Delivering culturally sound and high-quality behavior analytic services when working with an interpreter.

Abstract

Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) serve increasingly diverse clientele and are often asked to provide services to culturally and linguistically diverse populations. When BCBAs do not speak the language of primary and secondary clients, they are ethically and legally obligated to seek out interpreter services. Despite these obligations, behavior analytic interventions may be lost due to interpretation barriers, including the lack of cultural competency. We describe culturally responsive health care, ethical, and legal requirements that necessitate interpretative services when collaborating with linguistically diverse clients. Given the complexities of the BCBA-interpreter-linguistically diverse client relationship, we present strategies for the BCBA to work successfully with an interpreter and linguistically diverse clients. We propose the Checklist for BCBA and Interpreter Service Delivery (CBISD) that BCBAs can use to collaborate with interpreters in everyday practice to help support linguistically diverse clients.