What’s the Big IDEA? A Preliminary Analysis of Behavior Analysts’ Self-Reported Training in and Knowledge of Federal Special Education Law
Most BCBAs feel shaky on special-education law, so audit your own IDEA knowledge and plug the holes with targeted CEUs.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Vladescu et al. (2022) sent an online survey to U.S. BCBAs. They asked how much training each person had in federal special-education law. They also asked how confident the BCBAs felt about IDEA and Section 504 rules.
What they found
Most BCBAs said they had little or no training in special-education law. Confidence scores were all over the map. The survey showed a clear training gap that could hurt kids' services.
How this fits with other research
Copeland et al. (2025) asked the same group and got the same bad news. Their survey found most BCBAs also feel lost in general school practice. Together the two papers paint a wide skills gap, not just a law gap.
MSáez-Suanes et al. (2023) reviewed every BCBA supervision study. They found almost no experiments testing how to fix these gaps. That means we are still talking about the problem instead of running intervention studies to solve it.
Garza et al. (2018) gave us ready-made supervision tools years ago. The new survey shows few people seem to use them for law training. We already have hammers; we just need to swing them.
Why it matters
If you write IEP goals or sit at meetings, you are making legal decisions. Vladescu's data say many of us never took a single class on IDEA. Ask yourself: can I explain LRE, FAPE, and stay-put rules right now? If not, grab a CEU on special-education law this month and add a legal checklist to your supervision form.
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02At a glance
03Original 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.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2022 · doi:10.1007/s40617-021-00673-6