Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 9. Source pages: 9.
The efforts to exempt psychologists and others practicing applied behavior analysis from having to obtain an additional license under the new Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board (LBAB) appear to be having some problems, several sources have reported to the Times.
The issue stems from the licensing of assistants and line technicians, which are often important individuals in the treatment teams for comprehensive services in applied behavior analysis (ABA).
The law, Act 351, passed in the 2013 legislative session, after long negotiations in a working group, exempts psychologists. Under §3715, “Persons and practices not affected,” the law includes: “(9) An individual licensed to practice psychology within the state, so long as the applied behavior analysis services provided by the licensed psychologist are within the licensed psychologist's education, training and expertise. This includes individuals acting under the extended authority and direction of licensed psychologists. Licensed psychologists and those acting under their extended authority are prohibited from representing themselves as behavior analysts, licensed behavior analysts, assistant behavior analysts, or state certified assistant behavior analysts without being duly licensed or state certified.”
However, the new law also defines the assistant behavior analyst and the line technician to be “under the supervision of a licensed behavior analyst.
Issues between the professions were supposed to have been worked out in the painful and pains-taking efforts of the Behavioral Analysts Licensure and Regulation Study Commis- sion, which worked on these issues throughout 2012 and in 2013.
The Behavior Analyst license is $400 for application and $400 for annual renewal.
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