Unrestricted Activities
The behavior-analytic work that goes beyond direct treatment delivery: conducting assessments, designing and revising programs, analyzing and graphing data, writing reports, and training staff or caregivers. BCBA candidates need at least 60% of total fieldwork hours unrestricted; BCaBA candidates need at least 40%.
Definition
Unrestricted activities are the behavior-analytic work that goes beyond direct treatment delivery: the thinking, planning, and analysis that define the behavior analyst role. They include conducting assessments, designing and revising programs and treatment plans, analyzing and graphing data, writing reports, training staff and caregivers, and supervision meetings with your own supervisor. The BACB requires that most of a BCBA candidate's fieldwork come from unrestricted activities because they represent the role you are training to step into.
These activities are considered "unrestricted" because there is no upper limit on how many of your fieldwork hours can fall into this category. In fact, the BACB sets a minimum percentage requirement: BCBA candidates must accumulate at least 60% of their total hours in unrestricted activities, while BCaBA candidates need at least 40%. The ratio is measured cumulatively across your full fieldwork experience, not month by month.
Note that the category an activity belongs to can depend on its purpose, not its surface description. The BACB's own example is data collection: collecting data during a client's ongoing treatment is restricted, while collecting data as part of a functional assessment is unrestricted. And some work counts in neither category: conferences and workshops, exam study, and nonbehavioral administrative tasks such as scheduling, billing, and preparing materials never count toward fieldwork hours at all. Logging hours in the wrong category can lead to compliance failures that are difficult to correct later, especially as you approach your total hour requirement.
Why This Matters
Every time you log fieldwork hours, you need to categorize them as either unrestricted or restricted. Getting this right from the beginning is critical because the BACB audits these ratios cumulatively. If you fall behind on unrestricted hours early in your fieldwork, catching up later requires logging disproportionately more unrestricted time.
Examples
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Conducting assessments, including functional behavior assessments (FBAs)
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Designing or revising behavior intervention plans (BIPs)
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Training caregivers or staff on behavior analytic procedures
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Graphing and analyzing behavioral data
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Writing treatment plans and progress reports based on data
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Supervision meetings with your own supervisor
Source: BCBA Handbook, fieldwork requirements (unrestricted activities and the 60% minimum)
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