BACB Code 1.06: How to Expand Your Scope of Competence the Right Way

BACB Code 1.06 is about staying current, and the easiest way to picture the wrong version is Michael Scott at business school telling a room of students that "real business is done on paper" while the world moves to computers. Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) Code 1.06 says a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) holds the same kind of risk if they stop learning, so Mellanie Page in this CEU teaches an active scope-expansion mindset and points to a tip most BCBAs miss: you can read major journals for free by logging into the resources tab on your BACB dashboard.

This page pulls the 1.06 thread out of the talk and walks it through, step by step, in plain language. If you want the rest of the codes she covers, the related links at the bottom take you there.

What Code 1.06 says about staying current#

Code 1.06 sits inside the BACB ethics code under the heading of ensuring your competence. The short version: a BCBA has to keep learning, has to know where the field is moving, and has to be honest when a case is past what they can handle today. It is one of the core principles, not a side note.

Page frames it through the fourth core principle of the code, which is about staying current with research and joining real professional development. Continuing education units (CEUs) count. So does reading. So does asking a mentor a hard question and writing the answer down.

The code does not give you a number of hours or a reading list. That is on purpose. It puts the weight on you to decide where you are weak and to act on it before a case lands on your desk that you cannot serve well.

The Michael Scott trap: confident but outdated#

The clip Page builds the section on is short. A student asks Michael how Dunder Mifflin handles a paperless world. He smiles and tells the room to write down the answer he is about to give.

We can't overestimate the value of computers. Yes, they are great for playing games and forwarding funny emails. But real business is done on paper. From the talk. Michael Scott clip

That is the trap. Confidence without an update. He believes the answer. He is also five years behind the room he is teaching. The point Page lands on right after is that BCBAs can drift into the same posture. You learn a model in grad school. You build a clinic on it. The field moves. You keep running the old playbook and feel sure about it, because it once worked.

Page calls it out gently in the chat thread that follows the clip.

This clip reminds me of the BCBAs who are proud of growing up on paper data sheets versus electronic data collection. I'm sure it was a time to be remembered. From the talk. Janice via chat

Pride in your origin is fine. Pride that hardens into refusal to read new research is the 1.06 risk.

Scope of competence vs. scope of practice (the part most BCBAs miss)#

Here is the line BCBAs blur all the time. Scope of practice is what a BCBA is allowed to do under the credential. It is broad. It covers a lot of skills, ages, and settings.

Scope of competence is narrower. It is the slice of that broad practice where you, today, can deliver safe and effective care. A BCBA who has only ever served young children with autism in a clinic has a different scope of competence than a BCBA who has spent ten years on adult brain injury cases. Both have the same scope of practice.

Code 1.06 lives in the gap between those two. It says: stay inside your scope of competence, and grow it on purpose.

That second half is what Page is most passionate about. The default reading of 1.06 is "refer out anything you have not done before." Page argues for a wider read. You can refer out, yes. You should also be using that referral as a trigger to learn the skill, so the next family in that spot gets your help, not another wait list.

How to expand your scope ethically when a new case shows up#

Page lays out her own approach in the clearest stretch of the talk. It is the working line for this whole page.

We have the ownership and accountability to expand that competence. If I don't know how to address this specific skill, I should find a mentor, supervisor, literature, data, and really learn it before I go and practice it. From the talk — Mellanie Page

Read it twice. The "before I go and practice it" is the safety rail. Expansion does not mean winging it on a live client. It means doing the prep work so the next case is in your zone.

Here is the order she models. First, name the gap. Say out loud what you do not know. Second, find a mentor or supervisor who has done the work. Third, read the published research, not just blog posts. Fourth, get hands-on practice in a supervised setting before you bill for it.

If a case lands and you are not ready, refer it out. Then start the prep loop anyway, so you are ready the next time. That is the move that keeps a BCBA's scope growing year over year, instead of staying frozen at whatever they trained on in their first job.

Free journal access through your BACB dashboard#

This is the tip most BCBAs do not know about, and Page brings it up because she is surprised every time how few people use it. When you log into your BACB account, your dashboard has a resources tab. Inside that tab is free access to the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) and most of the other major journals in the field.

You do not need a university library account. You do not need to pay for a subscription. You do not need to dig through paywalls. Your certification already covers it.

For Code 1.06, this is the cheapest, fastest way to keep your reading current. Pick a clinical question you ran into this month. Search the dashboard. Read one paper. Write down what changed in your thinking. That is a real 1.06 habit, and it costs you nothing but the hour.

If you only do one thing after reading this page, log in tonight and click that tab so you know where it lives.

Cross-discipline learning: what SLPs and OTs can teach you#

Page makes a second point that is easy to miss. Scope of competence does not only grow by reading ABA journals. A lot of it grows by listening to the other clinicians on the team.

I've learned so much from SLPs, OTs, teachers, TAs, et cetera. From the talk. Michelle via chat

A speech-language pathologist (SLP) sees communication from a different model than a BCBA does. An occupational therapist (OT) sees sensory and motor pieces a BCBA may underweight. A classroom teacher knows what works in a room of twenty kids on a regular Wednesday. Each of those people holds a slice of the picture you do not see.

Cross-discipline learning is a 1.06 move because it expands your working knowledge of the cases in front of you. It also makes you a better collaborator on the same client, which connects back to other ethics codes on teamwork. It is one habit doing two jobs.

A self-assessment you can run every quarter#

Page does not hand out a worksheet, but the principles she repeats build into a simple quarterly check. You can run it in twenty minutes on a Friday.

First, list the case types you saw this quarter. Not the names. The categories: ages, diagnoses, settings, presenting concerns.

Second, mark any category where you felt unsure. Be honest. Where did you Google something a peer would have known? Where did you delay a clinical decision because you were not sure?

Third, pick one of those categories and write down what you will read or who you will ask in the next thirty days. One. Not five. One that you will actually finish.

Fourth, log it. Note the date, the source, and what you learned in one sentence. Keep the file. Over a year you build a real record of scope expansion, and you build it for yourself, not for an audit.

This is the quarterly version of the active mindset Page is pushing. It turns 1.06 from a nervous rule into a steady professional habit.

Frequently asked questions#

What is scope of competence under Code 1.06? Scope of competence is the set of skills, populations, and settings where you can deliver safe and effective care right now. It sits inside your broader scope of practice. Code 1.06 says you stay inside it, and you grow it on purpose through reading, mentorship, and supervised practice.

Can I take a case outside my scope if I get supervision? Often, yes. Supervision from someone who already has competence in that area is one of the ways the BACB expects you to expand. The supervisor needs to be qualified in that scope, not just senior to you. You should also document the plan to build your own competence so the supervision is the bridge, not the permanent crutch.

How do I document continuing education for 1.06? Keep a running file with the date, the topic, the source (CEU, paper, mentorship session), and one sentence on what changed in your practice. Tie each entry to a case type or skill area when you can. That file makes annual recertification easier and gives you a real picture of where your scope is growing.

Where do I get free ABA research articles? Log into your BACB account, open the dashboard, and click the resources tab. From there you can read JOBM and most of the other major journals in the field at no cost. Many BCBAs never click that tab. Page named it as her main go-to.

How often should I reassess my scope of competence? A quarterly review is enough for most BCBAs. List the case types you saw, mark the ones where you felt unsure, pick one to study in the next thirty days, and log what you learn. That cadence keeps scope growing without overwhelming your week.

Keep going#

If you want to hear Page work through 1.06 in her own words, with the Michael Scott clip and the rest of the chat from the room, the recording is the next step. She also covers four other codes in the same session, so you can build your ethics CEU around it.