• ABA is an evidence-based, rigorously studied intervention that produces meaningful outcomes for autistic individuals. Recent media coverage of misconduct does not change that and conflating the two harms the families who need these services.

• Fraud, waste, and abuse in the ABA field are real and must be addressed. AzABA fully supports oversight and accountability actions taken against providers who have violated the standards of our profession.

• Bad actors are the outliers, not the majority. The BCBAs, BCaBAs, and RBTs practicing with integrity across Arizona are not defined by the conduct of those who exploited the system.

• Arizona has a regulatory structure many states lack. The Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners, through its Committee on Behavior Analysis, provides regulation and accountability for behavior analysts in our state.

• AzABA is committed to being part of the solution, through member education, engagement with regulatory partners, and a call to every Arizona provider to audit their own practices and uphold the standards our clients deserve.

Every day across Arizona, a child with autism learns to communicate with their family for the first time. A teenager develops the skills to navigate a school day independently. An adult builds the routines that make employment and community participation possible. Behind each of those outcomes is a behavior analyst, a behavior technician, and a family who committed to the work. Done right, ABA meets each individual where they are, supports their autonomy, and builds toward the life they want. That is what applied behavior analysis looks like when it is done right. That is what is at stake in this moment.

The Arizona Association for Behavior Analysis has followed the recent national reporting on applied behavior analysis with the seriousness it deserves. The investigations and audits coming to light, including actions taken right here in Arizona, reflect real failures that have harmed families and undermined public trust in our field. We do not minimize them. Providers who have committed fraud, billed for services not rendered, or placed financial gain above the wellbeing of the individuals in their care must be held accountable. Arizona’s funding sources and regulatory bodies have both the authority and the obligation to act against providers who violate the standards of our programs and our profession, and AzABA supports that oversight fully. Families who have been harmed deserve justice.

We also have an obligation to be clear about what the national media coverage has and has not captured. The reporting has illuminated genuine misconduct. It has not accurately represented the field as a whole. ABA is not a scam. It is not glorified daycare. It is one of the most rigorously studied interventions in all of behavioral health, supported by decades of peer-reviewed research and multiple independent meta-analyses demonstrating meaningful outcomes in communication, adaptive behavior, social skills, and quality of life. In its independent analysis of ABA services for military families, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine concluded in 2025 that there is substantial evidence supporting ABA as an appropriate and effective intervention for autistic individuals, finding that ABA meets the Department of Defense’s own standards for reliable medical evidence.1 That body of evidence does not disappear because bad actors exploited a system with insufficient oversight. The two things are not in conflict, and conflating them does real harm to the families who need these services and are now questioning whether to pursue them.

The problem is not ABA. The problem is what happens when any field grows faster than its regulatory infrastructure, and when some providers treat vulnerable families as a revenue source rather than a sacred responsibility. Those providers are not representative of this field. They are a betrayal of it.

The behavior analysts practicing with integrity across Arizona deserve to have that distinction made plainly. BCBAs and BCaBAs hold a credential that carries genuine ethical weight. The BACB Ethics Code is not a formality. It governs how behavior analysts assess, plan, document, supervise, and bill, and it places the wellbeing of the client above every other consideration. Behavior analysts who hold that credential and take it seriously are not implicated by the conduct of those who did not. They are, in fact, the reason this profession has the standing it does.

Arizona is also fortunate to have a regulatory structure that many states lack. The Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners, through its Committee on Behavior Analysis, holds the responsibility of regulating the practice of behavior analysis and ensuring public protection in our state. That structure exists because behavior analysis is a licensed profession here, with real accountability attached to it. Providers in Arizona are not operating in a vacuum. They are operating within a framework designed to protect the public, and AzABA is proud that this framework exists. It matters now more than ever.

What systemic reform must look like going forward is not complicated, even if it is not easy. Funding sources and payers need clear clinical coverage policies with defined documentation standards, medical necessity criteria, and meaningful post-payment audit processes. Providers need to meet those standards without exception. Supervision structures must reflect the BACB’s requirements in practice, not just on paper. And the field itself must be willing to distinguish between ethical providers who are doing this work with integrity and those who are not, rather than closing ranks around everyone equally.

We are also mindful of who bears the greatest cost when providers abuse the system. The families most harmed by fraud and misconduct are often those who rely on public funding as their only access to services. When a provider exploits Medicaid, they are not simply stealing from a program, they are stealing from the children and families who depend on it; moreover, they are jeopardizing the access of every family who comes after them. Equitable access to quality ABA services is a value AzABA holds deeply, and it is inseparable from the integrity we are calling for here.

AzABA is committed to being part of that work. We will be engaging with state regulatory partners to support stronger oversight and accountability mechanisms that protect both clients and compliant providers. We will be offering member programming on billing compliance, documentation standards, and ethical practice, because the best time to address gaps is before a regulator or a family has to.

We are also asking every member to take this moment seriously. Review your billing practices. Audit your documentation. Examine your supervision structures. Ask honestly whether the services you provide reflect clinical necessity and the BACB Ethics Code. If you find gaps, address them now. The integrity of ABA in Arizona does not belong to a regulatory body or a trade association. It belongs to every provider who picks up a session note, supervises an RBT, or sits across from a family and makes a promise about what they will do for their child.

AzABA will stand behind every provider who is keeping that promise. Arizona families deserve providers they can trust. They deserve a field that polices itself as seriously as it defends itself. We are committed to both.

Signed by AzABA Board of Directors

“The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans”

-US Department of Health and Human Services, 2025

Recently, The US Secretary of Health and Human Services made several public comments related to autism, autistic people and their families that, from our perspective, ran contrary to that mission. The Arizona Association for Behavior Analysis stands in opposition to the following statements by Secretary Kennedy:

“Autism destroys families and more importantly it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are children who should not be suffering like this.”… "These are kids who will never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date — many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.”

-HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 4/16/2025

While behavior analysis is not the science of autism, it is a fact that over 82% of all professionals credentialed through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (roughly 200,000 people) are focused on supporting people with autism and their families (BACB, n.d.). There has been a great deal of intentional and incremental work in the past several decades within the Autism and Applied Behavior Analysis communities to reorient how we conceptualize autism. The movement has been away from the idea that autism is something to be fixed or cured and toward something we can embrace as a valued aspect of human diversity.

We further acknowledge that there is great diversity among autism and the autism community, and as with all forms of diversity comes experiences of great joy and experiences of great struggle. While each experience is different, we firmly believe that suffering is exacerbated when individuals and families are made to feel like they will never be enough or that they somehow don’t belong.

We believe that a major component to psychological wellbeing and quality of life comes from embracing the lives that we have. As an association of helping professionals, we feel a responsibility to support and protect individuals with disabilities; and part of that responsibility includes doing what we can to encourage a culture of inclusion and acceptance. The Department of Health and Human Services is an institution of great influence, and the recent comments of its chief officer have the potential to create and compound suffering by reversing the trend toward autism acceptance.

As behavior analysts, we offer a scientific framework to help individuals meaningfully engage in the lives they have—promoting their autonomy, safety, and overall quality of life. As an association, we reject any broad generalization about what a person or group will or won’t be able to do, we support the inclusion of autistic people in all spaces, and we embrace the diversity that they offer our society.

Signed by AzABA Board of Directors

As we continue to move forward in shaping the future of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), AzABA remains steadfast in our commitment to creating an inclusive and equitable environment for all. We believe that fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) is not just a goal but a continuous practice that guides our actions, enhances our work, and strengthens the very foundation of our community.

AzABA drafted the following guiding statement on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in 2022. This year, one of our strategic planning goals is to increase communications to members and stakeholders with transparency in aspects of EDI and board work. Given that goal, and in light of the executive orders that will impact individuals we support, we want to reiterate that as an organization, we remain committed to this standard and will continue to uplift marginalized communities.

The Arizona Association for Behavior Analysis acknowledges the existence of systemic racism and implicit bias, as well as other forms of discrimination and exclusion in our society including, but not limited to sexism, ableism, religious discrimination, and discrimination towards the LGBTQIA+ communities. Within the field of Applied Behavior Analysis and its applications, systemic racism and implicit bias impact interactions between supervisors and employees, service providers and caregivers, and practitioners and clients/recipients of services. AzABA also recognizes societal barriers to seeking graduate training in ABA, leading to lack of diversity in our certificants. AzABA acknowledges the impact of systemic discrimination in who has access to behavior analytic services and who does not.

AzABA recognizes the importance of committed action within the mission of the organization and is committed to using a behavior analytic lens to dismantle social injustice, systemic oppression, and racial inequities by specifically targeting training and education for membership, increasing diversity in membership population and leadership, improving access to services in equitable ways, and impacting and informing policy and legislation. The association works to increase awareness and understanding, discover and remove barriers to access services and training, to ultimately enrich our AzABA community by diversifying membership and raising the quality of services we provide.

Since this guiding statement was issued, AzABA has made a dedicated commitment to Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion discussions and strategic objectives, informed by feedback and requests from our membership, including the addition of a new value to our mission and values statement. Integrity of Action through the lens of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. We have done this through:

•Internal Board Work: Trainings with DEI subject matter experts and regular DEI assessments of the board and organization to identify areas of improvement

•Bylaws revision through the lens of DEI: A part of the process of our 2024 bylaws revision was to have the AzABA EDI Committee review the bylaws to identify potential biases and ensure use of inclusive language.

•Free EDI CEU events for members and non-members: All CEU events hosted by the EDI Committee are free to both AzABA members and non-members. The committee has made efforts to invite speakers that amplify the voices of historically marginalized groups.

Evaluation of Content: AzABA has and will continue to adhere to its stringent process for development and review of events and commits to finding further ways to discuss these important topics while disseminating the science and enhancing the ability to practice behavior analysis in the State of Arizona.

Please note, we are aware of the recent decision by the BACB to remove Diversity, Equity and Inclusion from its CEU requirements. We recognize the impact this will have on our community and while that did not prompt this statement, it did encourage us to expedite the release of this statement that was already in progress.

We recognize that achieving EDI requires a long-term commitment, and we are dedicated to continue integrating EDI principles into our current and future policies and practices within our association. We will maintain CEU offerings on equity-centered practice, anti-oppression frameworks, and intersectional approaches to care. We encourage our members and partners to actively seek training beyond the minimum and hold ourselves accountable to standards that reflect our shared humanity. We will continue to hold ourselves accountable for creating an inclusive and equitable environment for our members, community, and those we serve. We strive to be transparent to membership and the public about EDI efforts moving forward.

Signed by AzABA Board of Directors

AzABA supports and agrees with the following statement by the Arizona Psychological Association regarding reproductive rights.

The Arizona Psychological Association (AzPA) joins our national colleagues, the American Psychological Association (APA), in expressing our deep concern over the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Our association recognizes that views regarding abortion vary in our society, and that for many these views are a reflection of their personal and/or religious beliefs. As representatives of a profession grounded in science, our concern is not an indication of agreement or disagreement with any particular personal or religious viewpoint, but primarily a reflection of scientific evidence that informs the work we do. This was illustrated in a statement by the American Psychological Association president Frank C. Worrell, PhD, “This ruling ignores not only precedent but science, and will exacerbate the mental health crisis America is already experiencing."

The Arizona Association for Behavior Analysis believes integrity is central to the behavior analytic journey towards equity, diversity, and inclusion. In the emerging discussions surrounding the use of Contingent Electric Skin Shock (CESS), it became apparent that the use of CESS is a matter of concern to AzABA members. With the value of committed action and data analysis at its core, AzABA embarked upon an information gathering and a dissemination process to approach the topic of CESS. A multi-step plan was enacted and included gathering member feedback, member discussions, information dissemination, and deliberation around the adoption of a position statement. A survey was distributed to members to gather information regarding the level of knowledge surrounding the use of CESS. Overwhelmingly, the responses indicated a need for more information. Over 60% of the survey respondents reported minimal awareness of the practice of CESS or organizations utilizing CESS. Additionally, many of the respondents strongly opposed the use of CESS in their own professional practice and urged an organizational stance. Following the survey, AzABA hosted a Town Hall for members to share and discuss their thoughts and questions surrounding the use of CESS. The AZABA Board of Directors reviewed this information and engaged in robust conversations to carefully consider an approach to the lack of information, the responsibility of the Association to disseminate information, and the importance of adopting a statement congruent with our mission as an organization.

The AzABA Board of Directors is committed to ensuring that positions of the Association are supported with actions consistent with the mission of furthering the practice of behavior analysis. In addition to the position statement on CESS, AZABA has developed a plan of action supporting the position.

The Association is actively pursuing educational events to disseminate behavior analytic education in support of its statement. Please stay tuned for future events and opportunities to participate in 2023!

For further information and resources about CESS, please click here.