BCBA Certification No Longer Offered Outside the US.
What's Next?

The need for qualified professionals worldwide to assist, treat and work with autistic individuals is rapidly growing. The BACB have decided it stretches its resources too thin to maintain international certifications. This comes at a time when international awareness has grown substantially and the need for autism services rises daily, but many challenges remain for achieving consistency internationally, whether it be in ABA or any other form of treatment for autism.

What Now? Other Opportunities Outside BCBA certification

While BCBAs can work in many environments, if you are considering becoming a BCBA, it is important to understand that the majority of BCBAs are highly focused on working with individuals diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) sponsors an annual conference that is solely focused on autism. The majority of presenters at the convention speak on the same topic.

With international certification no longer available for BCBAs and their current profession is already highly dedicated to autism, this leaves many countries in a hard spot when it comes to finding qualified practitioners to work with autistic individuals.

Autism & Advanced Certifications To Help Professionals Better Serve Autistic Individuals

One of the biggest challenges with autism is the way that autistic people tend to respond differently to many therapy techniques such as positive reinforcement. Getting a specialized credential in autism can help therapists, healthcare providers,  and educators of all types to be able to better understand autistic people, leading to better outcomes.

While these autism credentials are typically meant for therapists and those in a professional setting, in many countries where services are more limited, it may also make sense for parents to go through certification to learn to help their child better.

Board Certified Behavior Analysts go through extensive coursework and training to become proficient in treating people with autism through ABA therapy, while the different tracks to become a Certified Autism Specialist™ credential allow therapists, healthcare providers, or teachers to add autism to their areas of expertise.

This circumvents a number of the challenges associated with international accreditation by allowing people who become therapists, healthcare professionals or educators in their own countries to go through local training and incorporate local norms while also gaining a much-needed specialized understanding in autism.

As a professional credential, the Certified Autism Specialist (14 credit hours) or the Advanced Certified Autism Specialist (21 credit hours, includes ABA related training as well) can help these workers get recognized for extra expertise in the area of autism.