| Action | Initial regulations for licensure |
| Stage | Proposed |
| Comment Period | Ended on 12/6/2013 |
 |
The emergency regulations have successfully acheived access to behavior analytic services for children with autism and other disabilities in the state of Virginia. These regulations are suitable for acceptance as the permanant regulations but I support this in conjunction with the creation of an advisory board to address any current areas of the regulations that could be improved or future changes to the regulations that need to be made. An advisory board is in line with other licensure regulations in the state of VA such as occupational therapists. The board should consist of behavior analysts primairly as they are the ones who understand best practice in our field and consumers of services should be represented as well.
Even though I support the emergency regulations. I recommend that regulations can always improve and these are some areas that could be improved under the purview of the advisory board:
1. Part 3 of the licensure regulations regarding renewal, currently allows for people who are no longer board certified to maintain licensure. As it is best practice in our field to be a certified behavior analyst and it is required to gain licensure, it only makes sense to require continued certification to renew licensure as well.
2. Part 4 of the licensure regulations regarding scope of practice and practice of unlicensed personnel is currently worded poorly. The working group and hard work of behavior analysts in devising the emergency regulations had a much more clear wording in the draft of emergency regulations. However, the board of medicine removed this language and replaced it with the current language. Because of the current language, we are starting to see issues with people who are newly certified being told that they are practicing without a license when in fact they are in line with the law and the regulations. To avoid future issues, the wording could be changed to something like:
(1) Change A to read “Unlicensed personnel must be supervised by a licensed behavior analyst or a licensed assistant behavior analyst; (2) Change B2 to read “Certain client-related tasks that, in the opinion of a licensed behavior analyst or a licensed assistant behavior analyst, do not require the exercise of professional judgment, are within the demonstrated competencies of the unlicensed personnel, and have no potential to adversely impact the client or the client's treatment plan.”; (3) Add “Supervision activities by licensed behavior analysts and licensed assistant behavior analysts shall comply with the BACB Guidelines for Responsible Conduct of Behavior Analysts, Professional Disciplinary and Ethical Standards, and other BACB standards, requirements, and guidelines pertaining to supervision.”
This change in wording is more in line with the intent of the law and the working group as evidenced by reviewing notes from the working group meetings and testimony by Delegate Tag Greason who sponsored the licensure law. This change is also more in line with best practice in the field of behavior analysis.
3. Given the high demand for behavior analytic services in the state of VA, newly certified individuals or people moving to the area should be allowed a grace period to practice without a license as long as they have submitted an application and answer "no" to all of the questions about having grievances brought against them under their certification or license elsewhere. The Board of Medicine is currently taking at least 1 month to approve the license. This means for every newly certified individual or certified person moving to the area that at least 5 to 10 children are waiting at least 1 month for services where every minute counts. Until the Board of Medicine is able to faster process these licenses, newly certified individuals and certified indiviuals moving to the area, should be allowed to practice until their license is approved. There were no issues during the past year with having a year grace period for people living in the state so there is no reason why they shouldn't be allowed to practice while waiting for their license to be approved. An additional requirement could be that they are allowed to practice but they must be under the supervision of a LBA until their license is approved.
Thank you for your time,
Megan Miller, M.S., BCBA
Navigation Behavioral Consulting, LLC
President, Tidewater ABA