20 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • FEBRUARY 2018 20 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • SEPTEMBER 2017 20 LONGISLANDPRESS.CO M • SEPTEMBER 201-----------TUTU111
PRESS BRIEFINGS
NY law holding back behaviorists
Experts urge state to repeal limit on job scope
Kayleigh Norton, Applied Behavior Analysis therapist, reviews animals and colors with six-year-old Carl. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Dennis Sloan)
By TIMOTHY BOLGER
An arcane New York State law
restricting behavior analysts from
helping anyone besides individuals
diagnosed with autism spectrum
disorder shortchanges the otherwise
afflicted and will cause a shortage of
professionals, experts warn.
Licensed Behavior Analysts and
Board Certified Behavior Analysts
(BCBAs) are trained to reduce
harmful behavior and teach new
skills to people diagnosed with
anything from Down syndrome
to attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder. But many people are
unaware that behaviorists could
help them. Now advocates in the
field are lobbying state lawmakers
to repeal the inadvertent
restriction.
“It really doesn’t take into account
the whole range of populations that
BCBAs can and do help,” says Dana
Reinecke, a Long Beach resident
who’s president of the New York
State Association for Behavior
Analysis.
New York is one of 29 states in the
country that requires BCBAs to be
licensed in addition to requiring
them to pass the national Behavior
Analyst Certification Board exams.
But the Empire State stands alone
in limiting BCBAs to helping only
those with autism.
The problem arose when the
state passed a 2012 law requiring
insurers to pay for treatment of
services for people with autism.
Lawmakers soon after passed an
amendment that created the license
for BCBAs and ensured behavioral
analysis is covered by insurance
for the autistic. It wasn’t until later
that experts realized that the law
effectively limited BCBAs from
helping anyone else in New York.
“It should not have been entangled
with the insurance law the way
it was,” Reinecke says. “Even
licensed BCBAs don’t realize the
restrictions.”
There is a proposal pending in the
state Legislature to repeal the one
sentence in the law responsible for
the problem, but advocates are now
in their second year of lobbying
Albany lawmakers to make the
change.
“It’s like saying a chiropractor can
only treat an ankle injury,” says
state Assemb. Michaelle Solages
(D-Elmont). “I don’t think it’s
really fair.”
She says she decided to cosponsor
the bill to repeal the restriction
after hearing from constituents,
including those who work with
people who have eating disorders
and Alzheimer’s disease, who
expressed concern that the law bars
them from getting the behavioral
help.
Reinecke adds that if the law isn’t
changed, she expects BCBAs to
move out of state and fewer college
students to pursue the field.
“We’re going to wind up having a
shortage of truly licensed BCBAs
in New York,” she says. “This law is
going to create a shortage.”
Her husband, Dr. Bobby Newman,
who’s a BCBA, agrees.
“It’s a very peculiar set of
circumstances to only have a
science, which has been validated
as effective in … populations and
yet the law says the professionals
who are trained in that discipline
can’t work with those populations,”
says the author and psychologist.
“This is doing a disservice to the
field and also preventing people
from receiving services,” Newman
adds. “If I was the parent of a child
with … any one of the million
disorders that could benefit from
services I would be quite angry
that my child wasn’t being allowed,
simply because of this law.”
“It’s like saying a
chiropractor can
only treat an ankle
injury,” says state
Assemb. Michaelle
Solages.