All Relias Registered Behavior Technicians™ Courses Comply With New Behavior Analyst Certification Board Requirements

Updates come in response to changes which went into effect November 2019.

MORRISVILLE, NC, December 17, 2019 – Relias, a trusted educational provider to more than 10,000 clients around the world, has announced that Relias courses developed for Registered Behavior Technicians™ (RBTs) have been updated and revised to meet with the new Behavior Analyst Certification Board^® (BACB^®) requirements went into effect on November 1^st. Relias updated courses and created new courses to ensure that its training meets every requirement of the BACB’s RBT Task List 2^nd edition.

RBT Updates

RBTs provide applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy to people, primarily children, with autism. To be a BACB-credentialed RBT, one must undergo 40 hours of training, pass a competency assessment and pass the RBT exam. Thousands of RBTs have received the required hours of training and prepared for the RBT exam through Relias online courses.

As announced in the BACB’s December 2018 newsletter, several important RBT requirements changed on November 1, 2019. Relias has updated the RBT training plan to ensure that learners will be compliant with the new requirements and eligible to take the newly revised RBT Exam. The new RBT requirements include changes to six items on the RBT task list as well as the addition of three new tasks and the deletion of three tasks.

The Relias content team worked to ensure that new courses were developed and others revised to meet the new requirements. Rhonda Davin, BCBA-D, Relias in-house ABA subject matter expert, conducted a thorough analysis of the changes and incorporated them into the coursework. Courses were sent out for external review by other BCBAs and then were developed using Relias’ state of the art instructional design.

Supervision Updates

Starting in November 2019, the eight-hour training required for supervisors must be based on the Supervisor Training Curriculum Outline 2.0. The current training curriculum includes updated content for both supervision of trainees and ongoing supervision of RBTs and Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (BCaBAs). The new curriculum distinguishes between items specific to trainees and items specific to those receiving ongoing supervision.

“Supervision is the process by which new professionals are ushered into the profession and those who provide direct services maintain and improve their skills and decision making,” said Rhonda Davin, Ph.D., BCBA-D, BCBA/SME, and BCBA Subject Matter Expert and ACE for Relias. “As the number of practitioners continues to grow, the need to clarify the definition of an effective ABA professional does also.”

The new requirements come as the number of RBTs has skyrocketed from 25,853 in 2016 to over 60,000 as of July 2019. This increase comes as demand for services has expanded with an increasing demand from payer sources that credentialed individuals provide those services.