ABA has established itself as the treatment of choice for autism and with the rates of autism becoming epidemic pressure is on private insurance companies to pay providers for ABA. Virginia and California have passed laws to require insurance companies to pay, but the question of licensure is standing in the way. Many Psychologists who are licensed as health care providers by the state are providing behavior therapy and ABA are getting reimbursed. Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) are sometimes reimbursed by insurance companies, but they are not licensed by state health boards. Their program is a certificate program administered by their organization. Some “providers” of ABA are self-taught perhaps attending a workshop or two and are not reimbursed by insurance companies. So what should a parent do? On my website, www.ABA4Autism.com, I tell caregivers that the ABA provider for their child should at least be a BCBA. It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
