(a) The contractor must have a program manager who
provides the supervision of the staff and oversight of the assessment
and treatment of children. The program manager must have:
(1) a master's or doctoral degree from an accredited
institution of higher education in psychology, behavior analysis,
or a related field;
(2) documented graduate-level coursework in behavioral
assessment and intervention, selecting outcomes and strategies, behavior
change procedures, experimental methods, and measuring and interpreting
behavioral data;
(3) at least one year of experience in providing services
to children within the age range of 3 through 15 years of age with
diagnoses on the autism spectrum;
(4) knowledge of typical child development for children
3 through 15 years of age; and
(5) a BCBA or BCBA-D certification.
(b) The DARS contractor must have at least one BCBA
with one year of experience in providing services for each age covered
in the range of 3 through 15 years of age with a diagnosis on the
autism spectrum.
(c) All staff members who provide direct services to
children must at a minimum:
(1) have a high school diploma; and
(2) be 18 years of age.
(d) All direct service staff members must receive training
before working independently and on an ongoing basis. Training must:
(1) be formalized training developed and overseen by
BCBA supervisors on methods for data collection, procedures for implementing
discrete trial teaching, prompting procedures, behavior management
strategies for addressing problem behavior, and other ABA techniques
and program specific methods;
(2) be provided or overseen by a BCBA through didactic
instruction, workshops, readings, observation of modeling of techniques
by supervisors, role-play with supervisors, and training in the natural
environment in which supervisors provide specific feedback and additional
training as needed;
(3) be assessed for effectiveness through written exams
(with criteria to determine mastery) or direct observation by BCBA
supervisors of therapists working directly with children (with fidelity
checklists to determine accurate use of procedures and criteria to
determine mastery) to ensure individual acquisition of the skills
necessary to accurately implement ABA treatments;
(4) cover all of the tasks in the Behavior Analyst
Certification Board's Registered Behavior Technician Task List and
Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for Behavior Analysts that have
been designated as relevant for behavior technicians;
(5) have a cumulative duration of at least 40 hours;
(6) include ethics and professional conduct training;
and
(7) include training on typical child development for
children 3 through 15 years of age.
(e) All direct service staff members must be supervised
by a BCBA or BCBA-D. Supervision must:
(1) occur at least once every two weeks;
(2) include direct observation of ABA programming to
assess if procedures are implemented accurately and to inform the
supervisor on the potential need to adjust teaching procedures; and
(3) include ongoing review, no less than two times
per week, of data from ABA programs and data pertaining to problem
behavior.
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