Ethical and Professional Issues
Scope of competence
Provide services only within competence or with appropriate consultation, referral, training, and supervision.
Concept review facts
Use this block to decide whether the concept needs definition review, scenario practice, or missed-question repair.
What this concept means here
Provide services only within competence or with appropriate consultation, referral, training, and supervision.
How it appears in questions
Respond to requests outside training or experience.
Best next action
If this concept is weak, practice Ethical and Professional Issues scenarios and write one correction rule after each miss.
How this shows up in scenario questions
- 1Respond to requests outside training or experience.
- 2Choose collaboration over unsupported intervention.
- 3Identify why behavioral relevance does not equal competence.
Common misconceptions
- All behavior concerns are automatically within scope.
- A familiar procedure can be used for any case.
- Referral means ABA cannot help.
Distractor patterns
- Accept case immediately.
- Use escape extinction without competence or assessment.
- Tell the caregiver ABA is never relevant.
Self-check before more practice
Can you define it without using the term itself?
If not, pause and rewrite the definition in plain language before answering more scenarios.
Can you spot the clue in a scenario stem?
Look for the data, timing, function, stakeholder, or ethical constraint that makes this concept relevant.
Can you reject the closest distractor?
A concept is not stable until you can explain why a plausible wrong answer is weaker.
Related terms
competencereferralconsultationsupervision
Turn this concept into practice
Use this page as a weak-area checkpoint: practice related scenarios, then review missed answers and save a study plan from your results.
Related study guides
Related practice prompts
Practice moreCore ethics-code principles: Scope of competence.
A funding coordinator asks the BCBA to alter a progress summary so the case appears to meet a payer's continuation rule, saying the client will lose services otherwise. The file includes 2 related notes from service week 10, and the request came from the caregiver. The BCBA should:
Competence through professional development: Scope of competence.
A family asks the BCBA to design a feeding protocol, but the BCBA has not been trained or supervised in feeding intervention. Services are delayed and the family is frustrated. The file includes 4 related notes from service week 10, and the request came from the clinic director. The BCBA should:
Discontinuing services and transitions: Scope of competence.
A payer stops authorizing sessions next month. The team wants to tell the family on the final day and close the case immediately. The file includes 2 related notes from service week 10, and the request came from the caregiver. The BCBA should:
Interpersonal skills for professional relationships: Scope of competence.
During a team meeting, a BCBA becomes frustrated and sends a sarcastic message blaming the teacher for a client's lack of progress. The file includes 4 related notes from service week 10, and the request came from the clinic director. The BCBA should:
Data-based procedural-integrity decisions: Treatment integrity and performance feedback.
An intervention reduces grabbing items from shelves during clinic sessions, but care team cannot use it during daily routines. Across 8 sessions in service week 10, 2 observers recorded 12 minutes of observation in the community outing. Before continuing unchanged, the BCBA should:
More concepts in this domain
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