Rules Chapter 8

A.  For the reporting period that begins July 2026 and henceforth, licensed behavior analysts will be required to report 32 total credits of continuing professional development, 4 of which must be in Ethics. State certified assistant behavior analysts will be required to report 20 total credits of continuing professional development, four of which must be in ethics. Certificants/licensees should not repeat a continuing education event in order to obtain additional continuing credits. The hours must conform to the distribution listed below.

1. Only for the reporting period of July 2024, credits of continuing professional development will be required in the following amounts and must conform to the distribution listed below.

a.  Licensed behavior analyst must report 24 total credits of continuing professional development, three of which must be in ethics.

b. State certified assistant behavior analyst must report 15 total credits of continued professional development, three of which must be in Ethics.

B.  Within each reporting period, four of the required hours or credits of continuing professional development must be within the area of ethics.

C.  Certificants/licensees can accumulate continuing professional development credits in five categories.

1. academic:

a.  completion of graduate-level college or university courses. Course content must be entirely behavior analytic. Courses must be from a United States or Canadian institution of higher education fully or provisionally accredited by a regional, state, provincial or national accrediting body, or approved by the board;

b.  one academic semester credit is equivalent to 15 hours of continuing education and one academic quarter credit is equivalent to 10 hours of continuing education. Any portion or all of the required number of hours of continuing education may be applied from this category during any two-year certification/licensure period;

c.  required documentation is a course syllabus and official transcript;

2.  traditional approved events:

a.  completion of events sponsored by providers approved by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB). Any portion or all of the total required number of hours of continuing education may be applied from this category during any two-year certification/licensure period;

b.  required documentation is a certificate or letter from the approved continuing education (ACE) provider;

3.  instruction of continuing education events:

a.  instruction by the certificant/licensee of category 1 or 2 continuing education events, on a one-time basis for each event, provided that the certificant/licensee was present for the complete event. A maximum of 50 percent of the total required number of hours of continuing education may come from this category during any two-year certification/licensure period;

b.  required documentation is a letter from the department chair on letterhead from the university at which a course was taught or a letter from the approved continuing education (ACE) provider’s coordinator;

4.  BACB events:

a.  credentialing events or activities initiated and pre-approved for CEU by the BACB;

b.  a maximum of 25 percent of the total required number of hours of continuing education may come from this category during any two-year certification/licensure reporting period;

c.  required documentation is a copy of the email sent from the BACB to the certificant/licensee which states participant has completed the BACB event/activity as well as shows the number of CEUs earned for completion. It is important that the date in which the email was received is displayed, as the CEUs are only valid towards the reporting period in which they were received;

5.  scholarly activities:

a.  publication of an ABA article in a peer-reviewed journal or service as reviewer or action editor of an ABA article for a peer reviewed journal. A maximum of 25 percent of the total required number of hours of continuing education may come from this category during any two-year certification/licensure period. The credit will only be applied to the reporting period when the article was published or reviewed:

one publication = 8 hr.;
one review = 1 hr.;

b.  required documentation is a final publication listing certificant/licensee as author, editorial decision letter (for action editor activity), or letter of attestation from action editor (for reviewer activity).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 37:3713.
HISTORICAL NOTE: Promulgated by the Department of Health, Behavior Analyst Board, LR 42:1514 (September 2016), amended LR 43:1961 (October 2017), LR 48:2949 (December 2022).