What changes for RBTs in 2026 and 2027

A one-page guide for Registered Behavior Technicians and the organizations that employ them. Everything here comes from the BACB's RBT Handbook (updated June 2026). Your own dates are in your BACB account.

Becoming an RBT now

• The 40-hour training has a new standard. It must meet the BACB's RBT 2026 40-Hour Training Requirements and Curriculum Outline. A training finished earlier can still be submitted, but only if it meets every current requirement. Ask your training provider whether the course was designed for 2026.
• It takes at least 5 days and no more than 180. The first and last days both count.
• The Initial Competency Assessment comes after the training, no more than 90 days before you apply.
• The exam follows the RBT Test Content Outline (3rd ed.): 75 scored questions and 10 unscored.

Already an RBT

• Your next recertification in 2026 works the old way, one last time. That means the Recertification Competency Assessment and the 2026 fee. Your two-year cycle begins once you are recertified.
• After that, it's 12 PDUs every two years. You need 12 hours of professional development units (PDUs) in each two-year cycle. The BACB says recertification applications move to every two years, beginning in 2027.
• PDUs count only inside their own cycle. The BACB's example: if your recertification date is September 30, 2026, only PDUs from October 1, 2026, to September 30, 2028, count toward your next recertification.
• There are no make-ups and no carry-over. Missed PDUs can't be made up after your date, and extra PDUs don't move to the next cycle. Repeating an activity you already counted doesn't earn new PDUs.

Three ways to earn PDUs

1. In-service training at your organization, given by a BCaBA, BCBA or BCBA-D and related to behavior-analytic service delivery (not training on one client's program).
2. A professional development event from an Authorized Continuing Education (ACE) Provider, documented on the RBT Professional Development form.
3. A behavior-analytic university course passed with a C or better (or "pass").

Supervision, client-specific training and fieldwork toward BCaBA or BCBA certification do not count. An event offered as continuing education for behavior analysts is not the same as professional development for RBTs.

For organizations that employ RBTs

• Check that each new hire's 40-hour certificate is for the 2026 requirements.
• Your own BCaBAs and BCBAs can run in-service training that counts as PDUs, as long as it isn't about a specific client.

We are building a 40-hour RBT training for the 2026 requirements, and we will tell you when it opens.

Share this page with an RBT on your team.

Source: BACB, RBT Handbook, updated 06/2026, bacb.com. Special Learning, special-learning.com.