Abstract
Many behavior analysts currently work in school settings or with individuals who may qualify for educational services through federal special education law. However, it remains unclear what training, if any, behavior analysts receive in this law. Behavior analysts have an ethical responsibility to practice within their scope of competency and in compliance with legal regulations. Thus, it is important to determine whether behavior analysts practicing in the United States are adequately prepared and familiar with federal special education law. The current study consisted of a survey wherein respondents answered questions pertaining to the relevance of federal special education law, their familiarity with core terminology, and the alignment between the law and the Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts (Behavior Analyst Certification Board, 2016). Respondents’ self-report indicates that behavior analysts hold conflicting views on how federal special education law aligns with and influences their role as service providers. As such, practitioners and agencies alike may benefit from explicit clarification of the responsibility Board Certified Behavior Analysts have to seek training in and adhere to federal special education law.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data collected are reported in the tables of the article.
References
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2016). The professional and ethical compliance code for behavior analysts. https://www.bacb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BACB-Compliance-Code-english_190318.pdf
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2017). BCBA task list (5th ed.). https://www.bacb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/BCBA-task-list-5th-ed-200818.pdf
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2020). Ethics code for behavior analysts. https://www.bacb.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/BACB-Compliance-Code-english_190318.pdf
Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (n.d.). BACB certificant data. Retrieved January 6, 2021, from https://www.bacb.com/BACB-certificant-data
Breeman, S. L. (2020). Survey on SpEd law. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4321890
Cox, D. J. (2021). Descriptive and normative ethical behavior appear to be functionally distinct. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 54(1), 168–191. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaba.761
Dunning, D. (2011). The Dunning-Kruger effect: On being ignorant of one’s own ignorance. In J. M. Olson & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 44, pp. 247–296). https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-385522-0.00005-6
Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975, Pub. L. No. 94-142, 89 Stat. 773 (1975). https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/STATUTE-89/STATUTE-89-Pg773/summary
Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114-95, 129 Stat. 1802 (2015). https://www.congress.gov/114/plaws/publ95/PLAW-114publ95.pdf
Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, Pub. L. No. 108-446, 118 Stat. 2647 (2004). https://sites.ed.gov/idea/statuteregulations/
Mueller, T. G. (2015). Litigation and special education. Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 26(3), 135–143. https://doi.org/10.1177/1044207314533382.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2021). Students with disabilities. Retrieved January 3, 2022 from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator_cgg.asp
Pennsylvania Association for Retarded Children v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 334 F. Supp. 1257 (E.D. Pa. 1971). https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/334/1257/1743299/
Seabold, S., & Perktold, J. (2010). Statsmodels: Econometric and statistical modeling with Python. Proceedings of the 9th Python in Science Conference. https://conference.scipy.org/proceedings/scipy2010/pdfs/seabold.pdf
Sprinthall, R. C. (2011). Basic statistical analysis ((9th ed.). ed.). Pearson.
Yell, M. L. (2016). The law and special education ((4th ed.). ed.). Pearson.
Zirkel, P. A. (2011). Autism litigation under the IDEA: A new meaning of “disproportionality”? Journal of Special Education Leadership, 24(2), 92–103 http://www.myschoolpsychology.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Zirkel-Article-on-Autism-Litigation-Disproportional.pdf
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical approval
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vladescu, J.C., Breeman, S.L., Cox, D.J. et al. What’s the Big IDEA? A Preliminary Analysis of Behavior Analysts’ Self-Reported Training in and Knowledge of Federal Special Education Law. Behav Analysis Practice 15, 867–880 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00673-6
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-021-00673-6