Defining The Scope of Practice
The Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) defines behavior analysis as:
The field of behavior analysis grew out of the scientific study of principles of learning and behavior. It has two main branches: experimental and applied behavior analysis. The experimental analysis of behavior (EAB) is the basic science of this field and has over many decades accumulated a substantial and well-respected research literature. This literature provides the scientific foundation for applied behavior analysis (ABA), which is both an applied science that develops methods of changing behavior and a profession that provides services to meet diverse behavioral needs. Briefly, professionals in applied behavior analysis engage in the specific and comprehensive use of principles of learning, including operant and respondent learning, in order to address behavioral needs of widely varying individuals in diverse settings. Examples of these applications include: building the skills and achievements of children in school settings; enhancing the development, abilities, and choices of children and adults with different kinds of disabilities; and augmenting the performance and satisfaction of employees in organizations and businesses.As the above suggests, behavior analysis is based on the principles of operant and respondent conditioning. This places behavior analysis as one of the dominant models of behavior modification, behavior management, behavioral engineering and behavior therapy. Behavior analysis is an active, environmental-based approach and behavior analytic procedures are considered highly restrictive (see Least Restrictive Environment).
Currently in the U.S. some behavior analysts at the masters level are licensed; others work with an international certification where licenses are unavailable, although this may not be allowed in some states or jurisdictions. At the doctoral level many are licensed as psychologists with Diplomate status in behavioral psychology or licensed as licensed behavior analysts. Diplomate status alone, however, does not allow one to practice in every state and each state's reguluatory statute must be reviewed for the appropriateness and legality of practice.
Read more about this topic: Professional Practice Of Behavior Analysis
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