(a) The contractor must have a program manager who provides the supervision of the staff and oversight of the assessment and treatment of children. The program manager must have:
  (1) a master's or doctoral degree from an accredited institution of higher education in psychology, behavior analysis, or a related field;
  (2) documented graduate-level coursework in behavioral assessment and intervention, selecting outcomes and strategies, behavior change procedures, experimental methods, and measuring and interpreting behavioral data;
  (3) at least one year of experience in providing services to children within the age range of 3 through 15 years of age with diagnoses on the autism spectrum;
  (4) knowledge of typical child development for children 3 through 15 years of age; and
  (5) a BCBA or BCBA-D certification.
(b) The DARS contractor must have at least one BCBA with one year of experience in providing services for each age covered in the range of 3 through 15 years of age with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum.
(c) All staff members who provide direct services to children must at a minimum:
  (1) have a high school diploma; and
  (2) be 18 years of age.
(d) All direct service staff members must receive training before working independently and on an ongoing basis. Training must:
  (1) be formalized training developed and overseen by BCBA supervisors on methods for data collection, procedures for implementing discrete trial teaching, prompting procedures, behavior management strategies for addressing problem behavior, and other ABA techniques and program specific methods;
  (2) be provided or overseen by a BCBA through didactic instruction, workshops, readings, observation of modeling of techniques by supervisors, role-play with supervisors, and training in the natural environment in which supervisors provide specific feedback and additional training as needed;
  (3) be assessed for effectiveness through written exams (with criteria to determine mastery) or direct observation by BCBA supervisors of therapists working directly with children (with fidelity checklists to determine accurate use of procedures and criteria to determine mastery) to ensure individual acquisition of the skills necessary to accurately implement ABA treatments;
  (4) cover all of the tasks in the Behavior Analyst Certification Board's Registered Behavior Technician Task List and Guidelines for Responsible Conduct for Behavior Analysts that have been designated as relevant for behavior technicians;
  (5) have a cumulative duration of at least 40 hours;
  (6) include ethics and professional conduct training; and
  (7) include training on typical child development for children 3 through 15 years of age.
(e) All direct service staff members must be supervised by a BCBA or BCBA-D. Supervision must:
  (1) occur at least once every two weeks;
  (2) include direct observation of ABA programming to assess if procedures are implemented accurately and to inform the supervisor on the potential need to adjust teaching procedures; and
  (3) include ongoing review, no less than two times per week, of data from ABA programs and data pertaining to problem behavior.

Source Note: The provisions of this §392.203 adopted to be effective June 17, 2015, 40 TexReg 3638; amended to be effective September 4, 2018, 43 TexReg 5673