New Jersey Behavior Analyst — Requirements & Free Practice

• A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations (10 of 150 scored questions) (7%)

  • A.1. Explain the goals of behavior analysis as a natural science (i.e., description, prediction, control).
  • A.2. Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism).
  • A.3. Describe and explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism.
  • A.4. Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis.
  • A.5. Identify and describe dimensions of applied behavior analysis (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968).
• B. Concepts and Principles (18 of 150 scored questions) (12%)

  • B.1. Identify and distinguish among behavior, response, and response class.
  • B.2. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and stimulus class.
  • B.3. Identify and distinguish between respondent and operant conditioning.
  • B.4. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement contingencies.
  • B.5. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative punishment contingencies.
  • B.6. Identify and distinguish between automatic and socially mediated contingencies.
  • B.7. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized reinforcers and punishers.
  • B.8. Identify and distinguish among simple schedules of reinforcement.
  • B.9. Identify examples of operant extinction.
  • B.10. Identify and distinguish between types of stimulus control.
  • B.11. Identify and distinguish between discrimination and generalization.
  • B.12. Define and identify examples of unconditioned motivating operations.
  • B.13. Identify and distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.
  • B.14. Identify and distinguish among elementary verbal operants.
  • B.15. Define and identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance.
• C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation (20 of 150 scored questions) (13%)

  • C.1. Define and identify dimensions of behavior (e.g., count, duration, magnitude).
  • C.2. Describe the form (i.e., topography) and develop operational definitions of behavior.
  • C.3. Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures of behavior.
  • C.4. Develop and implement continuous measurement procedures (e.g., duration recording, event recording).
  • C.5. Develop and implement discontinuous measurement procedures (e.g., interval recording, time sampling).
  • C.6. Evaluate the validity and reliability of measurement procedures.
  • C.7. Select a measurement system to obtain representative data given the dimensions of behavior and the logistics of observing and recording.
  • C.8. Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations (e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulative records).
  • C.9. Interpret graphed data.
  • C.10. Develop and evaluate mastery criteria.
• D. Experimental Design (10 of 150 scored questions) (7%)

  • D.1. Distinguish between dependent and independent variables.
  • D.2. Distinguish between internal and external validity.
  • D.3. Identify the defining features of single-case experimental designs (e.g., individuals serve as their own controls, repeated measures, prediction, verification, replication).
  • D.4. Identify strengths of single-case experimental design.
  • D.5. Distinguish among and implement single-case experimental designs (e.g., reversal, multiple baseline, multielement, changing criterion).
  • D.6. Distinguish among and implement comparative, component, and parametric analyses.
• E. Ethical and Professional Issues (18 of 150 scored questions) (12%)

  • E.1. Identify and apply core principles underlying the ethics codes for BACB certificants (e.g., benefit others; treat others with compassion, dignity, and respect; behave with integrity).
  • E.2. Identify the risks to oneself, others, and the profession associated with engaging in unethical behavior (e.g., misuse of social media, misrepresentation of one’s credential, making confidential information public).
  • E.3. Identify one’s area(s) of competence and when to seek a supervisor’s guidance.
  • E.4. Identify professional development activities that strengthen and expand areas of competence (e.g., attend conferences, read literature, seek consultation, establish mentors).
  • E.5. Identify and comply with requirements for collecting, using, protecting, and disclosing confidential information.
  • E.6. Identify steps that should be taken when transitioning clients or supervisees to another professional or when a BCaBA transitions to a different supervisor.
  • E.7. Identify types of and risks associated with multiple relationships, and how to mitigate those risks when they are unavoidable.
  • E.8. Identify and apply interpersonal and other skills (e.g., accepting feedback, listening actively, seeking input, collaborating) to establish and maintain professional relationships.
  • E.9. Engage in cultural humility in service delivery and professional relationships.
  • E.10. Apply culturally responsive and inclusive service and supervision activities.
  • E.11. Identify and apply the legal, regulatory, and practice requirements (e.g., licensure, jurisprudence, funding, certification) relevant to the delivery of behavior-analytic services.
• F. Behavior Assessment (17 of 150 scored questions) (11%)

  • F.1. Review relevant information in available records and data (e.g., educational, medical, historical) at the outset of a case.
  • F.2. Identify conditions that warrant behavior-analytic services.
  • F.3. Identify and prioritize socially significant, client-informed, and culturally responsive behavior-change goals.
  • F.4. Implement assessments of relevant skill strengths and deficits, and contextual fit (e.g., client values, cultural variables, social validity, environmental resources).
  • F.5. Implement preference and reinforcer assessments.
  • F.6. Implement functional assessments of behavior, including indirect, descriptive, and experimental analyses.
• G. Behavior-Change Procedures (22 of 150 scored questions) (15%)

  • G.1. Develop and implement positive and negative reinforcement procedures, including contingent and noncontingent applications.
  • G.2. Develop and implement procedures to establish and use conditioned reinforcers.
  • G.3. Develop and implement procedures that incorporate motivating operations and discriminative stimuli.
  • G.4. Develop and implement procedures to teach simple and conditional discriminations.
  • G.5. Develop and implement procedures using stimulus and response prompts that include appropriate fading procedures (e.g., errorless, least-to-most, stimulus fading).
  • G.6. Develop and implement modeling procedures.
  • G.7. Develop and implement procedures that use instructions and rules.
  • G.8. Develop and implement shaping procedures.
  • G.9. Develop and implement chaining procedures.
  • G.10. Develop and implement procedures to teach elementary verbal operants.
  • G.11. Develop and implement procedures to promote emergent relations and generative performance.
  • G.12. Develop and implement procedures that promote behavioral persistence.
  • G.13. Develop and implement acquisition procedures that are appropriate to the client’s skills and intervention goals (e.g., discrete-trial, free-operant, and naturalistic teaching arrangements).
  • G.14. Develop and implement group contingency procedures.
  • G.15. Develop and implement contingency contracting procedures.
  • G.16. Develop and implement self-management procedures.
  • G.17. Develop and implement procedures to promote stimulus and response generalization.
  • G.18. Develop and implement differential reinforcement procedures with and without extinction.
  • G.19. Define and implement positive and negative punishment procedures (e.g., time-out, response cost, overcorrection).
  • G.20. Develop and implement procedures to promote maintenance of behavior change.
• H. Intervention Development and Monitoring (20 of 150 scored questions) (13%)

  • H.1. State intervention goals in observable and measurable terms.
  • H.2. Identify potential interventions based on assessment results and scientific evidence.
  • H.3. Develop intervention goals and procedures based on risks and contextual fit (e.g., client preferences and values, cultural variables, social validity, environmental resources).
  • H.4. Identify alternative behaviors to be established or increased when a target behavior is to be decreased.
  • H.5. Identify possible unwanted effects when using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures.
  • H.6. Evaluate client progress and procedural integrity.
  • H.7. Make data-based decisions about the effectiveness of procedures and the need for modification.
  • H.8. Collaborate with and include others who support and/or provide services to clients.
• I. Supervisory Relationships (15 of 150 scored questions) (10%)

  • I.1. Use behavior-analytic supervision practices and state the potential risks of ineffective supervision (e.g., poor client outcomes, impaired job satisfaction, employee turnover).
  • I.2. Identify and apply strategies for establishing and maintaining effective supervisory relationships (e.g., active listening, providing reinforcement, reciprocal feedback).
  • I.3. Identify and implement methods that promote equity in supervision practices.
  • I.4. Establish clear performance expectations for the supervisor and supervisee.
  • I.5. Select supervision goals based on an assessment of the supervisee’s skills.
  • I.6. Apply empirically validated and competency-based approaches to train supervisees to perform assessment and intervention procedures.
  • I.7. Identify and apply empirically validated and culturally responsive performance management procedures (e.g., modeling, practice, feedback, reinforcement, task clarification, manipulation of response effort).
  • I.8. Apply a function-based approach (e.g., performance diagnostics) to assess and improve supervisee behavior.
  • I.9. Evaluate the effects of supervision (e.g., on client outcomes, on supervisee repertoires).

Inferred from the examination name; the authority has not published an examination outline.

• Applied Behavior Analyst Licensing Act
• Uniform Enforcement Act — Title 45, Chapter 1
• Board of Applied Behavior Analyst Examiners Rules — N.J.A.C. 13:42B
• Uniform Regulations — N.J.A.C. 13:45C

• A. Behaviorism and Philosophical Foundations (8 of 175 scored questions) (5%)

  • A.1. Identify the goals of behavior analysis as a science (i.e., description, prediction, control).
  • A.2. Explain the philosophical assumptions underlying the science of behavior analysis (e.g., selectionism, determinism, empiricism, parsimony, pragmatism).
  • A.3. Explain behavior from the perspective of radical behaviorism.
  • A.4. Distinguish among behaviorism, the experimental analysis of behavior, applied behavior analysis, and professional practice guided by the science of behavior analysis.
  • A.5. Identify and describe dimensions of applied behavior analysis.
• B. Concepts and Principles (24 of 175 scored questions) (14%)

  • B.1. Identify and distinguish among behavior, response, and response class.
  • B.2. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and stimulus class.
  • B.3. Identify and distinguish between respondent and operant conditioning.
  • B.4. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative reinforcement contingencies.
  • B.5. Identify and distinguish between positive and negative punishment contingencies.
  • B.6. Identify and distinguish between automatic and socially mediated contingencies.
  • B.7. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized reinforcers.
  • B.8. Identify and distinguish among unconditioned, conditioned, and generalized punishers.
  • B.9. Identify and distinguish among simple schedules of reinforcement.
  • B.10. Identify and distinguish among concurrent, multiple, mixed, and chained schedules of reinforcement.
  • B.11. Identify and distinguish between operant and respondent extinction as operations and processes.
  • B.12. Identify examples of stimulus control.
  • B.13. Identify examples of stimulus discrimination.
  • B.14. Identify and distinguish between stimulus and response generalization.
  • B.15. Identify examples of response maintenance.
  • B.16. Identify examples of motivating operations.
  • B.17. Distinguish between motivating operations and stimulus control.
  • B.18. Identify and distinguish between rule-governed and contingency-shaped behavior.
  • B.19. Identify and distinguish among verbal operants.
  • B.20. Identify the role of multiple control in verbal behavior.
  • B.21. Identify examples of processes that promote emergent relations and generative performance.
  • B.22. Identify ways behavioral momentum can be used to understand response persistence.
  • B.23. Identify ways the matching law can be used to interpret response allocation.
  • B.24. Identify and distinguish between imitation and observational learning.
• C. Measurement, Data Display, and Interpretation (21 of 175 scored questions) (12%)

  • C.1. Create operational definitions of behavior.
  • C.2. Distinguish among direct, indirect, and product measures of behavior.
  • C.3. Measure occurrence.
  • C.4. Measure temporal dimensions of behavior (e.g., duration, latency, interresponse time).
  • C.5. Distinguish between continuous and discontinuous measurement procedures.
  • C.6. Design and apply discontinuous measurement procedures (e.g., interval recording, time sampling).
  • C.7. Measure efficiency (e.g., trials to criterion, cost-benefit analysis, training duration).
  • C.8. Evaluate the validity and reliability of measurement procedures.
  • C.9. Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative data that accounts for the critical dimension of the behavior and environmental constraints.
  • C.10. Graph data to communicate relevant quantitative relations (e.g., equal-interval graphs, bar graphs, cumulative records).
  • C.11. Interpret graphed data.
  • C.12. Select a measurement procedure to obtain representative procedural integrity data that accounts for relevant dimensions (e.g., accuracy, dosage) and environmental constraints.
• D. Experimental Design (13 of 175 scored questions) (7%)

  • D.1. Distinguish between dependent and independent variables.
  • D.2. Distinguish between internal and external validity.
  • D.3. Identify threats to internal validity (e.g., history, maturation).
  • D.4. Identify the defining features of single-case experimental designs (e.g., individuals serve as their own controls, repeated measures, prediction, verification, replication).
  • D.5. Identify the relative strengths of single-case experimental designs and group designs.
  • D.6. Critique and interpret data from single-case experimental designs.
  • D.7. Distinguish among reversal, multiple-baseline, multielement, and changing-criterion designs.
  • D.8. Identify rationales for conducting comparative, component, and parametric analyses.
  • D.9. Apply single-case experimental designs.
• E. Ethical and Professional Issues (22 of 175 scored questions) (13%)

  • E.1. Identify and apply core principles underlying the ethics codes for BACB certificants (e.g., benefit others; treat others with compassion, dignity, and respect; behave with integrity).
  • E.2. Identify the risks to oneself, others, and the profession as a result of engaging in unethical behavior.
  • E.3. Develop and maintain competence by engaging in professional development activities (e.g., read literature, seek consultation, establish mentors).
  • E.4. Identify and comply with requirements for collecting, using, protecting, and disclosing confidential information.
  • E.5. Identify and comply with requirements for making public statements about professional activities (e.g., social media activity; misrepresentation of professional credentials, behavior analysis, and service outcomes).
  • E.6. Identify the conditions under which services or supervision should be discontinued and apply steps that should be taken when transitioning clients and supervisees to another professional.
  • E.7. Identify types of and risks associated with multiple relationships, and how to mitigate those risks when they are unavoidable.
  • E.8. Identify and apply interpersonal and other skills (e.g., accepting feedback, listening actively, seeking input, collaborating) to establish and maintain professional relationships.
  • E.9. Engage in cultural humility in service delivery and professional relationships.
  • E.10. Apply culturally responsive and inclusive service and supervision activities.
  • E.11. Identify personal biases and how they might interfere with professional activity.
  • E.12. Identify and apply the legal, regulatory, and practice requirements (e.g., licensure, jurisprudence, funding, certification) relevant to the delivery of behavior-analytic services.
• F. Behavior Assessment (23 of 175 scored questions) (13%)

  • F.1. Identify relevant sources of information in records (e.g., educational, medical, historical) at the outset of the case.
  • F.2. Identify and integrate relevant cultural variables in the assessment process.
  • F.3. Design and evaluate assessments of relevant skill strengths and areas of need.
  • F.4. Design and evaluate preference assessments.
  • F.5. Design and evaluate descriptive assessments.
  • F.6. Design and evaluate functional analyses.
  • F.7. Interpret assessment data to determine the need for behavior-analytic services and/or referral to others.
  • F.8. Interpret assessment data to identify and prioritize socially significant, client-informed, and culturally responsive behavior-change procedures and goals.
• G. Behavior-Change Procedures (25 of 175 scored questions) (14%)

  • G.1. Design and evaluate positive and negative reinforcement procedures.
  • G.2. Design and evaluate differential reinforcement (e.g., DRA, DRO, DRL, DRH) procedures with and without extinction.
  • G.3. Design and evaluate time-based reinforcement (e.g., fixed-time) schedules.
  • G.4. Identify procedures to establish and use conditioned reinforcers (e.g., token economies).
  • G.5. Incorporate motivating operations and discriminative stimuli into behavior-change procedures.
  • G.6. Design and evaluate procedures to produce simple and conditional discriminations.
  • G.7. Select and evaluate stimulus and response prompting procedures (e.g., errorless, most-to-least, least-to-most).
  • G.8. Design and implement procedures to fade stimulus and response prompts (e.g., prompt delay, stimulus fading).
  • G.9. Design and evaluate modeling procedures.
  • G.10. Design and evaluate instructions and rules.
  • G.11. Shape dimensions of behavior.
  • G.12. Select and implement chaining procedures.
  • G.13. Design and evaluate trial-based and free-operant procedures.
  • G.14. Design and evaluate group contingencies.
  • G.15. Design and evaluate procedures to promote stimulus and response generalization.
  • G.16. Design and evaluate procedures to maintain desired behavior change following intervention (e.g., schedule thinning, transferring to naturally occurring reinforcers).
  • G.17. Design and evaluate positive and negative punishment (e.g., time-out, response cost, overcorrection).
  • G.18. Evaluate emotional and elicited effects of behavior-change procedures.
  • G.19. Design and evaluate procedures to promote emergent relations and generative performance.
• H. Selecting and Implementing Interventions (20 of 175 scored questions) (11%)

  • H.1. Develop intervention goals in observable and measurable terms.
  • H.2. Identify and recommend interventions based on assessment results, scientific evidence, client preferences, and contextual fit (e.g., expertise required for implementation, cultural variables, environmental resources).
  • H.3. Select socially valid alternative behavior to be established or increased when a target behavior is to be decreased.
  • H.4. Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible unwanted effects when using reinforcement, extinction, and punishment procedures.
  • H.5. Plan for and attempt to mitigate possible relapse of the target behavior.
  • H.6. Make data-based decisions about procedural integrity.
  • H.7. Make data-based decisions about the effectiveness of the intervention and the need for modification.
  • H.8. Collaborate with others to support and enhance client services.
• I. Personnel Supervision and Management (19 of 175 scored questions) (11%)

  • I.1. Identify the benefits of using behavior-analytic supervision (e.g., improved client outcomes, improved staff performance and retention).
  • I.2. Identify and apply strategies for establishing effective supervisory relationships (e.g., executing supervisor-supervisee contracts, establishing clear expectations, giving and accepting feedback).
  • I.3. Identify and implement methods that promote equity in supervision practices.
  • I.4. Select supervision goals based on an assessment of the supervisee’s skills, cultural variables, and the environment.
  • I.5. Identify and apply empirically validated and culturally responsive performance management procedures (e.g., modeling, practice, feedback, reinforcement, task clarification, manipulation of response effort).
  • I.6. Apply a function-based approach (e.g., performance diagnostics) to assess and improve supervisee behavior.
  • I.7. Make data-based decisions about the efficacy of supervisory practices.