1. This chapter and chapter 147 do not prevent qualified members of other professions, including but not limited to nurses, psychologists, social workers, physicians, physician assistants, attorneys at law, or members of the clergy, from providing or advertising that they provide services of a marital and family therapy or mental health counseling nature consistent with the accepted standards of their respective professions, but these persons shall not use a title or description denoting that they are licensed marital and family therapists or licensed mental health counselors.

Terms Used In Iowa Code 154D.4

  • Certifying entity: means the behavior analyst certification board or another entity whose programs to certify professional practitioners of applied behavior analysis are accredited by the national commission for certifying agencies or the American national standards institute. See Iowa Code 154D.1
  • Department: means the department of inspections, appeals, and licensing. See Iowa Code 154A.1
  • following: when used by way of reference to a chapter or other part of a statute mean the next preceding or next following chapter or other part. See Iowa Code 4.1
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Licensed assistant behavior analyst: means a person licensed to practice applied behavior analysis under the supervision of a licensed behavior analyst under chapter 147 and this chapter. See Iowa Code 154D.1
  • Licensed behavior analyst: means a person licensed to practice applied behavior analysis under chapter 147 and this chapter. See Iowa Code 154D.1
  • Marital and family therapy: means the application of counseling techniques in the assessment and resolution of emotional conditions. See Iowa Code 154D.1
  • Mental health counseling: means the provision of counseling services involving assessment, referral, consultation, and the application of counseling, human development principles, learning theory, group dynamics, and the etiology of maladjustment and dysfunctional behavior to individuals, families, and groups. See Iowa Code 154D.1
  • Person: means a natural person. See Iowa Code 154A.1
  • Practice of applied behavior analysis: includes the empirical identification of functional relations between behavior and environmental factors, known as functional assessment and analysis. See Iowa Code 154D.1
  • State: means a state, territory, or possession of the United States, the District of Columbia, or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. See Iowa Code 152E.3
  • year: means twelve consecutive months. See Iowa Code 4.1
 2. The licensure requirements of this chapter and chapter 147 do not apply to the following:

 a. Students whose activities are conducted within a course of professional education in marital and family therapy or mental health counseling.
 b. A person who practices marital and family therapy or mental health counseling under the supervision of a person licensed under this chapter as part of a clinical experience as described in section 154D.2, subsection 1, paragraph “b”.
 c. The provision of children, family, or mental health services through the department of health and human services or juvenile court, or agencies contracting with the department of health and human services or juvenile court, by persons who do not represent themselves to be either a marital and family therapist or a mental health counselor.
 3. This chapter and chapter 147 do not prevent or restrict the practice of applied behavior analysis by any of the following:

 a. Persons licensed to practice other professions under this subtitle, provided that applied behavior analysis is within the scope of practice of the person’s profession, the services provided are within the boundaries of the person’s education, training, and competence, and the person does not represent that the person is a licensed behavior analyst or licensed assistant behavior analyst unless also licensed as one.
 b. Family members of recipients of applied behavior analysis services implementing applied behavior analysis treatment plans with the recipients under the extended authority and direction of a licensed behavior analyst or a licensed assistant behavior analyst. Such persons shall not represent themselves as behavior analysts or assistant behavior analysts.
 c. Paraprofessional technicians who deliver applied behavior analysis services under the extended authority and direction of a licensed behavior analyst or licensed assistant behavior analyst. Such persons shall not represent themselves as behavior analysts or assistant behavior analysts and shall use titles that indicate their nonprofessional status, including but not limited to “assistant behavior analyst technician”, “behavior technician”, “tutor”, or “line therapist”.
 d. Behavior analysts who practice with nonhumans, including but not limited to applied animal behaviorists and animal trainers. Such individuals may use the title “behavior analyst” but shall not represent themselves as licensed behavior analysts or licensed assistant behavior analysts unless they are licensed as such.
 e. Professionals who provide general applied behavior analysis services to organizations, so long as those services are for the benefit of the organizations and do not involve direct services to individuals. Such professionals may use the title “behavior analyst” but shall not represent themselves as licensed behavior analysts or licensed assistant behavior analysts unless they are licensed as such.
 f. Students whose applied behavior analysis activities are conducted within a defined program of study, course, practicum, internship, or postdoctoral fellowship, provided that the applied behavior analysis activities are directly supervised by a behavior analyst licensed in this state, an instructor in a course sequence approved by a certifying entity, or another qualified faculty member of the student’s program. Such students shall not present themselves as behavior analysts or assistant behavior analysts and shall use titles that clearly indicate their status, such as “student”, “intern”, or “trainee”.
 g. Unlicensed persons pursuing supervised experience in applied behavior analysis consistent with the experience requirements of a certifying entity, provided such experience is supervised in accordance with the requirements of the certifying entity.
 h. Individuals who teach applied behavior analysis or conduct behavior-analytic research, provided that such teaching or research does not involve the direct delivery of applied behavior analysis services. Such individuals may use the title “behavior analyst” but shall not represent themselves as licensed behavior analysts or licensed assistant behavior analysts unless they are licensed as such.
 i. Behavior analysts licensed in another jurisdiction or certified by a certifying entity to practice independently and who work in this state no more than two thousand eighty hours within a calendar year.
 j. Persons employed by a school, school district, or area education agency performing the duties of their positions. Such persons shall not represent themselves as licensed behavior analysts or licensed assistant behavior analysts unless they are licensed as such, and shall not offer applied behavior analysis services to any persons or entities other than their school employer or accept remuneration for providing applied behavior analysis services other than the remuneration they receive from their school employer.
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