Candidate Statement

Crystal A. Harms, M.Ed., BCABA

My commitment to the field of behavior analysis is most evident in the amount of training and direct services that I have provided over the past 11 years to teachers, parents, school administrators and college students on the application of behavior analysis in a variety of settings.  I have been fortunate that my husband’s career allowed me to apply behavior analysis in three different states as a teacher, program coordinator, director of training, and learning consultant.  Since leaving the Navy, we have settled in New Jersey where I started my company, Behavior Counts Therapy, LLC.  Our mission statement emphasizes our commitment to provide best practice methods with a focus on family.  I have formed a relationship with Rowan University and BCT is now a field site for bachelor’s level students receiving the Psychology department’s specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis.  I have also been a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis since 1994 and served as both Vice-President of the Capital area chapter and President of the First Coast chapter of Florida.  I have also attended the last two ABA conventions and already have made plans to come to Atlanta for 2006.

My commitment to the BACB and the certification is evidenced through my maintaining the Florida CABA certification since 1997 and then completing the necessary steps to obtaining the BCABA in 1999 as a charter certificant.  I regularly respond to requests for participation in surveys and was chosen to be a part of the review of examination questions a few years ago.  I was happy to provide detailed feedback at the request of the board on this matter.  I continue to disseminate information about the BACB, acquiring and maintaining certification, and its ethical standards to my colleagues in the educational and psychological fields and have had a link to the BACB website within my own company’s website since it was first created in 2004.

I would be willing and interested in assisting with BACB committee work, especially committees focusing on supervision and mentoring requirements and opportunities for experience.  I am actively working in environments where our certification is new and not yet fully understood.  I see the need for qualified individuals and would like to assist the BACB in identifying how to create opportunities for our members to connect with these environments.

I would like to see the BACB provide more opportunities for Associate level certificant who are not currently studying in a Master’s level or Ph.D. program to have a stronger network of colleagues.  Too often, we are required by agencies and educational employers to act in isolation of our colleagues, in particular, to support the needs of children with autism.  The success of high quality internet based coursework has allowed our field to reach people it could not reach before, but what happens to these people once they receive their certificate?  The isolation of public school education from community behavioral support systems makes it difficult for behavior analysts to operate effectively within the ethical guidelines of our certification.  In the spirit of the electronic age, I would like to see the Board support Bulletin Board style forums for associate level certificants to have discussions regarding ethical considerations, programmatic questions, data collection and analysis, etc.  In addition, those seeking the certification are having difficulty finding fully certified certificants to mentor and supervise them.  I would like to find ways to connect those in need of mentoring with those interested in being mentors.  These are all issues I’m sure the Board has already discussed and I hope that I can join in on the discussion and possibly provide some ideas for how to move forward in the future of the BACB.