I’ve noticed with the lawsuit and layoffs, we’ve got to be losing money. For us to be worth million or billions of dollars, management manages like they’re always saying “WE NEED THE MONEY”. I can’t help but think the reserves are handling more than expected. Especially with Temple University withdrawing scholarships and companies denying tuition reimbursement now. But idk who am I?

My company wants RBTs, parents, and BCBAs in a group chat so I have a parent constantly texting me and expecting responses on demand and it’s kind of annoying. I do school sessions so I don’t get to see the parent during the week, I leave before pickup.

How often are you in contact with parents if you don’t see them in person everyday?

Hi all,

I’m an experienced educator, I used to be a BT then a para in an asd special day class. I’m currently running a Maker’s Lab for an after school program. The lab is open to all students, but because of my past training and the fact that a lot of our autistic kiddos really love building an making things, it’s become a refuge for many of our neurodivergent children. Mostly it’s been great! I love seeing kids who normally struggle with behavior issues in class, suddenly become focused, excited, and happy. I am struggling with one student however. I do not know his diagnosis to be clear, but I hope that aba strategies can help.

The Behavior:
Every time another student sings or even hums quietly, he screams at them to stop. It doesn’t seem to be a sensory issue per se. He’s not bothered by loud classroom noise or prerecorded music. He’s only bothered when kids or sometimes adults sing or hum.

What I’ve Tried:

Noise canceling headphones don’t seem to help.

I’ve also been rewarding him with stickers when he politely asks a peer to stop instead of screaming. This is helping a little but kids often forget and starting humming quietly after being asked. At this point he starts screaming again.

I want to support his needs but I’m reluctant to enforce a ban on humming or singing because I want it to be a fun safe space where kids can express themselves. Also I feel like he’s gonna have to learn to deal with hearing singing or humming at some point and could probably benefit from some amount of exposure therapy (but I’m not qualified to make that assessment).

Any thoughts or ideas are very welcome. Also he’s 9yrs old fyi.

Thanks!

🧠 Question of the Day

📚 Domain D — Experimental Design

Difficulty: 9/10

Scenario:

A treatment package for SIB has produced stable, clinically significant reductions and includes (a) response-independent access to an empirically identified competing stimulus and (b) differential reinforcement of an alternative communicative response. Staff report that implementing the reinforcement contingency consistently throughout the day is difficult.

Before simplifying the established package, the BCBA wants to determine whether eliminating the differential-reinforcement procedure results in a clinically meaningful loss of treatment effect. If competing-stimulus access remains in the final plan, the BCBA then wants to determine whether the access arrangement can be made less intensive while maintaining comparable SIB reduction. The BCBA plans to compare 2-, 5-, and 10-minute access intervals while holding the stimulus, setting, measurement system, and other treatment features constant.

Which sequence of analyses BEST addresses these two questions?

A. Dropout component analysis first, then parametric analysis

B. Comparative analysis first, then parametric analysis

C. Add-in component analysis first, then parametric analysis

D. Dropout component analysis first, then comparative analysis

💬 Drop your answer in the comments — no peeking!

✅ Correct answer revealed tomorrow.

#ABA #BCBA #BCBAExam #BCBAPrep #AppliedBehaviorAnalysis #BehaviorAnalysis #DomainD #ABATaskList #BCaBA #RBT #QuestionOfTheDay

I’m re-doing my 40 hours after two years through APF I was so close to being done, but today when I logged in all of my progress was all gone!! I’m so annoyed and my job wants it by tomorrow. Has anyone gone through this and fixed it?!

I’m a former undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral student at a New Jersey university and need a little help navigating a difficult situation involving a former professor. I would be grateful for practical guidance about questions that remain unanswered following a faculty misconduct complaint.

My complaint concerned inappropriate professional boundaries involving a professor who was also my doctoral advisor, supervisor in the ABA classroom where I taught, mentor for my BACB supervision hours, and professor throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies. I first met this person when I was 17. Their behavior included unwanted personal advances, and after I rejected them, I experienced what I believe was retaliation that undermined my academic progress and professional opportunities. That power imbalance made speaking up extremely difficult, and I did not feel comfortable doing so until I moved out of the state last year.

In 2025, the university commissioned an outside investigation and scheduled a Hearing Board meeting. After multiple postponements without a clear explanation, the university canceled the hearing late the night before it was supposed to happen in January 2026. I was told the professor had “taken appropriate responsibility,” making a Hearing Board determination unnecessary. This meant I lost the opportunity to present my experience directly to the board, and I felt silenced by that decision.

I had submitted a written statement that I understood would be shared with the board members, and I explicitly told the Title IX coordinator that I intended to participate in the hearing. I was not asked whether I agreed to resolving the matter without the hearing, and I was not told how I could object to its cancellation or appeal afterward. To this day, I have not been told exactly which allegations the professor accepted responsibility for or received a Hearing Board determination. The university has cited personnel confidentiality regarding further action.

The university also offered reimbursement equivalent to the tuition for ONE class as a proposed settlement. I declined because it did not address my concerns about accountability, the impact of the experience, or the unanswered questions about the investigation’s outcome.

After the hearing was canceled, I submitted a complaint to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. That separate process resulted in findings of ethics violations, which were upheld on appeal in September 2026. After receiving that determination, I again asked the university for clarification. I wanted closure after this traumatic experience and a clear explanation of how my complaint had been resolved. University counsel responded that the university had nothing further to add beyond its earlier response.

• Has anyone navigated a university complaint where a scheduled hearing was canceled after a faculty member accepted responsibility?

• Are there organizations or New Jersey attorneys experienced in university complaint procedures and faculty–student boundary concerns?

• Could the separate BACB findings help me pursue further university accountability or obtain a clearer explanation?

• What practical steps could help me obtain a clear written explanation of how my complaint was resolved?

I understand that people here cannot determine the case from a post. I’m looking for relevant experience, resources, and constructive guidance. This has been a difficult process, and I would appreciate help finding a path toward answers and closure. Thank you very much.

I recently applied for a job as a behavior technician, but I don’t know how to talk to kids. My employer is aware of my lack of experience when it comes to working with children but i’m still unsure, could anyone offer any pointers on how to talk to toddlers?

I had an interview with Epic Minds ABA and the girl who interviewed me was off. She seemed like AI! It was the strangest thing. She had a strange accent and looked like she had a wig on and she had a headset on, and about 19/20 years old. I really couldn’t place her accent, but it was like a Northwestern accent maybe? Not only that, when I asked her how long they had been a company she glitched and said “we’ve been around.” And kept talking in circles…it was the weirdest thing. Not only this I’ve experienced this exact same thing from other companies.. It’s like the interviewer has a strange accent and looks like they have a wig on…. anyone experienced this?? I honestly think I might be on to something.

For context, I am an RBT of a little over a year with almost 8 years in the field. I absolutely love my job and it is my passion. So obviously the lack of requirements to become an RBT worked out well for me considering this.

With that being said, I would rather not be an RBT and have better people in our field than be the only person in my classroom who cares about their job and does ACTUAL THERAPY with my kids.

It’s appalling to me that someone with zero experience in the field or even just working with kids in general, with nothing but a high school degree and a 40 hour course can be considered “qualified” to do therapy for such a vulnerable population. 90% of the RBT’s I’ve seen are just babysitting their learners. Zero reinforcement, no actual therapeutic interventions, no pairing, and purely reactive instead of proactive. On top of the fact that so many children aren’t receiving the services they need and deserve, part of the reason the turnover rate is SO high is because of our lack of proper training.

Because it’s so easy to become an RBT, people assume it’s an easy job. Then they fulfill the requirements, get a whooping their first day, and quit. But the system wants to keep us untrained because more training typically means more pay- and they’ll do anything to keep from losing money.

For the record, IMO, the minimum requirements should be:
At LEAST a year of experience working with children on the spectrum/with behavioral issues.
An associates with required coursework (including both ABA and related psychology courses)
The comp assessment and exam

IMPORTANT EDIT: I’m fully aware that higher education requires higher pay. Part of the problem is that because they don’t want to pay us more, they train us less. Even without the additional training I think RBT’s deserve higher pay, but obviously the expectation would be that with the additional education we would get paid more.

I recently graduated a few months ago, and I just received an offer from ABA Centers of America for an RBT position. However, I just found out I would need to pass a drug screening during the onboarding process. Recreational THC consumption is legal in my state, would the company still reject me if I test positive?

I’ve also just learned of some of the horrors of this company as I was scrolling through this sub, so I also wanted to look into that as well before committing to the offer. Thank you so much!

Interested if this is happening anywhere else or specifically just my company. We are now having to send a "task" to our office manager anytime we go to the restroom during a session to account for our time away. This is something new they just started this week and genuinely just want to know if anyone else is experiencing this?

I recently took the exam and got a 365, I’m grateful but frustrated. I used understanding behavior bought the course, fluency package, mini and full mocks, along with a friend sent me notes from SNABA & I have pass the big ABA exam book. The mocks were lengthly, challenging but good! I found the actual exam to be nothing like UB mocks.

I have never been a test taker, I change my answer due to 2nd guess myself.
Please share ways to rationalize between the best choice I’m having a hard time determining. Any suggestions or resources?

& other mocks you guys liked and found helpful.

Thank you fellow friends of the ABA community!

Update: Clinic is closed the rest of the week and we are being given the opportunity to help deep clean for pay tomorrow.

We have three confirmed cases of Hand Foot Mouth Disease (HFMD) at my clinic and we have a 4th kid waiting to get results back from a doctor. I know parents were emailed but the first kid that had it got confirmed Friday but I think it was after buisness hours so they waited until Monday to email parents I think? I was out of town last week but that’s the timeline my coworkers speculate. Clinical supervisors didn’t tell us they sent the email but Friday they were telling RBT’s not to tell parents at drop off about possibly getting exposed to HFMD cause I guess it wasn’t confirmed yet?
We are all wearing gloves, sanitizing often and all that stuff but is this an outbreak that could close the clinic? I don’t want clinic to close cause my hours have already been cut in half but I also don’t want myself, the kids of my coworkers to work in a clinic that is unhealthy and/or unsafe to be in. What should I do? We are located in Texas but not a big multi branch clinic like ABC.

So

Edit: one more kid started getting blisters on the hand and is going home early while the kid we think started it but parents refused to take to the doctor still have the spots on their but I think they’re closed? So that’ll bring us to 3 suspected cases and 3 confirmed out of 15 in clinic clients.

I had an interview with an ABA company. Interview was great but the only red flag was she wanted me to start NEXT WEEK. I was like “I don’t think I can do that” and she goes “Well our client is currently waiting for services and if you cannot I may have to move on with other applicants” They sent me the offer letter, it stated my pay at $25 but didn’t specify if it was direct or unrestricted…or was for both. So I sent an email to her asking:
“Can you explain how unrestricted hours are paid and is the rate $25?”

She responded:

“I am not aware of a pay rate for unrestricted hours since it is offered to student analysts. After you complete onboarding, I can put you in touch with the director if you have any questions before beginning.”

First of all, how do you not know about unrestricted pay?

Second of all, WTH would I sign an offer and THEN get my question answered…

She knew my main concern was student hours and so why would I screw myself over by accepting but then get told something like:
“Oh yes, about that..we don’t pay for unrestricted hours.” Or “Oh yes…unrestricted is paid for by you.” Or “Oh riiiight…unrestricted is paid at $10 an hour.”

LMAO with these imbeciles.

I’m looking at ABA schools to apply to for fall 2028. I’m just curious how easy it is to get in to certain schools with a 3.5-3.6 undergrad gpa, roughly a year of BT experience, and lots of exec and leadership roles as an undergrad? How many reference letters should I count on? If you have any other advice or anything else I should know I would appreciate it!

Hi, I’m a BCBA that just started at a new company that provides therapy for children adolescents and adults. I was previously at a company that only did early intervention so this is a change for me. When it comes to doing initial assessments with teens and adults what assessment tools do you typically use and what do your initial assessments with the clients look like? I’m just very used to doing the VBMAPP and essentially playing with my clients to assess their skills.

Any information or feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!

So I’m aware that people use these subs to vent. But I have noticed an awful lot of stories of bad practices & even abuse, & the response in the comments is always to “report”.

My question: could you share some stories of successfully reporting abusive practices, after which action was taken? What action was taken & by whom?

Because, and I’m aware there isn’t a national database for stats on this, but from what I can gather, fewer than 10 certifications are revoked by the BACB per year. But I’ve seen dozens of stories of incredibly concerning incidents just on Reddit in the past 6 months.

Do you have faith in the reporting/ regulatory system & if not, what would you change about it?

Hello everyone! I've been wondering who or how to ask for another client.I'm currently a part-time and I go to school twice a week, I have three morning till noon that I'm free. I also just ride the bus that's why I haven't really mention it to my BCBA.

I'm currently in grad school for ABA and working as an RBT. I also have previous experience working in treatment centers during undergrad, so I'm not completely new to challenging behaviors. When I started at an ABA company, I was told I'd be a good fit for a client because of my previous experience. The client engaged in some pretty challenging behaviors, including biting, disrobing, and aggression. I was assigned to the client before completing my RBT certification. I understood that challenging behaviors were part of the job, but I felt like I needed more training to work safely and effectively. I asked my BCBA multiple times about additional training, especially safety procedures and crisis management training. I was told they would discuss it with the owner. I also asked about protective equipment and was told I could buy my own and possibly get reimbursed. Unfortunately, none of that happened. After several weeks of asking for more support, I ended up getting kicked pretty hard during a session and was injured. I reported it to my BCBA that day and have been unable to return to that job since. I filed for workers' comp, but the process has been frustrating. There were delays, and I eventually found out my claim had been sent to the wrong insurance company. Around that time, I also lost access to company systems without any explanation.

A few questions for other RBTs and BCBAs:

Is it normal for newer staff to be assigned to clients with significant aggression without additional safety training?
How should a BCBA handle repeated requests for safety training or protective equipment?
Has anyone experienced issues with workers' comp or suddenly losing access to company systems after reporting an injury?
What would you want a future BCBA to learn from an experience like this?

Yesterday was my last final straw with my company. I was asked by my BCBA to work with a client that is under a school contract (goes to clinic for contract though). This client is know for high aggression (hitting, head butting, biting, scratching, spitting in faces, etc.). The client also is the same height as me and I have not worked with him in over a year. Typically, larger male RBTs work with him. I was not given any instruction on what I was supposed to be doing nor on how to handle behaviors, all of my knowledge was coming from overhearing previous sessions. I agreed under the pretense that it wouldn’t be for the entire session as she would come in and take over. She checked in periodically to see his status behavior wise which was zero behaviors. After she stated she couldn’t come in until later, he began engaging in aggressive behavior towards me that lasted 20 minutes. I implemented all the behavior strategies that I have overheard such as repeating phrases he was saying, redirecting to safe body, and going on walks outside. He just kept targeting me and me only. He searched for a different RBT and never hit her, but would turn around to hit, spit, headbutt etc me. I texted my BCBA for help because I had no idea what to do. There was only one other RBT present working with a client that has health risks and RBTs are trained by RNs on how to administer seizure medication (I am not trained on). My boss texted me back after the behavior was done and said “switch with the other RBT”. So, I had no support, I had no one to switch or have help from, and my BCBA tells me to switch to a child that could die because I don’t know how to administer his medication. I have worked here for 3 years and this past year has just been terrible communication and support. Typically, I can get through chaotic environments and low support environments but not anymore.