In the US there are several types of board certified ABA therapist positions. Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) and Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) are just two of them. The latter is essentially a Master's degree.
The main certifying body is the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), which has been around for over 20 years. "The BACB’s mission is to protect consumers of behavior-analytic services by systematically establishing, promoting, and disseminating professional standards." This includes ethics rules and methodology for reporting analysts who are not following them.
Unlike conversion therapy, ABA is focused on and employs positive reinforcement. Any system of punishments or negative reinforcement is not actual ABA. If anyone has felt traumatized or abused, it was not actual ABA therapy.
Standards of care are constantly evolving based on the latest research. There is zero credible evidence that ABA has any links to conversion therapy.
"The behavioral perspective of psychology believes a person’s behavior can be changed through a system of rewards or reinforcements. This may not sound like a revolutionary idea today, but at the time, when psychology was still new, behavioral psychologists opened the doors of possibility for those who previously were given no hope.
ABA therapy has its beginnings in the work of two UCLA psychologists, Ivar Lovaas and Robert Koegel. Lovaas dedicated much of his professional life to studying the behavior of children with autism. Robert Koegel was a student of Lovaas’ and went on to study, speak, and write on autism and the positive behavior interventions that are possible for children with autism."
