How not to screw up your BCBA fieldwork hours

One of the hardest aspects of becoming a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA) is planning, documenting, and completing your fieldwork hours. The requirements are confusing, with many caveats and gotchas that can catch BCBA candidates off guard. Most BCBA candidates embark on their fieldwork journey at the same time they are studying to complete their masters degree, which makes it hard to focus on all of the fieldwork requirements, leading to mistakes and wasted effort. And mistakes can be costly, sometimes leading to hundreds of wasted hours and months of delays until completion. Here are a few tips to help you make sure you don't screw up your fieldwork hours.

Know the requirements

First, become familiar with the supervised fieldwork requirements. They are outlined in the BCBA Handbook, starting on page 15. In short you must complete between 1,500 and 2000 fieldwork hours, depending on whether you can complete concentrated hours or not. You can log a maximum of 130 hours per month, which means the quickest you can finish is in 11.5 months for concentrated hours and 15.4 months for non-concentrated. Of course, most will take longer than that, but you can probably plan on finishing in 18-24 months.

Choosing the right supervisor

Many BCBA candidates complete their fieldwork while working as an RBT, with a supervisor in the work place. If it is a good workplace, this can be a great option since it doesn't require you to pay for a supervision. However, it is also common for workplaces to require the supervisee to work for them for a set amount of time after becoming a BCBA to "pay" the employer back for their supervision. Oftentimes, these contracts require the candidate to pay the employer a fee if they choose to leave before that time is up. This is often a good deal for the BCBA candidate, allowing them to get the supervision they need without paying out of pocket, but it does create an opportunity for unscrupulous employers to take advantage of BCBA candidates by imposing excessive fees or long "payback" periods. Even if the employer is fair, this arrangement can often lock you into a job for a long period of time. If you go this route, it is important to make sure you like the workplace environment and supervisors. Look at reviews on Indeed or Glassdoor. Also, make sure you read the employment and supervisor contracts closely and identify any problems ahead of time. The second approach you can take is to pay for supervision. I'm personally less familiar with this approach, but I've had people recommend services such as ATCC, Supervision and Strategies Institute, and ABA Supervise and Learn. If you want to pursue concentrated hours, which require more supervision, you should also make that clear to your supervisor before signing a contract. Some supervisors do not have the ability to give you the necessary supervision for concentrated hours, and this expectation should be made clear before you start your fieldwork.

Understanding restricted versus unrestricted hours

The BACB requires that 60% of your fieldwork hours are unrestricted hours. These are the tasks that are most like BCBA responsibilities. This means that for 2,000 hours, you need at least 1,200 unrestricted hours.

Restricted hours

These are activities related to the direct deliverance of therapeutic and instructional procedures. In other words, this is most of the work you would do as a behavior technician when working directly with a client. You do not need to earn restricted at hours at all, but most BCBA candidates do restricted activities, especially if they are currently working as a behavior technician. The important thing to remember is that for 2,000 hours, you can log a maximum of 800 restricted hours. Anything over that number is a waste of time. This is one of the areas that I commonly see BCBA candidates make mistakes on. Early on, they focus too much on restricted activities, which make it feel like they are moving quickly through their fieldwork. But once they hit the maximum restricted hours, it is like they hit a brick wall. Suddenly, they have to figure out how to get unrestricted hours, which may be harder to accrue. I have also seen BCBA candidates mistakenly go over the maximum number of restricted hours, which can result in hundreds of wasted hours and can delay fieldwork completion by months. It is best to plan from the beginning to complete as many unrestricted hours as possible and only log restricted hours when you would be doing them anyway.

Unrestricted hours

These hours are designed to be all the things that will prepare you to be a BCBA. The BCBA Handbook lists a few example activities that count as unrestricted.

observation and data collection
training staff and caregivers on behavior-analytic programs or content
conducting assessments related to the need for behavioral intervention
meeting with clients about behavior-analytic programming and services
conducting behavior-analytic assessments (e.g., functional analyses, stimulus preference assessments)
data graphing and analysis
researching the literature relevant to a current client’s programming
writing and revising behavior-analytic programs Like I mentioned earlier, this must make up at least 60% of your total hours. When you are unsure if an activity counts as unrestricted, ask your supervisor. They should be able to help you determine the best activities to prepare yourself to become a BCBA.

Unacceptable activities

In addition, all activities you log must be behavior analytic in nature. This means most administrative tasks, such as scheduling or billing, do not count. The BACB provides a list of unacceptable activities:

Attending meetings with little or no behavior-analytic content
Providing interventions that are not based in behavior analysis
Performing nonbehavioral administrative activities
Non-behavior-analytic trainings related to service delivery (e.g., crisis management, CPR, billing systems)
Completing nonbehavioral assessments (e.g., diagnostic assessments, intellectual assessments), paperwork, documentation, billing, or any other activities that are not directly related to behavior analysis
Attending professional conferences, workshops, or university courses
Didactic-course assignments

Concentrated hours

If you complete certain requirements in a month, you can qualify for concentrated hours. Hours earned during concentrated months are multiplied by 1.33. If all of your hours are concentrated, you can finish your fieldwork in as little as 1,500 hours. You can also mix-and-match concentrated and non-concentrated hours, but this will require you do some math to figure out when you've finished the required 2,000 hours. For a month to be eligible for concentrated hours, you must complete 6 contacts with your supervisor and 10% of your total hours for the month must be supervised. If you want to complete concentrated hours, you should make a plan with your supervisor for how you will do it together.

Documentation

Lastly, one of the most important things you need to prepare for when completing your fieldwork is documenting your hours. While the BACB only requires you to submit the final Fieldwork Verification Form upon completing your hours, you must have every hour documented and a monthly Fieldwork Verification Form completed and signed for each month. If you are audited by the BACB and do not have these documents, then your fieldwork will be disqualified.

Hourly documentation

For every hour you log, you must have the following logged:

Date
Start Time
End Time
Fieldwork Type
Setting Name
Supervisor Name
Activity Category: Restricted or Unrestricted In addition, for supervised hours, you also need to record if it was in-person or online, individual or group supervision, and a summary of activity. You can choose to document them in a variety of ways, such as in a spreadsheet or through tools like BCBA Hour Tracker, but you must have every hour documented.

Monthly documentation

For each month, you must have the following documented:

Total Hours of Individual and Group Supervision
Total Number of Contacts
Total Number of Observations of the Trainee with Clients In addition, you must have a completed monthly Fieldwork Verification Form. You and your supervisor must sign this form by the end of the following month. You are not allowed to backdate these forms.

Documentation retention

All documentation, including your hour logs and monthly Fieldwork Verification Forms, must be retained for at least 7 years after you finish your fieldwork. Cloud-based tools, such as BCBA Hour Tracker, can help you store this documentation digitally, ensuring you never lose them and can produce them if you get audited.

How to finish on time

In short, the best way to make sure you don't make a costly mistake with your fieldwork is to understand the requirements, make a plan, and share it with your supervisor for feedback. It may feel overwhelming, but being prepared ahead of time can save you a lot of pain later on. BCBA Hour Tracker can help you plan your fieldwork and avoid mistakes. This tool keeps track of your hours and provides month-by-month guidance on how many hours you need, including how many unrestricted and supervised hours, to complete your fieldwork by your target date. In addition, it stores all of your documentation and monthly Fieldwork Verification Forms in the cloud, ensuring you have the proper documentation for the required 7 years.