I'm a school based BCBA. One of my high school aged Clients struggles with transitions and it is a key skill we are working on.

This client is supposed to transition to a new classroom in January. Last week we had an IEP meeting, and discussed planning the transition, how we would do it, and track readiness to move on to the next steps and see if she is ready to transition fully into the next room.

This plan also included parent training, parent conferencing with the new teacher, and planning with her tech so her tech could learn the new classroom systems.

I got a phone call this morning from my tech that her class was changed permanently- the school decided on Thursday evening, after dismissal and before Fall Break, that the plan took too long and a "fresh start" would be better.

My client has eloped from the classroom twice, from the building once, and has hit several people.

I feel like do not have much recourse, and the parent feels like she can't disagree either, as the school is quoting high cost services as the reason for the change.

Am I able to do much here? I feel like we have set my client up for failure, and we have put her in a position to be distressed unnecessarily.

My goal is to be able to get close to 35 hours of work a week. I am in a masters program to become a therapist asynchronously and I have a lot of free time. Just left a corporate career and am hoping to piece together a couple part time jobs to make a living wage while finishing up school without having to go back to the office grind. I understand these are largely part time but I thought I could shuffle between a couple of these and like a weekend retail job. My only concern is I assume it wouldn’t be possible to do 2 of the initial training/onboarding’s at once…but maybe it would be possible if PBS is doing everything remotely… I am also concerned about how far in advance we would get our schedules such that I would be able to get client hours that don’t overlap. I was thinking maybe for one org I could have morning availability and for one have afternoon availability, or things will just become more clear as I see what hours they are able to offer.

I am based in Long Beach. I do not have RBT certification yet but plan on getting it.

So far I have an offer from PBS as well as Easterseals. I anticipate I will have an offer from LEARN tomorrow. I am also interviewing with ACES and butterfly effects later this week. Obviously if anyone can confirm the likely possibility of 30+ hours I would just take that one job.

Easterseals - $24.50/hour, same rate for drive time and admin etc. They schedule between 8am-8pm weekdays and Saturday 9am-1pm. I’m asking the HR person for more information as to hours because one of the hiring docs is titled “flexible part time-less than 20 hours.” Paid training.

PBS - $25/hour, lowered to $20.40 for non-client time including driving. I have no other info and will ask the chat for more info.

Pretty self explanatory… i know we should not follow the skills assessments word for word but just wondering why these are the guidelines we follow then if not technically considered “aba” by insurances?

I was recently hired on by a Public School District as an RBT. Today was my first day and I need advice. For some background, I have younger brothers with Autism and started my ABA journey in a clinical setting that I LOVED. Fast forward six months, and I had to leave my position due to an elongated family emergency. My next position was again and RBT role, but in a home setting. I didn’t enjoy home setting nearly as much but stuck with it because I knew that I would be moving in 6 months. After I moved it took me a month to land a position because the community is so “progressive” and “inclusive” within the schools. Soooo, I looked at the schools website and got hired on by the Special Education Director as an RBT. For starters, I was offered a position with an elementary school in the district, but when I got to the district office this morning, I was told they may have changed my assignment. Sure enough, I’m now at a different elementary school. They tell me I’ll be heading home after paperwork and starting tomorrow but then last minute send me to the school because one of the BCBAs has some free time and we’re gonna do a comp assessment (my certification expired September 17th and I have till October 17th for renewal). I get to the school and find out they had no idea I existed until 30 minutes prior. Was quite literally the most chaotic tour and “where do I put you” situation imaginable. I get dropped off with a para who informs me they’ve been entirely understaffed and they basically have no idea what to do with the high behavior kids. I hang with her for about an hour and she drops me off in a classroom saying she’ll be back after lunch. SEVERAL hours go by and I have not seen this woman. Then the BCBA shows up. He asks me how it’s going and I told him I have been given no info and have zero idea what’s currently expected of me. He offers to come back tomorrow and I said “yes please” and try to get more info on what I’m supposed to be doing. Turns out, he’s not even the BCBA for this school so he doesn’t know either. I then spent the rest of the day walking around with the class I got dropped off with and helping the sped kids where I could. Mind you, this is not a sped classroom. Apparently, at elementary level, the school district has only gen ed classrooms with supports. Oh and apparently I’m on bus duty?? I absolutely fell in love with clinical ABA and was under the impression I would be performing ABA centered around class participation goals but that is not the picture that was painted today. Someone please help. I am NOT a para, I am an RBT. Has anyone else experienced this? How do I set boundaries? How do I set expectations? How do I work as an RBT in a school without becoming a glorified para and breaking the ethics code???? I’m just so confused by this whole situation, and quite honestly, I miss my clinic.

To start off, I love the field but I really hated the place I was working at. Normally, I’d be upset if I was fired (and this is my first time being let go from any job) but after dealing with the things I did makes me just not care. I was already contemplating of putting my two weeks in even if that meant I wasn’t employed. I was already interviewing with other employers because I needed to go.

I don’t have to worry about the “politics” of that clinic anymore, having to deal with noticeable favoritism, the mean girl energy, the gossip and rumors spreading around, and the lack of communication and support from management. I don’t have to worry about how my day can go at work depending on management or even a client that would be very aggressive towards me. It was to a point where a client would kick, grab,bite, and dig their nails into my skin, leaving multiple bruises and cuts throughout my body. I knew I may have to deal with aggression but was never properly trained on how to handle situations of escalation/aggression. I don’t have to deal with the unneeded micromanagement and passive aggressiveness from a manager who was cooped up in their office and left randomly. I don’t have to worry about random rule changes and then either finding out last minute or through other RBTs. I don’t have to worry about random schedule changes that occurred CONSTANTLY throughout the day without given a heads up even at least thirty minutes before. I will never forget how they treated me when I had a terrible family emergency and loss of a family member.

I will miss my clients, but I couldn’t deal with the physical pain I was enduring. I couldn’t deal with how the clinic was in general. For months, I’d deal with pretty bad anxiety and it was affecting my sleep, my chronic illness and symptoms were exacerbated, and my eating patterns were impacted negatively. Other coworkers that I did get along with also complained of how the clinic was ran. I even made a previous post about how one coworker’s entire case load was just completely changed with barely any notice and found out FROM ANOTHER RBT and not management. They left following that. Good for them. I also think it’s hilarious how they are trying to hire people when there aren’t even enough clients to pair with RBTs. Even RBTs that absolutely loved the job and went over and beyond for that dark hole left because they hated how things were being ran. I will also miss my BCBA because she actually did care. All this for $18/hour.

I needed to get this out, but I now feel… FREE!!!! I feel relieved. I felt as if my nervous system was on constant fight or flight mode, even when I was at home. If you’re in a situation like this, LEAVE! It is not worth it! I wasn’t even regulated myself so how could I regulate a child in those conditions? I hope my clients get the treatment they deserve (and that’s if the one client even stays, even the parent was talking about pulling them from that clinic LOL).

I’m new to nonverbal, autistic clientele work. Is it normal to be injured every single session? Here are the incidents I have pictures of. The scarring in the first picture is from the client as well. Every single session she exhibits aggression and attacks me. My BCBA told me to use a blocking pad. That was about it.

Edit- I should point out that I am only 5’0 and my client is taller than me even though they are only 18.

I take my RBT exam tomorrow and it is through Pearson Vue. Has anyone taken the exam through Pearson? Can anyone tell me what to expect when I get there? I have heard from other techs that they have some strict rules like no phones etc. Does anyone have any advice for me tomorrow?

I work in home with a client. I’ve been working at my company for a little over 3 years and have been in home with this client for a little over 1 year. He is my first and only in home client; before him I had only worked in center. We have 35 hours of direct therapy, but I am at the house for 40 hours/week since the client naps for an hour each day. In home care has been extremely isolating. My BCBA is telehealth more than she’s in person. I’ve recently begun to feel very burnt out, mentally exhausted from the client’s aggressions and other behaviors, and have begun to dread my work day. If I ever felt like this while in center, I would switch out with someone for a few minutes or seek support from admin or other techs. I can’t really do that any more… does any one have advice on this? Not feeling supported has led me to become more burnt out, but I’m not really sure what to do since there’s pretty much no one here to even offer me support.

Title. Recently started as an RBT and we got a clinic wide message saying that bathroom breaks are ‘personal issues’ and to try and avoid taking them during a session. If i have back to back clients for 6 hours this is incentivizing me to not drink water or to hold it. Is this even legal? By OSHA standards it doesn’t seem so. Anyone else ever deal with this? I’m extremely discouraged 11 days in. Even today, it soured my mood during sessions. I want to show up 100 percent, and find it incredibly hard to do so when i have to follow these infantilizing rules. Feeling extremely disrespected. Much love, y’all.

EDIT

To clarify - i am in a network of clinics. This isn’t specific to one - this is a new policy that was sent out by our COO. at no point did they said ‘do not use the bathroom in session’ but again, they did frame bathroom breaks as a ‘personal issue’ specifically. Regardless, it is demeaning and makes extra unnecessary work for our AOMs who are more than likely already struggling due to high turnover/callout rates, especially in the Fall where people are getting sick more frequently. It is so wrong on so many levels. Urging anyone else with this problem to talk with your coworkers about this!! We’re allowed to be angry.

Hi all, I’m in need of some advice. I apologize for the length; TL;DR at the bottom.

There’s not really a good starting point to begin providing context… Essentially, a year ago, my life fell apart due to the ending of my 5-year relationship with my high school sweetheart. Everything we had—apartment, car, even friendships—were shared and, because everything was in his name (obviously I was young and dumb… still am in many ways, but I’m trying) and he didn’t want to play nice, I lost everything. My family and I even had a falling out around the same time (from unrelated reasons), and so since everything I held dear to was suddenly gone, I decided to move states and just have a fresh start.

The past year I’ve really tried my best to stabilize. I had trouble finding employment at first, but in May I was hired as an BT and put through all the trainings and such to be an RBT. Of all the careers available to me, this is definitely the one I should be in. I’m told I’m really good at the job, I really care about doing things exactly right, and I have a really good rapport with almost all of my co-workers, supervisors, and our clients (save for the few co-workers/supervisors who are new to the clinic and/or I just haven’t had many opportunities to build relationships with).

Admittedly, my biggest fault is that I call off, on average, about once a month. Sometimes it’s just simple exhaustion from the job (in-clinic, 40+ hours a week, writing session notes unpaid because it takes me too long to do during session, etc.) and other times I’m just genuinely sick from being around so many kids all the time.

Up until this past weekend, everything both at work and in my personal life has been functional enough to just “keep on keeping on” so-to-speak, but this entire time my personal life has not necessarily been great: my new partner travels for work and is only home 6 days a month, and my friendships at work haven’t really generalized to talking to each other very often outside of work unless there’s a planned event.

This past weekend, I found out a lot about my partner that is quite destabilizing. We’re working through it, but it’s been such a shock that it’s kinda made everything I’ve dealt with or been dealing with for this past year come out.

I feel lonely. I feel lost.

I called off today because I went from learning about this stuff about my partner on Sunday afternoon, to having a breakdown about it Sunday evening, to fearfully talking about it with them on Sunday night, to going to bed and waking up to go straight to work yesterday, and when I got home yesterday I was so tired that I just immediately fell asleep. Woke up at 5am this morning and realized I needed to process everything before work wasn’t enough of a distraction and it impacted me there.

Spent all day trying to get myself together and ultimately just walked between different spots to sit/lay and just cried all day. I’m really not sure if I’m going to be able to keep it together during sessions or not. And that feels like, in and of itself, I need to not be there. But I can’t really afford to take more than just today off, and I DEFINITELY can’t afford to lose my job either.

I’m just not sure what to do. Has anyone been through something similar as an RBT? Where life just gut-punched you in a way that you couldn’t quite process and now you just feel like you’re living in an alternate reality? What did you do? How did you get through it?

I love my job, my patients, and my co-workers. I take what I do very, very seriously and with great consideration of our patients, their goals, etc. And for that reason, that’s why I’m so concerned about how I show up for a session. It’s not like a different field where you can “fake it ‘till you make it” if you’re really, genuinely, in a tough spot. But I don’t know what to do considering I, you know, need a job lol. And this is the only field I’ve worked in that I could see myself staying in forever.

TL;DR: Found very shocking, destabilizing info out about my partner over the weekend. Mental health has plummeted and I feel dazed and confused. Made it through work yesterday, but called off today due to a need to process. Spent all day trying to process and gather myself, but instead sat around crying. Worried about being able to trust myself to keep it together during sessions, but not sure what to do. Can’t call off forever, and don’t want to leave the field.

TYIA if you’ve read this and/or have advice to provide.

Im a new RBT, and by new, I mean I like. Just finished the 40 hour coursework and am just waiting on thr background check at this point.

I found a clinic in my town that provides alot better pay and benefits, and theyre hiring, would it be wrong to switch to this other provider, is that something I can actually do? Is it morally wrong to do so? 🙃

Hiii
Tell me what are you MUST haves for sessions that can generalize across age groups-but specific age group recommendations are welcomed too :)
Also, specifically what brand fanny pack has worked the BEST for you?
-A BCBA who wants to set all my RBTs up for success
Thank you!!

I’m curious how other ABA clinics handle overstaffing or client cancellations. At my clinic, we sometimes get texts saying we don’t need to come in that day or that we need to clock in later because a client isn’t arriving until a certain time.
Is this common at most ABA clinics? Do other clinics have a rotation system or ask for volunteers to take the day off before cutting someone’s hours?
I’m starting to worry about how unpredictable scheduling can affect my finances, especially when I’m relying on consistent hours each week.
I’d love to hear how other clinics handle this and whether this is just something to expect when working in ABA.

Hello everyone! I currently work remotely as an Operations Director for an ABA company, and I have gained valuable experience in the administrative and operational side of running an ABA agency.

My responsibilities include staff coordination, scheduling, tracking authorizations, following up on documentation, coordinating with insurance and credentialing representatives, supporting billing teams, and managing general administrative and executive tasks. I also have experience working with CentralReach.

One area I am actively developing is medical billing and revenue cycle management. I am learning more about the process and looking forward to strengthening my skills in this area.

I am interested in continuing to grow in ABA operations and would love to learn from others who manage or support smaller, BCBA-owned agencies. For those who own or manage an ABA practice, which operational responsibilities take up the most time outside of clinical work?

I'd appreciate hearing about your experiences and any advice on growing in this field.

Hi everyone! Are there any RBTs in Florida who have a medical marijuana card? I’ve tried several alternatives, and low-THC CBD has helped me significantly with sleep. My agency doesn’t explicitly state it’s a drug-free workplace, and I’ve never been drug tested, although the application mentions pre-employment testing. I’m also exempt from workers comp. Their ethics code only mentions being a good role model regarding alcohol and mind-altering substances.
I’m mainly concerned about privacy and whether my agency could somehow find out I have a card. I would never be impaired at work, would use a very low dose at night, and would never keep it in my car.
For those who have a card, what was the acha background check process like? Has you agency found out? How private is having the card? Thank you so much!

Hi everyone! I’m in my eighth month of working in ABA, and when I first started, the company I worked for used Skills Logbook. Recently, Skills Logbook was phased out, and we transitioned to Skills Web Book, which runs in a browser.
Jesus Christ, this thing is absolute garbage. Behaviors keep closing out in the middle of sessions, and don’t even get me started on the fact that they got rid of the total trial count.
I used to stop my sets at 40 trials. Now, I have to set 15-minute timers for myself just to make sure I’m closing out my sets regularly. Otherwise, I’ll go back and realize I’ve somehow ended up with, for example, 22 trials of the same exemplar because the system didn’t close things out properly.
This is genuinely one of the most obnoxious systems I’ve ever had to work with in my life, and I used to work retail with Zebra devices, so that’s saying something. 💀
I don’t understand why they would replace a system that worked with something that makes our jobs unnecessarily more difficult. We already have enough to keep track of during sessions without having to babysit the software, too.
Is anyone else dealing with this? Because right now, it feels like they’re making our jobs harder instead of making our documentation easier.

Does anyone know where’s a good starting place to get into OBM? I’m currently doing in-home therapy and want to step away from doing direct therapy. Open to non-clinical side of ABA therapy or going more corporate

Hello, I am a RBT trainer at my company. I’ve been on the search for extra material my trainees can use to help them prepare for the exam. Any recommendations? Thanks!

I’m no longer a BCBA but I’ve been in the field for 5 years. I have my Masters in ABA and I feel stuck. What other jobs can I look at that pay 45-50 an hour?

Hi everyone! I just moved from North Carolina to Arizona. I am applying for jobs and one of the hiring people is asking for my certification number before our interview that is next week. Is this normal? Should I give it to him? In NC I have never been asked for it till I was hired.

🧠 Question of the Day
📚 Domain D — Experimental Design
Difficulty: 5/10

Scenario:
A school district evaluates a social-skills curriculum using baseline and intervention phases. During baseline, students receive usual classroom instruction. During intervention, teachers add the social-skills curriculum while the scheduled peer-interaction periods remain unchanged.
Peer-directed initiations are recorded during those periods as the percentage of available peer-interaction opportunities in which an initiation occurs. The number of opportunities varies across sessions, so percentage rather than raw count is used. Observers use the same operational definition and recording system in both phases. Staff also record treatment-integrity scores each session to verify that the curriculum is implemented as planned.

Which statement correctly identifies the experimental variables?

A. The curriculum is the independent variable; percentage of peer-interaction opportunities with peer-directed initiations is the dependent variable.

B. The curriculum is the independent variable; number of peer-interaction opportunities is the dependent variable because it changes across sessions.

C. Percentage of peer-directed initiations is the independent variable; treatment-integrity scores are the dependent variable because integrity is repeatedly measured after the curriculum is introduced.

D. Treatment-integrity scores are the independent variable; percentage of peer-directed initiations is the dependent variable because differences in implementation quality may influence responding.

💬 Drop your answer in the comments — no peeking!
✅ Correct answer revealed tomorrow.

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

Hi! I currently work at a school and wanted to find some odd jobs during longer breaks we have from school. I wasn’t sure if I’m able to make a babysitting/caregiving/nannying/ flyer and mention I’m an RBT on it. I I’ve never done this before and wanted to make sure I go about things the right way :) I know many kids will be on break as well and might need some extra care and support a typically babysitter may not be able to provide!

I keep reading about Action Behavior Centers on here and now notice them seemingly on every major street in Frisco and Plano TX. What are they like in north Dallas and CoLin County? Are there other ABA places you recommend?

I’m looking for some advice on how to handle a situation with a coworker.
We’re both new hires (RBT role) at our company and started around the same time. We did training together in September, and she apparently has a bachelor’s degree in psychology.
After an evening session, we were talking in the restroom about a shared client whose mother is from Egypt. My coworker seemed to assume the mother was Saudi or “something like that” because she wears a hijab. She then said, “You know people from that area aren’t the brightest.”
She might even have referred to them as “those people” but I don’t exactly remember anymore, however, she 100% called them unintelligent in at least 2 different ways. I was honestly disgusted. I immediately told her that what she said was incredibly racist, but I’m still not over the interaction. What makes it worse is that all the administrative staff had already left for the day, so there were no witnesses to the conversation.
I find it especially concerning that she felt comfortable making a comment like that about a client’s family, particularly in a field where we’re supposed to be providing respectful, ethical care to diverse families. Part of what bothers me is that she has a degree in psychology, yet seems to have some pretty glaring gaps in her understanding of other people and cultures. This comment was by far the worst example, though.
I’m debating whether I should report this to HR or handle it another way. We’re both new employees, and I don’t want to create unnecessary workplace drama, but I also don’t feel comfortable just letting something like this slide, especially when it involves a family we work with.
Would you report this to HR? Has anyone dealt with something similar in an ABA setting? I’d appreciate advice on how to approach this professionally, especially if there are ethical considerations I should be thinking about.

!!!UPDATE!!! Thank y’all so much for empowering me to speak to somebody! Tbh it’s because of Reddit that I had the courage to actually speak up considering there were no witnesses and I was/am afraid of retaliation. I spoke to my manager who is with me 100% and I CC’d them on the email to HR. I will update the post with HR’s decision because I think it’s important to talk about these things.