Candidate Statement

Joel Hundert PhD, BCBA

I am very pleased to be nominated for a directorship on the BACB and think that I can make a meaningful contribution to its continued success.

Commitment to Behavior Analysis.  Over the past 30 years, I have held senior supervisory positions both in the public and private sectors, directing applied behavior analytical services for persons with developmental disabilities. Currently, I am one of the Directors of Behaviour Institute, a private agency providing early intensive intervention for young children with autism. I also hold a part-time faculty position as an Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and teach in the Department of Psychology at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario.  I have served as a reviewer for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, Behavior Modification, and the Journal of Behavioral Education. I currently serve on the editorial board of Behavior Modification and have previously served on the editorial board of the Journal of Behavioral Education. 

I currently teach two undergraduate courses at McMaster University pertaining to applied behavior analysis.  In addition, I have presented invited talks at regional, national and international conferences on the topic.  I am also an approved Type 2 continuing education provider for the BACB.  I have published research about applied behavior analysis in peer reviewed journals and am currently working on a book accepted by PRO ED for publication entitled, “Inclusion of Students with Autism:  Using ABA-based Supports in General Education”.

I have been a long standing member of the Association for Behavior Analysis, International.  I have been a founding member of the Ontario affiliate chapter (ONTABA) and past-president of that organization.

Commitment to the BACB.  I have served as a director of the BACB over the past three years and that term is now coming to an end.  I have come to greatly appreciate the important work that the BACB does in promoting certification of behavior analysts in the US and around the world.  I have a particular interest in the challenges of certification internationally. I have promoted certification with consumers, colleagues, as well as with government officials.

Contributions to the BACB. With the high profile of early intensive behavior intervention for young children with autism, the interest in certification internationally is likely to grow.  For example, the US has about 14.5 certificants per 1,000,000 people.  In Canada, this number is about 1.7 and in the UK, it is about 1.0.  I think that there is a large potential for growth of Board certification of behavior analysts outside of the US.  I feel that I could highlight the international issues and assist in efforts to deal with those issues.  I have followed the efforts of organizations in countries outside of the US to facilitate the path to Board certification for its local practitioners.  There are significant differences in educational structures and jurisdictional issues from one country to the next, and even within the same country.  There is a need to consider different time-limited eligibility pathways to write the certification exam for different countries without lowering the standards of who becomes certified.  I hope to continue to bring a view of certification issues from a non-US perspective.

Suggestions for future direction. In my view, the BACB has been extremely successful in the promotion of credentialing of practitioners of behavior analysis. To a certain extent, the success of certification candidates would be dependent on the quality of their education and supervised experience.  I would like to see more emphasis placed on the qualification of instructors of approved course sequences and expectations for continued approval of course sequences.  I think that it would be interesting to have a discussion of the merits of accreditation of approved providers of course sequences.

I am supportive of specialty exams for certificants who have a specialized area of practice (e.g., autism).

To reduce confusion of consumers and certificants, I think that it would be helpful for the BCBA to clarify further the differences in the scope of practice for BCABA’s and BCBA’s and to add questions on scope of practice to the task list on ethical considerations.

Joel Hundert Ph.D., BCBA