Ethical decision-making is not an innate skill. It is a behavioral repertoire that must be systematically taught, practiced, and reinforced over time.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via New Jersey Association for Behavior Analysis
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →As our field of ABA has evolved, so has the guidance from the BACB on how to conduct oneself as a Behavior Analyst in an ethical manner. In addition, ethical decision making is a skillset that often comes over time and experience in the field. As a result of the evolution of our ethical code and the process of analyzing potentially harmful situations, we are now expecting newly certified clinicians to be able to navigate new and often convoluted territory. Often, these situations are complex and there is no black and white answer as to how to proceed. It is up to our supervisors and mentors in the field to properly prepare students of Behavior Analysis for the grey of ethical decision making. This presentation will cover how to teach the ethical decision-making process as a part of their experiences and the supervision activities occurring throughout the candidates' education and field experience.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1.5 | Ethics |
| COA | 0 | — |
Crystal earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology with an emphasis in Applied Behavior Analysis in 1994 from Florida State University, and a Master of Education in 2001 from Arcadia University in Glenside, Pennsylvania — a program in which she later taught as an adjunct professor. She became a Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst (CABA-fl) in 1997 in Florida, where certification in the field originated. She then became a charter certificant for the BCaBA certification in 2000 and served on the organization’s Board of Directors for 4 years. Crystal sat for her boards in November of 2020 and obtained her full BCBA. Crystal serves as an adjunct professor for Rowan University in the Psychology Department (since 2006) and the Center for Behavior Analysis, Research, and Service (since 2021). Throughout her career, Crystal has worked as a behavior analyst, teacher, clinical director and learning consultant in public and private facilities and in homes. She has treated children and adults with developmental disabilities, mental health diagnoses, and other behavioral needs, working in partnership with their caregivers, therapists, and educators. She has had the privilege of providing these services across the United States and in parts of Canada. Crystal is passionate about taking this breadth of experience and using it to support our newest practitioners coming into the field. Crystal lives in Medford, New Jersey with her husband and rescue dog a few miles away from her horse and has two adult children that live in the NJ and PA areas.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
256 research articles with practitioner takeaways
252 research articles with practitioner takeaways
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.