Current through Reg. 49, No. 38; September 20, 2024
(a) The
contractor must have a program manager who provides the supervision of the
staff and oversight of the assessment and treatment of children. The program
manager must have:
(1) a master's or doctoral
degree from an accredited institution of higher education in psychology,
behavior analysis, or a related field;
(2) documented graduate-level coursework in
behavioral assessment and intervention, selecting outcomes and strategies,
behavior change procedures, experimental methods, and measuring and
interpreting behavioral data;
(3)
at least one year of experience in providing services to children within the
age range of 3 through 15 years of age with diagnoses on the autism
spectrum;
(4) knowledge of typical
child development for children 3 through 15 years of age; and
(5) a BCBA or BCBA-D certification.
(b) The DARS contractor must have
at least one BCBA with one year of experience in providing services for each
age covered in the range of 3 through 15 years of age with a diagnosis on the
autism spectrum.
(c) All staff
members who provide direct services to children must at a minimum:
(1) have a high school diploma; and
(2) be 18 years of age.
(d) All direct service staff members must
receive training before working independently and on an ongoing basis. Training
must:
(1) be formalized training developed
and overseen by BCBA supervisors on methods for data collection, procedures for
implementing discrete trial teaching, prompting procedures, behavior management
strategies for addressing problem behavior, and other ABA techniques and
program specific methods;
(2) be
provided or overseen by a BCBA through didactic instruction, workshops,
readings, observation of modeling of techniques by supervisors, role-play with
supervisors, and training in the natural environment in which supervisors
provide specific feedback and additional training as needed;
(3) be assessed for effectiveness through
written exams (with criteria to determine mastery) or direct observation by
BCBA supervisors of therapists working directly with children (with fidelity
checklists to determine accurate use of procedures and criteria to determine
mastery) to ensure individual acquisition of the skills necessary to accurately
implement ABA treatments;
(4) cover
all of the tasks in the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's Registered
Behavior Technician Task List and Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for
Behavior Analysts that have been designated as relevant for behavior
technicians;
(5) have a cumulative
duration of at least 40 hours;
(6)
include ethics and professional conduct training; and
(7) include training on typical child
development for children 3 through 15 years of age.
(e) All direct service staff members must be
supervised by a BCBA or BCBA-D. Supervision must:
(1) occur at least once every two
weeks;
(2) include direct
observation of ABA programming to assess if procedures are implemented
accurately and to inform the supervisor on the potential need to adjust
teaching procedures; and
(3)
include ongoing review, no less than two times per week, of data from ABA
programs and data pertaining to problem behavior.
