Special Learning · Practitioner resource · Updated September 2, 2026
Asked on r/bcba, July 4, 2025: “Does it not really matter what you do for CEUs as long as you are hitting the correct numbers?” source
One renewal plan for three boards
Eight credentials. Three boards. Twenty-one numbers you have to hit. Most practitioners carry them around in their head, and most of the practitioners we talk to get at least one wrong. That's not a practitioner failing. That's a documentation failing. So here they are, on one page, with the sources, and a planner underneath that turns your renewal date into a number per month.
We have spent 16 years building CE for behavior analysts. The single most common question we get isn't about content. It's "how many do I still need, and which kind?" Here's the answer for every credential we serve. If the boards themselves are the confusion, start with who certifies whom.
The numbers, board by board
BACB (Behavior Analyst Certification Board)
| Credential | Cycle | Total | Ethics | Supervision | What else |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BCBA | 2 years | 32 CEUs | 4 | 3 if you supervise | A CEU counts as ethics or supervision, never both. Recorded, self-paced courses count when the provider monitors participation, for example with knowledge-check questions. |
| BCaBA | 2 years | 20 CEUs | 4 | 3 if you supervise | Same rules as BCBA on ethics and supervision. |
| RBT | 2 years | 12 PDUs | none set | none | New in 2026. The first RBTs to owe 12 PDUs are those renewing in January 2028. PDUs and CEUs are different programs. A course is one or the other, never both. |
Source: BACB, ACE Provider Handbook, version 05/2026, effective July 1, 2026, and the BCBA, BCaBA and RBT recertification pages at https://www.bacb.com
QABA (Qualified Applied Behavior Analysis Credentialing Board)
| Credential | Cycle | Total | Ethics | Live minimum | What else |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| QBA | 2 years | 32 CEUs | 3 | 25% (8) | First renewal only: 2 hours trauma-informed care plus 2 hours comorbidities. No supervision CEUs. Every on-demand course needs an end-of-course exam. |
| QASP-S | 2 years | 20 CEUs | 2 | 25% (5) | First renewal only: 2 hours trauma-informed care. |
| ABAT | 2 years | 12 CEUs | 1 | 25% (3) | Fieldwork supervision is a separate obligation, not a CE category. |
Source: QABA renewal page https://qababoard.com/renewal/ and the QASP-S Candidate Handbook, October 2023. QABA renews on quarterly deadlines: January 1, April 1, July 1, October 1. The window opens 60 days before. Miss it by 30 days and you forfeit.
IBAO (International Behavior Analysis Organization)
| Credential | Cycle | Total | Ethics | Supervision | Cultural | General ABA | What else |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBA, first cycle | 2 years | 24 CEUs | 4 | 4 | 4 | 12 | One year of professional mentorship in the first cycle. IBAO hasn't published the breakdown for later cycles in a text document. Confirm with IBAO before you plan cycle two. |
| IBT | 2 years | 8 CEUs | 2 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Ongoing practice supervision instead of supervision CE: at least 1 hour per 40 practice hours. |
Source: IBAO, IBA Requirements v1.01 and IBT Requirements v1.00, https://theibao.com/docs/IBA-Requirements-v101-ENG.pdf and https://theibao.com/docs/IBT-Requirements-v100.pdf. Every continuing-education unit an IBAO certificant claims must be tagged Ethics, Supervision, Cultural or General ABA.
The five things people get wrong
- Ethics doesn't carry forward. On every board, the ethics hours are per cycle. Four ethics CEUs in 2025 do nothing for a BCBA cycle that starts in 2026.
- QABA caps recorded learning at 75 percent. One in four of the CEUs a QABA certificant claims has to be live, in person or a live online seminar. A library of recordings can't be your whole plan if you hold a QABA credential.
- BACB supervision CEUs are only for people who supervise. If you don't supervise trainees or RBTs, you owe zero. If you do, you owe three, and they're separate from ethics.
- RBT PDUs aren't CEUs. The BACB treats professional development for RBTs and continuing education for BCBAs and BCaBAs as two programs. The same recording can't be marketed as both. If a course is sold to you as both, ask which one is on the certificate.
- The certificate is the credit. For every board, what you can submit is what the certificate says: the provider, the board's tag or category, the hours, the presenter's name, and for QABA the presenter's signature. A course you enjoyed with a certificate that names the wrong category is a course you took for yourself.
Your plan
Tick what you hold, enter the renewal date printed on your certificate, and read the number.
Your plan appears here.
Where Special Learning stands
Special Learning is a BACB ACE Provider (OP-14-2437); ACE Provider authorization first issued January 31, 2014. Our BCBA and BCaBA certificates carry BACB credit and, where the content qualifies, the ethics or supervision tag. Special Learning is listed as a CE provider by the QABA Credentialing Board and by the International Behavior Analysis Organization. Whether your QABA or IBAO board accepts one of our courses is your board's call, and it turns on what the certificate you receive says. Read the certificate. If it doesn't say what you need, tell us before you submit it, not after.
Our BCBA CE Library is $199 a year. It carries 32.5 CEUs, including 4 ethics and 3.5 supervision. That's a full BCBA cycle for $6.12 per CEU. The math is the pitch. There's no other one.
Prepared by Special Learning. Clinical review: Camila Sandoval (AI), Chief Clinical Officer. Requirements change. Each board's page is the record; this page is the map. Report an error to info@special-learning.com and we will fix it on the page, with the date.