BCBAs in Independent Practice

[Anonymous]

In a couple different threads recently, people have mentioned working with a BCBA who is independently practicing, as opposed to going through a company where the BCBA designs the plan, but it is an often inexperienced RBT or BT who is implementing the plan on a day to day basis. My question is, how do you find a BCBA who is independently practicing? Does anybody know of any? In one thread, someone mentioned Capital ABA. Are there any others in this area?

[Anonymous]

https://www.bacb.com/services/o.php?page=101135

You’ll want to check the box for BCBA or BCBA-D. BCBA indicates master’s degree, BCBA-D indicates doctorate level. You’ll probably have more success with BCBA than BCBA, the BCBA-D is often professors, most don’t do direct service. There are exceptions of course. BCaBA can sometimes be a good option too, but it depends. These are Bachelor level and often enrolled in a BCBA program, though not always. They can only practice semi- independently though, they require supervision from a BCBA. Some are really great though, so might be worth checking out if it comes to that. You can search by zip code and email from here for some providers. You can also see date of initial certification, which is useful for determining experience duration though you’ll still want to thoroughly vet anyone you use for compatibility and knowledge specific to your needs.

You might also check with your state for LBA’s, some states have it some don’t. It doesn’t really add anything IMO, like there’s typically nothing additional one must do to get an LBA except jump through some hoops. It’s just another resource that might help you locate what you’re looking for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bacb.com/services/o.php?page=101135

You’ll want to check the box for BCBA or BCBA-D. BCBA indicates master’s degree, BCBA-D indicates doctorate level. You’ll probably have more success with BCBA than BCBA, the BCBA-D is often professors, most don’t do direct service. There are exceptions of course. BCaBA can sometimes be a good option too, but it depends. These are Bachelor level and often enrolled in a BCBA program, though not always. They can only practice semi- independently though, they require supervision from a BCBA. Some are really great though, so might be worth checking out if it comes to that. You can search by zip code and email from here for some providers. You can also see date of initial certification, which is useful for determining experience duration though you’ll still want to thoroughly vet anyone you use for compatibility and knowledge specific to your needs.

You might also check with your state for LBA’s, some states have it some don’t. It doesn’t really add anything IMO, like there’s typically nothing additional one must do to get an LBA except jump through some hoops. It’s just another resource that might help you locate what you’re looking for.

I have done this entire thing about a year ago. When licensed specialists come up, there is absolutely no way to tell if they are in a larger practice or solo. I ended up googling quite a few names and all of them were in multi-provider practices. So the search method above is total garbage.

OP, I don't know what area you're in, but in close-in Maryland I found only one provider (by word of mouth), which is Prya LLC (Sonali R.). It's expensive to have a BCBA for all hours, and she doesn't take insurance, so you'll need fairly decent out of network benefits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bacb.com/services/o.php?page=101135

You’ll want to check the box for BCBA or BCBA-D. BCBA indicates master’s degree, BCBA-D indicates doctorate level. You’ll probably have more success with BCBA than BCBA, the BCBA-D is often professors, most don’t do direct service. There are exceptions of course. BCaBA can sometimes be a good option too, but it depends. These are Bachelor level and often enrolled in a BCBA program, though not always. They can only practice semi- independently though, they require supervision from a BCBA. Some are really great though, so might be worth checking out if it comes to that. You can search by zip code and email from here for some providers. You can also see date of initial certification, which is useful for determining experience duration though you’ll still want to thoroughly vet anyone you use for compatibility and knowledge specific to your needs.

You might also check with your state for LBA’s, some states have it some don’t. It doesn’t really add anything IMO, like there’s typically nothing additional one must do to get an LBA except jump through some hoops. It’s just another resource that might help you locate what you’re looking for.

I have done this entire thing about a year ago. When licensed specialists come up, there is absolutely no way to tell if they are in a larger practice or solo. I ended up googling quite a few names and all of them were in multi-provider practices. So the search method above is total garbage.

OP, I don't know what area you're in, but in close-in Maryland I found only one provider (by word of mouth), which is Prya LLC (Sonali R.). It's expensive to have a BCBA for all hours, and she doesn't take insurance, so you'll need fairly decent out of network benefits.

I would not eliminate multi-provider practices, just find BCBA’s that will do direct services. Most will if you are private pay. The push for RBT model comes through insurance as it’s cheaper.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.bacb.com/services/o.php?page=101135

You’ll want to check the box for BCBA or BCBA-D. BCBA indicates master’s degree, BCBA-D indicates doctorate level. You’ll probably have more success with BCBA than BCBA, the BCBA-D is often professors, most don’t do direct service. There are exceptions of course. BCaBA can sometimes be a good option too, but it depends. These are Bachelor level and often enrolled in a BCBA program, though not always. They can only practice semi- independently though, they require supervision from a BCBA. Some are really great though, so might be worth checking out if it comes to that. You can search by zip code and email from here for some providers. You can also see date of initial certification, which is useful for determining experience duration though you’ll still want to thoroughly vet anyone you use for compatibility and knowledge specific to your needs.

You might also check with your state for LBA’s, some states have it some don’t. It doesn’t really add anything IMO, like there’s typically nothing additional one must do to get an LBA except jump through some hoops. It’s just another resource that might help you locate what you’re looking for.

I have done this entire thing about a year ago. When licensed specialists come up, there is absolutely no way to tell if they are in a larger practice or solo. I ended up googling quite a few names and all of them were in multi-provider practices. So the search method above is total garbage.

OP, I don't know what area you're in, but in close-in Maryland I found only one provider (by word of mouth), which is Prya LLC (Sonali R.). It's expensive to have a BCBA for all hours, and she doesn't take insurance, so you'll need fairly decent out of network benefits.

You shouldn’t need as many hours if you have BCBA only. If you’re willing to do direct service yourself and open to parent training you will get more out of the services as well. I can train a parent to do RBT work if they’re willing to learn. A BCBA should be able to do in 20 hours what an RBT can do in 40, maybe more if you’re parent training too. Just my experience and opinion.

Also if you are working sans insurance the price may be cheaper IF you find a sole practitioner, meaning they do everything themselves and have minimal office & staff overhead. I don’t charge insurance rates for private pay because most of my headaches come from insurance processes. I don’t even accept insurance at all because they go against what I consider best practice. Is it difficult to locate yes, impossible no, my point though is eliminating insurance will greatly increase your options for providers. You can even hire consultants online that fly to you and train you and staff you hire then consult virtually for follow up. That’s how it used to be done before insurance.

There are many options, a lot depends on age and needs and parent willingness to do the work. It’s a lot of work no matter how you go about it. What I listed above is merely a starting point. If you need other options or can provide other details or have additional questions let me know if I can help.

[Anonymous]

Our develolmentalmpediatrician referred us to ours. She had been impressed at the work that this BCBA had done with her patients.

It was Anna at Paving Pathways. It has been a few years, so Indont know if she is still in the Fairfax/ Annandale area. She did also train us as parents and she had grad students working with her as shadows in preschool settings.