Questions to Ask an ABA Provider

These are questions a family can ask before services start, and the public document each one comes from. They are not a scorecard, and they are not medical advice. The Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (document header: updated August 2024) binds BCBAs and BCaBAs. It does not bind a company. The BACB’s consumer resources page says the BACB certifies people, not companies.

Where a standard tells a behavior analyst to document something, the useful question is whether you can see that document. We do not rank the answers.

Who is responsible, and are they certified?

Standard 2.08 says behavior analysts, before providing services, “clearly describe the scope of services and specify the conditions under which services will end.” The same standard says they “provide an accurate and current set of their credentials and a description of their area of competence upon request.”

Ask for the name of the person responsible for the assessment and the treatment plan, the certification they claim, and the certification number. Then check it. The verification guide walks through the BACB Certificant Registry, including active, inactive, and expired, and the dagger the registry uses for a published sanction.

Standard 1.04 says behavior analysts “provide services only after defining and documenting their professional role with relevant parties in writing.” If several people will be involved, ask which role is written down for the person you just looked up.

Certification is not a state license. The BACB’s page on representing certification status says the BACB provides certifications, not licenses, and its consumer page says many, but not all, states require licensure. Ask whether this state licenses behavior analysts and, if it does, whether the supervisor holds that license. The board’s own lookup is the record. This page does not give a count of licensing states. The clinic-startup guide explains why the published totals do not match.

Who else will see my child, and who supervises them?

Consumer resources names three BACB certifications: BCBA, BCaBA, and RBT. Ask which of those, if any, the people delivering sessions hold.

The representation page says an RBT or BCaBA who does not have a qualified supervisor on record with the BACB must indicate that the certification is inactive if they refer to it. Ask who the supervisor on record is, and check that person too.

Standard 4.01 says behavior analysts “are knowledgeable about and comply with all applicable supervisory requirements (e.g., BACB rules, licensure requirements, funder and organization policies), including those related to supervision modalities and structure.” The hour, contact, and observation figures live in the handbooks. They are written up, with those sources, in BCBA supervision requirements. This page does not restate them.

Standard 1.05 says behavior analysts practice only within their identified scope of competence, and otherwise refer or transition. A plain version of the question is: has this person worked with this kind of goal before, and what do they do if they have not?

What is in the agreement before anyone starts?

Standard 3.04 says that before implementing services there is a signed service agreement “outlining the responsibilities of all parties, the scope of behavioral services to be provided, the behavior analyst’s obligations under the Code, and procedures for submitting complaints” to entities such as the BACB, the service organization, a licensure board, or a funder. Updates have to be reviewed and signed again.

Standard 3.05 says that before services begin, behavior analysts “document agreed-upon compensation and billing practices.” Standard 2.07 says they “do not misrepresent their fees,” and that if they are not the ones setting the fee they still have to communicate the requirements to the party who is. Ask what you will be billed, what a funder is billed, and what happens when funding changes. Published Medicaid figures, where we hold an official schedule, are in what ABA costs. A provider’s private rate is whatever that provider puts in the agreement. We do not estimate it.

Standard 3.10 says behavior analysts inform clients and stakeholders of the limits of confidentiality at the outset. Ask what those limits are, including what a funder or a school receives.

What am I agreeing to, and can we stop?

Standard 2.11 requires informed consent at defined moments, including “before initial implementation of assessments or behavior-change interventions” and “when making substantial changes to interventions,” and it requires assent from clients when applicable.

The Code’s glossary defines the service version of informed consent as communicating, and checking understanding of, eight items: the purpose; the expected time commitment and procedures; the right to decline or withdraw at any time without adverse consequences; potential benefits, risks, discomfort, or adverse effects; limits to confidentiality or privacy; any incentives for research participation; whom to contact; and the chance to ask questions and receive answers.

There is no single published number for how many hours a week a child should receive. The hours guide collects what CMS and state policy documents actually say. The question to ask the provider is how they chose the amount in your plan, and what they will show you as the data changes. Standard 2.09 says behavior analysts make appropriate efforts to involve clients and relevant stakeholders in selecting goals, selecting and designing assessments and interventions, and “conducting continual progress monitoring.” Standard 2.08 says they explain procedures before implementing them and explain results when results are available.

Standard 3.15 says the service agreement includes the circumstances for discontinuing services, and it lists six the behavior analyst considers: goals met, the client is not benefiting, harmful conditions that cannot be resolved, the client or stakeholder requests discontinuation, stakeholders are not following the intervention despite efforts to address barriers, or services are no longer funded. Standard 3.16 says the agreement also includes the circumstances for transitioning to another behavior analyst, with a written plan of target dates, activities, and responsible parties.

What a listing on this site is

State pages and the company search list organizations from the federal NPI registry that carry the Behavior Analyst taxonomy code. The file those counts come from is dated 12 July 2026. A row is a registration. The pages say it is not proof a location is open today, and it is not a statement about quality. Registration is not endorsement.

Use the list to find a name and a phone number. Use the registry to check a person. Use the questions above to see whether the written agreement matches what you were told.

One advertising rule is worth knowing while you look. Standard 5.07 says that “because of the possibility of undue influence and implicit coercion, behavior analysts do not solicit testimonials from current clients or stakeholders for use in advertisements designed to obtain new clients.” The standard does not treat an unsolicited review on a site the behavior analyst cannot control as the same act, and it says such content should not be used or shared by the behavior analyst. Standard 5.03 says public statements about their professional activities have to be truthful and must not mislead or exaggerate “because of what they state, convey, suggest, or omit.”

The longer map of the Code is the ethics code guide. Nothing here replaces the Code, a state board, or a clinician who knows your child.