BCAT Celebrates Second Year as Only Autism-Specific NCCA Credential
Manhattan, NY (PRWEB) January 11, 2017 -- The Behavioral Intervention Certification Council (BICC) is celebrating its second year as the first and only organization offering an autism-specific credential for behavior technicians. The National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA) accredited the Behavioral Intervention Certification Council’s Board Certified Autism Technician (BCAT) in 2015. The BCAT is the first and only NCCA-accredited autism-specific credential for behavior technicians who work directly with individuals affected by autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Additionally, BICC continues to be the only organization in the field of behavior analysis to require its certificants to register, pass, and maintain a rolling background check, rather than rely on the certificants to self-report potentially disqualifying incidents, such as arrests or criminal charges. This is a critical feature of the accreditation since behavior technicians work directly with children and adults with disabilities.
“It has been heartening to see the field of behavior analysis embrace the more rigorous standards of the BCAT credential,” said Lauren Rivera Whitlock, BICC’s executive director. “As the first organization to offer an NCCA-accredited credential for the behavior technician, BICC has experienced overwhelming acceptance by the health care industry and its consumers, who value the high quality and consumer safety that the BCAT credential represents.”
Currently, nearly 2,000 individuals across the United States and internationally are certified as Board Certified Autism Technicians. That number continues to grow rapidly as insurers and consumers address the need for quality and safety standards in the field of autism treatment by requiring accreditation as a Board Certified Autism Technician. The need for credentials of behavior technicians is widely recognized and has encouraged other organizations to pursue NCCA accreditation since the BCAT credential was first introduced in 2015.
About the Behavioral Intervention Certification Council: Founded in 2013, the Behavioral Intervention Certification Council (BICC) is a nonprofit professional certification organization acting in the public interest by establishing and enforcing education, examination, experience, and ethics requirements for behavior technicians. BICC is an independent and autonomous governing body for the BCAT certification program. Certification as a BCAT demonstrates autism-specific competency and a commitment to consumer safety by individuals who treat the deficits and behaviors associated with autism using the principles of applied behavior analysis under the supervision of a behavior analyst, licensed psychologist, or other licensed professional acting within the scope of his or her license. To learn more about BICC, please visit http://www.behavioralcertification.org.
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Lauren Rivera Whitlock, Behavioral Intervention Certification Council, http://www.bhcoe.org, +1 (914) 820-9903, [email protected]
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