A parent's notebook of questions lies open beside a row of their child's wooden blocks on the dining table at home.

Dictionary: EIPIC · SG Enable

Who does what, and who has to be registered

Start with what your child needs help with, then look for the profession that covers it. Singapore law describes two of these jobs in detail, because they are registered professions. For the other two, the description comes from the body that certifies them or from the Ministry of Health.

The four professionals a Singapore parent may mean by “autism therapist”, as of September 2026
Who What they work on Registered by law in Singapore?
Speech-language therapist (most people say speech therapist) Communication of every kind: spoken words, writing, pictures, signs, understanding, and social and non-verbal skills. Feeding and swallowing too. Yes. Registered with the Allied Health Professions Council (AHPC) and holding a valid Practising Certificate.
Occupational therapist Everyday activities: self-care, play, school, and changing the tools and surroundings so your child can do them. Yes, on the same terms as a speech-language therapist.
Psychologist Depends on their area of training. Clinical and educational psychology are two of the five areas the Ministry of Health (MOH) has named for future registration. Not yet. A voluntary register exists, the Singapore Register of Psychologists. A legal register has been announced but had not started as of September 2026.
Behaviour therapist (ABA), sometimes supervised by a BCBA An ABA programme: an assessment, then a written behaviour plan that puts rewarding the behaviour you want first. No. ABA is not a profession the Allied Health Professions Act registers. A BCBA holds a certificate from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) in the United States.

A child may see more than one of these people, and one centre may employ several of them. So the useful question is “which one for this goal”. A child who is not yet talking is a speech-language therapist’s work, and our guide to helping a non-speaking autistic child communicate covers the picture cards and devices that sit inside it. For what each therapy involves, what it costs and how the subsidised route works, our guide to autism therapy types in Singapore goes through them one at a time.

How to check each one before the first paid session

Do these before you pay for anything, in this order.

  1. Ask the centre, by email, for the therapist’s full name and the profession they practise in. A written answer is easier to check than a spoken one.
  2. For a speech-language therapist or an occupational therapist, open AHPC’s “Search for registered Allied Health Professionals” from the Council’s website. Search the name and check that the profession matches what you were told.
  3. For a psychologist, ask whether they hold the title “Registered Psychologist (Singapore)”. That title comes with a place on the Singapore Register of Psychologists, which the Singapore Psychological Society runs, and the Society lists its members in a directory on its website.
  4. For a BCBA, ask for their BACB certification number and look them up on the BACB Certificant Registry. The board updates it daily, and it also shows any reportable disciplinary action.
  5. If the person is on none of these, ask two more things: what qualification they hold, and who supervises their work with your child.

Only the second check has the law behind it. AHPC puts it in one sentence: “It is an offence to practise as an Allied Health Professional in Singapore without registration and a valid Practising Certificate.” That page was last updated in April 2025. The Allied Health Professions Act 2011 also makes it an offence for a person who is not qualified to take on one of those titles.

Psychologists: a legal register is announced, not yet started

Today the Singapore Psychological Society says it plainly on its own register page: “The practice of psychology is not regulated by the government in Singapore. SRP registration is not mandatory for practice in Singapore.” So a psychologist can practise here without being on a register. The Society only admits psychologists with an applied postgraduate degree to its register, which is why the “Registered Psychologist (Singapore)” title is still worth asking about.

MOH has announced a change. In an answer to Parliament on 7 May 2026, MOH described mandatory registration for psychologists in five areas: clinical, clinical neuropsychology, counselling, educational and forensic. Expert panels chose those five by weighing the risk of harm to clients. Once the rule is in force, three things follow, in MOH’s words:

  • Only registered psychologists may use the job titles for those five areas, and “Unregistered practitioners will not be permitted to use these titles in any context, including in advertisements and service agreements.”
  • “A register of psychologists will be made publicly available.”
  • AHPC, the same council that registers speech and occupational therapists, will oversee psychologists and take action against anyone “falsely claiming to be registered psychologists”.

The answer does not give a start date, and it describes all of this as what happens “once implemented”. So as of September 2026, ask for the voluntary title. When the public register opens, there will be a list to search, as there already is for a speech-language therapist.

ABA and the letters BCBA

You may see the letters BCBA after an ABA therapist’s name, so it helps to know what they mean. BCBA stands for Board Certified Behavior Analyst. It is a certification from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, which is based in the United States. It is not a Singapore licence, and ABA is not one of the five professions the Allied Health Professions Act registers.

MOH was asked in Parliament in January 2024 whether behavioural therapy providers should be registered under the same Act as speech and occupational therapists. Its written answer listed the five registered professions and then grouped people who provide behavioural therapy with psychologists. The Singapore Psychological Society also lists a behaviour analysis degree among those that do not qualify for its register. So for an ABA practitioner who holds a BACB certificate, the BACB’s own registry is the public record you can check.

The certificate does carry weight in one useful way. The BACB’s Ethics Code applies to everyone who holds BCBA certification, and it counts a parent as one of the people a behaviour analyst owes duties to. Several of the questions and signs further down come straight from that code. The person running your child’s day-to-day sessions may not be the BCBA, so ask who the BCBA is and how often they see your child.

If your child is in a funded programme

In EIPIC, the government-funded Early Intervention Programme for Infants and Children, you do not pick the therapist. The centre does. MOH explained how that works in the same January 2024 answer: “In non-healthcare settings such as MSF-funded early intervention programmes, operators may employ therapists, psychologists and other professionals to provide therapy services. Where necessary, the funding agreements specify the minimum qualifications and training required, before staff can be deployed to provide such services.”

That funding agreement is between the centre and the government, and it is not something you can read. You can still ask the centre which professionals see your child, and what each one’s profession is. A speech-language therapist or an occupational therapist at a funded centre must be registered with AHPC like anyone else, so the same search works. SG Enable’s guide to EIPIC also says that, based on the centre’s assessment, an adult caregiver may be required to sit in with your child during sessions. If your centre has not asked, you can ask to watch one. Our list of every EIPIC operator and centre shows who runs each one.

What to ask at the first meeting

Take these on paper or on your phone. You do not need to ask all of them in one sitting.

  • Which profession are you registered or certified in, and where can I check it?
  • Who will actually run my child’s sessions, and who supervises that person?
  • How will you assess my child first, and will I get the results in writing?
  • Who sets the goals, and can I help choose them?
  • How will you measure progress, and when will we sit down and review it together?
  • Can I sit in on sessions, or watch some of them?
  • What will you ask us to do at home between sessions?
  • What do you do when my child is upset or does not want to take part?
  • What does it cost, what is included, and how do we end the arrangement if we need to?
A parent takes notes while a therapist talks them through a first meeting at home, the child's shoes by the table.
Write the answers down, so you can come back to them at the first review.

For a BCBA, several of these answers are not favours. The BACB’s Ethics Code says a behaviour analyst must explain the scope of services and when they will end before starting, and must give “an accurate and current set of their credentials” on request. Before services begin there must be a signed service agreement that sets out, among other things, how to make a complaint, and the fees must be written down. Parents are to be involved in “selecting goals” and in “continual progress monitoring”.

For a speech-language therapist or an occupational therapist, AHPC’s page on its registers and its page on complaints do not list the paperwork you should expect. Asking for goals and a review date in writing is our advice there, not a rule, and it is a fair thing to ask of anyone you pay.

Signs a programme may not be right for your child

Most of these come from the BACB’s Ethics Code, which binds behaviour analysts certified by the BACB and no other therapist. They are still reasonable questions to ask of any therapist, as long as you remember the code is not a Singapore rule for the others.

  • There is no written plan. Before an ABA programme starts, the code expects the objectives, the procedures, any expected timelines and the schedule for reviewing it, all in writing.
  • You are kept out. The code asks behaviour analysts to involve parents in choosing goals and in checking progress, throughout, not only at the start.
  • Nothing changes when progress stalls. The code expects data to be collected and used to decide whether to continue, change or stop, and says that when “desired outcomes are not being realized” the behaviour analyst should act to correct it.
  • Punishment or restriction comes before gentler methods. The code puts rewarding wanted behaviour first, and allows restrictive or punishment-based methods only after less intrusive ones have not worked, or when the team judges the risk of harm to the child is greater without them.
  • Your child’s reluctance is never taken into account. The code asks behaviour analysts to obtain a child’s assent, meaning their willingness to take part, where that applies.

Changing therapists is not a failure, yours or your child’s. If a conversation with the therapist or the centre does not settle it, there are formal routes. For a registered speech-language therapist or occupational therapist, AHPC takes written complaints about conduct or about services “not being of the quality which is reasonable to expect”. A complaint needs a statutory declaration, a signed statement sworn before a commissioner for oaths, and AHPC says its investigations “usually take at least 9 months”. For a BCBA, the complaint route should already be written into the service agreement you signed.

Common questions

Does an ABA therapist need a licence in Singapore?

Not under the Allied Health Professions Act 2011, as of September 2026. The Act registers five professions, and ABA is not one of them. In January 2024 MOH grouped behavioural therapy providers with psychologists, who are not yet registered either. What an ABA supervisor may hold instead is BCBA certification from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board in the United States, which you can check on the BACB Certificant Registry.

Do psychologists have to be registered in Singapore?

Not yet. The Singapore Register of Psychologists is voluntary. MOH has announced mandatory registration for clinical, clinical neuropsychology, counselling, educational and forensic psychologists, with protected job titles and a public register, but its 7 May 2026 answer to Parliament describes this as what will happen “once implemented” and gives no start date.

Is a speech therapist the same as a speech-language therapist?

Yes. AHPC registers the profession as Speech-Language Therapists, and MOH’s own written answer to Parliament calls them Speech Therapists. Parents and centres mostly say speech therapist. Nothing is different underneath.

What to do next

Before the first paid session, run the one check that fits the person in front of you. For a speech-language therapist or an occupational therapist, search their name on the Allied Health Professions Council’s register. For a psychologist, ask whether they are a Registered Psychologist (Singapore) with the Singapore Psychological Society. For a BCBA, ask for their certification number and look it up on the BACB Certificant Registry.

Then, if you are still weighing which therapy to start with, what it costs and how the subsidised route works, our guide to autism therapy types in Singapore picks up from there.

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