To everyone,

I am walking away from this comment board. My rules petition remains in place and I remain willing to work with anyone who wants to collaborate to make the field of behavior analysis.

When I started this petition, I started it for multiple reasons. I and others have been in the field of behavior analysis for 8 years, starting in 2015 as an undergraduate student. As I would go on, I found that various other boards were being attacked for various reasons from being to Autism specific to being not as rigorous. 

It felt very dehumanizing to me and my colleagues. No board (BACB, QABA, BICC, IBCCES) run the same and I think that is a good thing. If everyone was the same there would be no diversity or standards for different people.

I also believe that it should be the responsibility of the state to determine what it needs. I think that one certification board cannot cover all aspects of various states needs. It just doesn't seem possible to me.

I am grateful that the Board of Medicine issued me a License Behavior Analyst Credential after reviewing my qualifications as they have done with others from various boards.

I think each of the boards have their own strengths. For me personally, just based on my religion cannot associate with one of the organizations based on their practices.

I think it is important that we note that in Virginia, there are nearly 17,000 people with Autism. (https://www.easterseals.com/explore-resources/living-with-autism/profiles-virginia.html) There are currently around 1,400 behavior analysts in the State of Virginia. This does not include those not working in Autism or those working as college professors without private practice. That means just to cover Autism the average BCBA would have to take a caseload of at least 11 clients. That is if every licensed person took on 10.23 clients. This also does not account for how the BCBA's are spread out through the state. 

I think we can all agree that we all want what is best for our clients. We want them to get the best services from the best people. 

I am ashamed of the role I played in getting this discussion so heated. I offer context but not an excuse. Reading comments that degrade your certification or education really hurts and it gets personal. I do not agree with the center shocking children and I do recognize this is not happening in Virginia. What I will say is I don't want to be associated with it at all. There are BCBA's leading this practice and I don't want to be part of the BACB organization. That should not mean that there are no alternatives.

I personally and sincerely apologize to the following:

Dr. Hoch, I apologize to you sir for attacking your position. I will be sending an email withdrawing my request for the emails this afternoon. I, as a QBA, would be more than willing to work with you to collaborate on requirements that we can both be happy and live with.

Ms. Salzman, I apologize to you for discounting your comment. I do agree with you that licenses are in place to protect our clients. We all want what is best for them. I don't think anyone is out to harm a client and if they are they should be reported.

Ms. Robicheau, I wholeheartedly agree with you. Your comment inspired me to take the approach that I am this morning. Thank you for making me a better man. Thank you for challenging me to be a better person.

Dr. Tiller, I apologize to you for discounting your position. You are allowed to have your opinion as we all are and my statement was uncalled for. 

To the Virginia ABA Board, I apologize to each of you. I know that you are fighting for what you think is best and I think you should have a platform to do that.

Here is what I learned from this discussion:

• I learned that I could be more humble. My first action was to attack and that is not okay. 
• I have learned that feeling personally attacked are not acceptable reasons to lash out at others. I essentially gave others what I was feeling.
• I have learned about the QABA organization and who it is affiliated with.
• I learned about the demographics related to race, gender, and speciality of the BACB.
• I learned about the dangers of how our field can become abusive such as shocking children or other various way of engaging in positive punishment.
• I learned about information that various boards do not post that could be helpful to the common goal of providing students with good and diverse practice.
• Instead of talking about one board being better than the other maybe a collation should have been formed and standards discussed. 

Here are some thoughts I ask others to consider:

• Is it fair that someone might not want to associate with the BACB while they still credential those engaged in the shocking practice?
• Can standards be equal even if they are not exactly 100% the same? Just like with the various national and regional college accreditation boards?
• If someone is a member of the Virginia ABA does that association have a duty to fight for all of its members and not just the majority?
• Are there issues across all certification boards where the focus is Autism and could we benefit from having providers in other diverse fields?
• Could it be beneficial to comment using our real names, certifications, and affiliations so that others can see potential biases?
• Could other fields be effective supervisors in behavior analysis? A psychiatrists at a hospital working on behavior change? A substance abuse counselor working to decrease drug abuse? A counselor using behavior therapy to decrease the maladaptive behaviors in a person?
• Is threatening someone, calling their employers, certification boards, etc the way to approach disagreement?
• Is attacking each other going to make the field better?
• Could you attack someone without having all of the information and making assumptions?

What I wish I had seen more of:

• I wish I had seen more collaboration from the BACB, QABA, BICC, IBCCES.
• I wish that the decencies for each board had been addressed.
• I would have like to have seen the board hold a meeting on this issue with open discussion from all parties interested.

I feel like we have to lead by example. We are supposed to be the people who work to decrease maladaptive behaviors and I can say here I am one of the people having them and I deeply apologize to everyone for how I acted. My hope is that we can work together.

I stand by my statement that one group leading the entire practice is not in the best interest of the clients. It does not give them options. It provides insurance companies with less options. It creates less competition which creates a situation where there is no fighting to raise the bar or standard if you will.

I do not feel comfortable with the BACB for multiple reasons and so my hope is that an alternative can be allowed so that others who are uncomfortable or want a different type of analyst have that option.

I take responsibility for my actions and I apologize.

Prof. Michael Moates, MA, QBA, LBA, LMHP (thank you to VABA for letting me know about the LMHP)