The Rise of Autism Diagnosis Across the Globe: Where to get Training?
Autism diagnosis is on the rise worldwide, and there is a massive shortage of trained professionals to work with these individuals.
True Prevalence Largely a Mystery; Awareness and Rates are Rising
There is a distinct lack of reliable numbers on diagnoses in many areas around the world for autism and other related disorders, partially due to the lack of clinics and qualified medical personnel to work with them and diagnose them.
New Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) Soon No Longer an Option Outside the USA
One of the top professional certifications in autism that has been very helpful in the past for many countries in the Middle East is Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs). While there are not a lot of them in these countries, they focus almost exclusively on autism. This means that each clinic will be seeing significantly higher numbers of students with autism than a clinic with mixed specialties or one that focuses more exclusively on speech therapy, occupational therapy or physical therapy. Unfortunately for many of these countries, the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) just announced that it will stop accepting new applicants from outside the U.S. and Canada in 2023.
This means that while the people that have already started their training will be able to complete it, there will no longer be people worldwide being trained in ABA therapy.
This is somewhat problematic for the area.
“The demand for services far outweighs the ability of current qualified staff to meet the need. This will continue to increase…With a severe deficit in local professionals trained in ABA, the provision of ABA services is significantly restricted.”- Dr. Michelle Kelly
Kelly also notes that this lack of trained professionals attracts people of ‘varying qualifications’ for establishing treatment options and that licensing and regulation is only beginning in most of these areas.
In countries that typically do not have a lot of options in this area, ABA clinics have been a huge help to make highly qualified treatment available and raise awareness in their communities.
While these clinics play a large part in making diagnosis and treatment available throughout the globe, ABA is also only one type of therapy. There are other evidence-based practices as well and some forms of therapy will be more effective for some children than others.
What Training Options Are Available?
Certified Autism Specialist™ offers Board Certified Alternative
A Certified Autism Specialist™(CAS) is a credential with a different approach, but with a similar focus. A CAS credential focuses specifically on autism, and the content for the CAS is put together and approved by members of a board of advisors comprised of people across many professional disciplines. The advisory board of IBCCES includes a BCBA, a speech-language pathologist, a psychologist, numerous researchers and academics in the field (2 of which are autistic self-advocates), and several industry experts from various industries.
Who is the CAS Credential for?
There are numerous different tracks for different therapists and educators alike, this 14 credit hour online training program and certification helps to make autism-specific education much more accessible for people who are already working in a field with autistic individuals but who do not have autism-specific training.
Outside of ABA related approaches, this is the norm across most healthcare and therapy positions.
The CAS Training is offered in English, Arabic, and Spanish.
Advanced Certified Autism Specialist also Offers ABA Training Topics
The Advanced Certified Autism Specialist is another option that builds upon the CAS and offers ABA training as well. This training includes both ABA specific training as well as more general autism training that is not ABA-specific.
The training contains 21 credit hours of training.
This training is not meant to train an ABA therapist from scratch but is meant to either reinforce or introduce the principles of ABA therapy along with other evidence-based approaches.