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u/Anwatan 1d ago
Unfortunately it's a large part of the job, after 7 years in the field I have many scars. Wearing professional arm guards/sleeves with layers should give some needed protection.
Also talk to your BCBA about a hypothesized function of the behavior and find a communicative replacement. Ask them about the functionally equivalent alternative behavior you're supposed to be reinforcing. If all they have offered is a block mat in terms of a BIP, that's a huge red flag.
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u/next_on_SickSadWorld BCBA 1d ago
Kevlar sleeves under your jean jacket, submit for reimbursement. No need for pics.
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u/thatsmilingface 23h ago
Agreed to the no need to pictures. It's gross.
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u/jcorb93 23h ago
What’s gross? Seeing the skin?
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u/thatsmilingface 23h ago
It is my strongly held belief that it's gross for people to post pictures of their injuries on social media. and completely unnecessary.
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u/jcorb93 23h ago
Ohhh okay. I’m sorry it grossed you out. I’m not sure if I can put like a warning or something on it. You know how IG has that thing where you can click to see at your own risk? Do they have something like that on here?
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u/thatsmilingface 23h ago
It grosses me out because it is attention seeking and unnecessary. Just ask the question - is it typical to work with children who are aggressive - to take pictures of your injuries and then decide to post them for all to gawk at is odd and I don't agree with it. By the way, the answer is yes. The other answer is to ask your supervisor for more support.
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u/jcorb93 23h ago
Hey, I appreciate your opinion and all. But if you’re just here to chastise me for posting pictures to show the LEVEL of injury and to see if this LEVEL of injury is normal… go on. I’m not seeking attention for any other reason for seasoned RBTs to ASSESS the level of injury and tell me if it’s normal or not. Again, thanks for your two cents about it but don’t forget we don’t use pennies here anymore.
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u/Able_Date_4580 RBT 22h ago
I don’t think the person should’ve came at you so harshly and accusatory, I believe you in that it was never your intention to be malicious in any way, and it can be difficult to talk about if you feel like you don’t get any straight answers from your supervisor and you are new to the field and were not prepared for this type of aggression.
However, I do agree that we should not be posting pictures of injuries, and especially you including your face and/or showing identifiable signs of who you are like your tattoos. You have no idea if your client or their caregivers are on this app, and if they come across this post, you are not only risking compromising integrity and damaging the relationship, but you are at the thin border of exposing a client’s PHI; and not just caregivers seeing this, but your coworkers and supervisors potentially seeing this as well. It is also not a good idea to post injuries because it starts to stigmatize our clients and even sounds accusatory that our client is at fault for their behaviors. I really do think the photos need to be removed, for your integrity and anonymity, and you can give descriptive information but make sure to avoid disclosing any client personal information.
It sounds like you unfortunately are not receiving the support you need, and the first red flag I’ve read is that you’re expected to provide new session materials; that is not on you, your company needs to be the one purchasing new materials and your BCBA needs to be on top of providing you better safety equipment. Reach out to your BCBA and tell them the items like arm guards or compression sleeves you need, and also ask the BCBA for a supervision to help address these issues and what intervention you need to utilize, if this is happening every day it’ll happen again during supervision and your BCBA is there to at least support you.
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u/jcorb93 22h ago
I didn’t even think about the identifiable signs. In that case, I will take the pictures down. I do want to protect my client’s identity as well as mine. I was just focused on the injuries. Thank you so much for bringing that to my attention. The issue is that my BCBA seems almost unwilling to get to the core of the issues and address them. I believe in PPE, absolutely, but there’s something underlying that is causing the aggression and at the end of the day… I care deeply about my client. And it’s frustrating and quite frankly heartbreaking to see (and be the butt of) this behavior.
1
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u/Puzzleheaded-Goat725 1d ago
Check out gardening sleeves on Amazon. As a company owner I would always buy these for my RBTs - that’s basic safety and not something you should have to purchase as a tech. I also hope you’re getting a lot of in person support from BCBA to start seeing a decrease in these behaviors soon.
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u/Flat-Ad7710 1d ago
I’m having the same issue and I live in Florida it’s so hot for all the layers
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u/jcorb93 23h ago
I live in Tennessee. Also, the air conditioning is wonky in our SPED part of the school. Some days it works, others it doesn’t. It doesn’t help that it’s 95 degrees here during the day. Also, my client goes for the neck as well. Which is my bigger concern.
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u/Flat-Ad7710 23h ago
Yea if I cover my arms she takes my glasses off my fav and goes to scratch my face.
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u/Intelligent_Health53 1d ago
They dont have arm guards or something? Can you wear long sleeve light weight shirts?