New York State ABA

By Nancy Dib

The New York State Association for Behavior Analysis (NYSABA) has experienced an exciting year and we are proud to share our chapter update with ABAI for 2024. We remain busy with association projects, communicating with our membership, and advocating for the field of behavior analysis throughout New York State. NYSABA has continued to make progress in several areas this year. We are thrilled that the scope expansion bill went into effect in June 2023. NYSABA remains in close communication with the New York State Education Department (SED) on the review and clarification of new regulations. In September 2023, SED released guidance on the use of Unlicensed Personnel, which was a direct result of our advocacy and education to SED on the subject. Unlicensed Personnel are now allowed to be included in ABA therapy under the supervision of a Licensed Behavior Analyst. This allowance is general and not specific to a funder source.

In November 2023, emergency rules were finalized to implement the scope expansion and licensure exam changes.

Those changes include:

Allowing a BCBA certificant to become NYS licensed without meeting any additional requirements
Removal of autism exam and removal of NY Specific ABA exam
Allowing a graduate of an approved program to accrue supervision hours under an LBA so that they could sit for the BACB examination
Removing the restriction to autism for the profession
Removing specific coursework requirements
Making it unprofessional conduct to not send a report to the prescriber at least annually NYSABA’s Public Policy Committee is designing a form to be used to send to subscribers based on feedback from pediatricians.

Our Public Policy Committee, with the guidance of our lobbyist, has continued to work on several issues with both SED and Department of Health (DOH). Committee members continue to meet with provider groups including Council of Autism Service Providers (CASP) and Autism Speaks on a regular basis. Most recently, the Committee met with the Early Intervention Program to discuss the specifics of the inclusion of Licensed Behavior Analysts within the program. NYSABA continues to be a voice for the behavior analytic community in New York. We are focused on growing our membership in order to continue to push forward with important legislative issues happening in the state. Unfortunately, the number of licensed and certified behavior analysts in the state continue to significantly outnumber the number of members in NYSABA. All behavior analysts in the state are urged to join NYSABA so that our collective voice can be heard by the state legislature. In an effort to increase and engag membership, NYSABA hired a consultant to assist with gathering membership feedback through a survey to help identify goals that are important to our membership. The information was used to develop our 2024 Strategic Plan and goals. We are thrilled to share our new Mission Statement: NYSABA advocates for the science, practice, and growth of our field, supports professional development, and promotes the use of culturally responsive, evidencebased practices to protect the diverse populations we serve. In October 2023, we held our 34th annual conference in person in Albany. We were honored to hear keynote addresses from Dr. Mary Jane Weiss and Adrienne Bradley. There were a variety of speakers with engaging topics. We also transitioned to a new association management software and launched a new website with improved accessibility and benefits for our members. We are now planning for our 35th annual conference to be held in Albany on November 13–15, 2024. We will be accepting presentation and poster submissions from members. Also, check out our NYSABA website (www.nysaba.org) and take a look at the NYSABA Parent & Family website at www.nysabaparent.org, which includes free resources for parents and family members of consumers of behavior analysis services.

Our new 2024 Board members include Nancy Dib (President), Noor Syed (President-Elect), Tricia Moss- Lourenco (Past President), Kim Shamoun (Treasurer), Vicki Knapp (Secretary), Kozue Matsuda (Representative at Large), Amanda LaPrime (Representative at Large), Leanna Mellon (Membership Committee Chair), Kenneth Shamlian (Membership Committee Co-Chair), Fernande Ikombo-Deguenon (Finance Committee Chair), Brian Healy (Education Committee Chair), Melissa Jackson (Conference Committee Chair), Nicole DeRosa (Conference Committee Co-Chair), Rachael Atherly (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility Committee Chair), Bobbi Rogers (Consumer Representative and Chair of the Parent and Family Committee), Lauren Allen (Student Activities Committee Chair), Shannon Carr (Marketing Committee Chair), Amanda Adams (Marketing Committee Co-Chair), Maureen O’Grady (Public Policy Committee Chair) and Deborah Napolitano (Public Policy Committee Co-Chair). To better represent our vision and goals, two committees changed names in 2022. Wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2024 from New York!