify for the "Option 3" standards- 10 years full time work in ABA post Ph.D.? That's how I got mine.
Would any of your graduate classes count towards the BCBA?

I find the dual credential pretty useful and would encourage it. It gives you more options for billing, as well as for teaching. We actually have most of our psychologist where I work obtain the credential. This is typically done through a hybrid program with which we are affiliated. I'm kind of surprised that you've run into some bias in regards to publication without a BCBA. As for teaching, yeah- I believe courses have to be taught by BCBAs to be approved by the board. A lot of licensure, however, does not require a BCBA. In my state (MA) you can be a Licensed Applied Behavior Analyst (LABA) without the BCBA as long as you meet the educational standards. Also, I believe that if you are practicing ABA as a licensed psychologist and as part of psychological services you are exempt from the licensure standards.

I'm guessing that, with your background, you'd find the coursework pretty straightforward and a lot less work and time commitment relative to your Ph.D. program. While shunned (with good reason) in regards to clinical psych training, there is not the same stigma towards online or hybrid BCBA course sequences. They are typically done concurrently with your supervised fieldwork, so there is regular face-to-face contact with a credentialed provider even if you are doing on-line courses. I think, with the credential, you'd be able to recoup that 15K tuition with increased clinical and teaching duties over the course of ~5 years.

As far as I can tell, a VCS is my only option. My coursework is kind of spotty in that it’s spread out over two institutions and 7 years, and IIRC, there’s a five year limit on coursework. I’m honestly not thinking I’ll learn that much in the way of new content—and I’m not super looking forward to taking single-subject research for a third time 😉—but as far as required hoop jumping, I’ve seen far worse, and review is always good. Ironically, the best program in terms of cost to benefit (including having a supervised prac option) is the university where I was faculty prior to my current position/am still an adjunct, but given that it’s in the same department and those are also my friends and colleagues, it seems like a potential dual relationship.

 

[ClinicalABA]

...I’m not super looking forward to taking single-subject research for a third time 😉...

I’m teaching research designs next semester. It’s an approved hybrid course, so you’d just have to fly out tonWestern MA 2 evening and one weekend for the semester🙂Heck, I’d let you do the full day lecture for me as an extra credit project!

 

[futureapppsy2]

I’m teaching research designs next semester. It’s an approved hybrid course, so you’d just have to fly out tonWestern MA 2 evening and one weekend for the semester🙂Heck, I’d let you do the full day lecture for me as an extra credit project!

Heh, in my second SCR course, we took a pre-test on the first day, and my instructor emailed me and said "you don't need to come to the next six weeks of class."