So you have official started your first applied behavior analysis (ABA) course. YAY!!
Now you can start collecting that WILD amount of hours, more specifically 2,000 hours of BCBA Supervised Fieldwork Requirements.
OR if you're fancy 1,500 for a more Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork experience.
But Fear Not!
After reading this, you should know everything there is to know about BEGINNING your journey of collecting BCBA Fieldwork Requirements.
Not everything just yet, lol don't want to overwhelm you. However, you will get what you need to start out of the article.
Key Takeaways:
When can you start collecting hours
What the BCBA supervision requirements are
The Monthly Supervision Requirements
Now what is the Purpose of the BCBA Fieldwork Supervision?
To become a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) you must complete either 1,500 or 2,000 hours of fieldwork.
The purpose of this experience is to prepare you for a role as a behavior analyst by actively applying your knowledge with clients.
The activities you engage in during your fieldwork should primarily focus on developing BCBA-related competencies.
Now, everyone is not going to get the best of the best experiences, and that's okay!
Well it's not, but hey that's life.
Now to help you get started and to stay on top of things while collecting your hours the BACB created a PDF file you!
-How thoughtful of them, right? :)
Most important Question to ask first: When Can I Start collecting my BCBA Fieldwork?
Well I answered this question in the first sentence. lol
You can begin as soon as you attend your first ABA course. NOT when you get your schedule to start classes in weeks. lol Neither the day of, but your class is at 10pm and you work days.
Soon as you attend your first ABA course!
BUT then YOU MUST have a qualified BCBA supervisor, who has completed there 8 hour supervisor training.
It's okay if you have more than one BCBA supervisor to collected you supervision hours.
In fact, the BACB advocate for you to have both multiple supervisions and different setting when collecting your BCBA Supervised Fieldwork Required hours.
(Just have the MAIN BCBA that you see sign off, if it's in same company.)
Different company - Different signatures.
Next you and your qualified BCBA supervisor well need a signed contract.
This contract outlines:
the responsibilities and objectives of the supervision
ensuring that you receive proper guidance throughout your fieldwork experience.
The BACB has provided us with an example supervision contract here.
An additional, you should make it a habit to make sure your supervising BCBA is well qualified using the BACB registry.
There are so many horror stories of, supervisees having to start ALL of there hours over because their supervisor BCBA did NOT complete the 8 hour supervision training.
Now that you have:
Attended you started ABA course
Selected a qualified BCBA
Doubled - checked to make sure they are qualified using
And review, asked questions and gotten a clear understanding of your Supervision contract
READ YOUR CONTRACT - Some companies have specific clauses; such as "upon completing supervision and passing the BCBA exam you must work here for 2 years or pay $75 per supervision hour collected at this company"
So again, READ YOUR CONTACT! ! !
Then signed it, if your happy with your contract and supervisor.
With the supervision contract in place, you can start working towards the completion of the required fieldwork hours, all while receiving supervision from your BCBA.
The Monthly Supervision Requirements
After going over your supervision contract, it should have been outlined what type
supervision you and your supervisor planned on doing....
Either, Supervised or Concentracted Supervised fieldwork.
The BACB handbook has specific guidelines in place to ensure that you receive the necessary supervision throughout your fieldwork experience.
Supervised Fieldwork
For supervised fieldwork:
You are required to accrue a minimum of 2000 hours.
4 monthly contacts by your supervisor
1 MUST be in person
No, least than 20 hours per month
No, more than 130 hours collected per month
At least 5% must be supervised.
This means that you will need to have regular contact with your supervisor, who will observe your work and provide guidance and feedback.
And completion of fieldwork experience hours CANNOT be completed in least than 15 months.
Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork
If you choose concentrated supervised fieldwork:
You are required to accrue a minimum of 1500 hours.
6 monthly contacts by your supervisor
1 MUST be in person
No, least than 20 hours per month
No, more than 130 hours collected per month
At least 5% must be supervised.
This means that you will need to have regular contact with your supervisor, who will observe your work and provide guidance and feedback.
And completion of fieldwork experience hours CANNOT be completed in least than 11 months.
Type of Fieldwork | Total Hours Required | Minimum Supervised Hours |
Supervised Fieldwork | 2000 hours | 5% |
Concentrated Supervised Fieldwork | 1500 hours | 10% |
Yes, you can collect both!
But it's you collect both concentrated and supervised hours you have to get 2,000 hours total.
Calulating your concentrated hours by 1.33.
Meaning if you collected 95 concentrated hours in one month.
95 x 1.33 =136.35 hours for that month.
Moving on to TRACKING your BCBA Supervision Hours!
Keeping track of your BCBA supervision hours is crucial to ensure that you meet the BACB's requirements and successfully complete your fieldwork experience.
It's important to accurately document your supervision hours and have a clear understanding of the tracking process.
Now I so have a TRACKER
you can use that ONLY tracks Supervised fieldworh hours not Concentracted, but to be fair I will include another free tracker online Ripley. Which does track both!
I preferred mines, because I had full control over it.
Unlike Ripley, if that website crashed I would have lost all of my documented hours.
So I was just playing it safe.
Please, BEWARE of tracking your hours and keeping your documentation with your COMPANY EMAIL ADDRESS!
I Quit a job, they deleted my work email... I lost 329 hours!
Don't say I didn't warn you!
It's essential to keep a backup of your supervision forms and regularly review them to ensure that you are on track.
These forms serve as a record of your progress and can be used for future reference or in case of an audit.
BCBA Field Experience Requirements:
Activity Type | Percentage of Fieldwork Hours |
Unrestricted Activities | At least 60% |
Restricted Activities | No more than 40% |
By maintaining the appropriate balance between unrestricted and restricted activities, you can ensure that you gain the necessary skills and experiences to excel in your career as a behavior analyst.
SIDENOTE: Please STOP tracking restricted after you get to 40%... It will mess up your 40 - 60 requirement.
For example with the 2,000 hours.
40% of 2000 is 800 hours.
60% of 2000 is 1,200 hours.
If you keep tracking and you get like 1000 restricted hours and 1200 unrestricted hours...
Guess what?
Now you got a total of 2,200 hours
AND 1,320 of that 2,200 needs to be Unrestricted, because you tracked too many restricted hours.
So just stop at your 40% restricted.
Let's Restricted and Unrestricted Activities!
Restricted Hours is a straight as it go:
Delivering therapeutic and instructional procedures.
An other works, direct client engagment!
You can't really mess this up lol
But just some reminders:
Cannot be family members or close friends
Does NOT count if the client is sleeping, at OT, Speech or PT
Unrestricted hours: BACB states unrestricted hours are
• observation and data collection
• training staff and caregivers on behavior-analytic programs or content
• conducting assessments related to the need for behavioral intervention
• meeting with clients about behavior-analytic programming and services
• conducting behavior-analytic assessments (e.g., functional analyses, stimulus preference assessments)
• data graphing and analysis
• researching the literature relevant to a current client’s programming
• writing and revising behavior-analytic programs
Now, I do have few unrestricted activities you can do, BUT be sure to get them cleared by your supervisor.
At the end of the day, your supervisor should have everything you need.
However again, everyone isn't going to get the best supervision experience.
So, no worries... I GOT YOU for the free!
I'll get into more about BCBA supervision, but to get start.
I believe this is everything you need to know..... FOR NOW! :)
Nice chatting with chu... BYE !
For more information also go back to the BACB Handbook:
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