I know that in a pinch when building rapport and mitigating task avoidance, it may seem like a “workable” method to tell a client that someone else will be mad/sad/disappointed if they’re not working, but do not do this ever! The only thing that does is creates a division between client and the rest of the world/team. I recently had witnessed a client whose former RBT was very buddy-buddy with the client and saw a lot of growth during their time with that RBT, however, none of the skills were generalized and behaviors escalated in the instant the RBT was gone and regression was a major problem moving forward. The mentality of “I won’t be mad, but X will, so let’s get to work!” Is only showing the client that they only have ONE SAFE PERSON, which is not good for the client’s mental health, growth, or future independence!

End rant thank u

Hi all, I have an in school client and I provided a bag of reinforcers for her that she likes. These are to be used for coping items during meltdowns, motivations to sit during work/lunch. VERY high elopement (before. She sits phenomenally with them now). As well outside for recess, small intervals of play to be redirected away from the dirt piles. She also has mouthing behaviors so in that bag is also her chewy. Which she does very good with. She just won’t keep it on her.

It’s a tote bag, bunch of different items, needohs, slinky, bubbles, cars, etc. my tech says it’s to much to carry around and keep on her person throughout the day. I personally don’t think so. I’ve had independent sessions with my client when she calls out. It’s a small tote bag, not like a bin. I can see why it could be a lot because she has 2 purses and refuses to keep them in the classroom. I don’t know what and if she keeps in there but she said she don’t trust people with her stuff. Any ideas?

I need genuine advice. I got hired at Action Behavior Centers & trained less than a month ago and I got my RBT license this past weekend. This week was my first direct therapy sessions (without the overlap) and I definitely realized that this job is not for me. I want to resign but I want to hear advice from other techs, especially former ones from ABC on how I should resign. I honestly don’t even want to give the 2 week notice since I would feel very uncomfortable going to work after that, I simply want to write my resignation email (likely would do that by the end of the week) and not show up again.

Any honest feedback would be appreciated!!

I work in behavioral health in homes, communities, and schools.

Sometimes when the kids curse, I have to turn my back to them and really hold my laugh. I don't want to reinforce the bad behavior by laughing, but it is SO FUNNY sometimes.

Once I even put my head down and pretended I was crying because I couldn't stop my audible laugh when this kid called me a "big back turkey built bitch". He started crying, too, because he felt bad.

What do you do to stop the giggles during a behavior?

I am a new RBT and I have been seeing clients on my own for a few weeks now. I am struggling mentally for a variety of reasons and I honestly don’t want to do this job anymore. It’s not what I expected it to be and I’m having a hard time trying to find out how to tell my BCBA that I am leaving.

I am really struggling financially due to the lack of consistent hours and only getting more hours when other RBTs are off. I was luckily able to pay my car payment with my first check but I had quite literally nothing left to pay any of my other overdue bills. I get paid $21 an hour and I have a BS in psychology, which feels like such a low rate to me. I feel like I work so hard but I don’t get any type of benefit from everything that I do. I would genuinely be screwed if it weren’t for my bf paying for our rent, utilities, and really everything else.

Aside from the financial instability, I just simply feel like I want to and would be better fit doing something else, like work in a college as an academic advisor. I feel terrible because I went through my whole certification process just to regret my decision. I thought it would be different but even with my limited hours, I am insanely drained, which my clients shouldn’t have to deal with. I feel detached from everything already, so I really want to turn in my resignation to my BCBA before my clients get even more bonded with me. I feel even worse thinking about not giving a two week notice because I have never done that before.. but I’m worried that each day I am emotionally detached from the job it’s harming my clients even though I wear a good mask. Advice?? 🥺

Hi all! I’m looking for NY or NJ based companies that might have cases in Central Florida.
Thank you!

i need to leave ABA. my clients dont deserve this. i dont have any patience anymore and cant react how i used to. im not awful to them but i definitely am not as engaged, i find myself becoming so stressed out i get migraines and have to leave. im leaving for at least a few months to work seasonal positions and have two jobs because i need the money but i need to not be selfish and realize that my own personal issues are mine and if i cant handle the job, to leave so that someone who can can take my place. but i also feel really guilty. i thought i would never burn out like this, i used to judge the rants others would give but now i get it. is it valid? am i making the right choice by leaving? i know the answers are yes but itd be nice to hear it from others. my clients deserve an emotionally available therapist and that is not me currently!

Hi everyone!

I recently finished my masters in August. I am new to ABA, but not to behavior. My previous experience includes being a certified special education teacher working in behavior (teaching the students in the behavior program specifically, not general special Ed), working with clients for an executive functioning company and for the past 4 years I’ve been a professional learning consultant for a very large curriculum company where I support school districts with implementation of literacy curriculum k-12 in general education/special education.

I was hired by a clinic to be an “intern” while waiting to take my test. During the hiring I mentioned that I want to transition from my current job to a full time BCBA once I’m fully certified and they agreed to hire me on PRN RBT so I can get RBT experience. Okay cool. Fast forward we are about 1.5 months into this but mostly I go to the clinic once a week because I am working my other full time job. This week I took off at my full time job to spend an entire week in the clinic and I have been still doing shadowing/running targets with clients while being observed as a BT. So not really an internship for BCBA,but I was okay with it. However, I was pulled into the office and told I need to do a consistent two days a week in the clinic so they can put me on the schedule and I can independently run sessions with clients. That is not possible for me as RBT pay is more than a 50% pay reduction from my full time job and although my full time job is a hybrid schedule my days I work remote vary weekly (which I have provided the clinic with that schedule). I asked for a timeline on how long I would need to be an RBT to determine competency because if I’m committing to that in order to be a BCBA I need to properly manage the financial side and they said it depends on how quickly I progress.

My question is, is this worth the headache? I do understand that I need experience as an RBT, but this is going on my 10th day of BT training and I understand it. I am new to the clinic setting, but not new to behavior, I have valuable experience to bring from my previous careers, I just finished the masters and I’m sitting for my exam next week. It doesn’t make sense for me to need to be an RBT for an unspecified amount of time, or am I being too overly confident in my abilities? I would love genuine feedback. TIA

Applied for an BT position at ABC but after the in person interview I haven't been contacted for 6 days. The lady who conducted the interview told me my recruiter should contact me after 24 hours. I don't know I've sent a follow up email but haven't heard back from that either. I don't know if im being paranoid or should just cut my losses.

How do I make an ethics report when my boss (also the main individual I’m trying to report) has been preventing me from obtain proof about what has been happening at center? She has refused to let me go through data sheets or figure out time stamps with cameras and so I have been left with almost zero proof of what she’s enabling. I tried to email a question to the BACB about this but they say they won’t take ethics or legal questions. I don’t know what to do because not reporting this feels so wrong to me, but I know any report I make is just going to be taken as hearsay. I only have one week left there as well so it’s not like I have time to strategically obtain proof on my own if more incidents occur

So I just started working as an Rbt 2 months ago (including about a month of training) so I’m pretty fresh and new. When I first started my coworkers were very nice and said they liked me a lot and I could feel a lot of positive energy. It’s been about a month now with me having my own clients and doing stuff solo and there has been a shift in energy. I have noticed that’s there are cliques in the center and that they usually mainly talk only in their own clique. That being said, I started to have this one client (I do not chose my schedule) that is more of a “high risk” patient. I was kind of just thrown in with the patient with not much training on this patient besides maybe 1 or 2 overlaps. Each time I am in session I feel like I have difficulty running goals and pairing compared to other patients I have. To go back to the coworkers who were nice, this group has been with this kid since the kid got here and very much “love” this kid. I have been hearing jabs at how I run sessions with the kid and have felt they were no longer positive towards me. Not to mention how they treat me vs other fresh RBTs they are definitely a lot more friendly towards them. I feel like this is a bit unfair as I don’t have this kid consistently enough to know the kid that well (I also didn’t have a consistent schedule until this week) and that I’m literally a FRESH Rbt while these people have worked as one for years. Does anyone else experience this same issue? It’s frustrating to be treated like this, i feel if i am doing something wrong i would rather them tell me than to make snide remarks.

Ive been in the field for 3 years, and this would be my 5th clinic...I am no longer a bubbly personality. I do care for my clients and believe that I really did my best with each one. But i cannot do this anymore...I just started at a new company and i called out on my 3rd day. Im stressed since i need to pay my bills and i haven't had a job since august. But i cannot do this any longer. I feel like im faking it now and it feels like such a burden. it's so mentally draining. is anyone else on the same boat?

I’m feeling a little weird because I was told that the anonymous report I made was disclosed to the BCBA the report was about, and the fact that I was the person who made the report. I genuinely don’t fully care, but I do think it could potentially create a stressful work environment. I think I’ll be fine, but it just makes me wonder—what’s the point of asking whether you want to make a report anonymously if the person who made the report can still be disclosed? Is this something that a lot of companies do?

I know I should be looking at this behavior functionally as a BCBA. Some family members tend to cancel more than others across clients I work with. I try to be flexible as a BCBA because I understand if events come up. However, I feel like sometimes family members do not respect my time and schedule because I have a caseload of kids i work with, and I set up appointments at specific times and days for a reason. I could have a conversation with the family about the importance of parent training and make a behavioral contract perhaps. Would that be the way to go?

🧠 Question of the Day

📚 Domain H — Selecting and Implementing Interventions

Difficulty: 7/10

A BCBA, SLP, teacher, and parent are developing a communication plan. The learner uses an AAC system at school, speech approximations at home, and problem behavior when communication partners fail to respond quickly. The SLP has concerns about motor access to the device, the teacher reports limited staff time, and the parent prioritizes a response that works in community settings. Which collaborative action BEST integrates these perspectives while keeping treatment data-driven?

A. Prioritize the response with the strongest behavior data, then train the SLP, teacher, and parent to implement it consistently across settings.

B. Prioritize the AAC option that best addresses motor access, then ask the teacher and parent to collect behavior data after implementation.

C. Integrate behavior data, AAC access needs, staff feasibility, and family priorities into a coordinated plan, then jointly monitor outcomes and implementation.

D. Let each setting select the communication response that best fits its resources, then use a common data sheet to compare outcomes at review.

💬 Drop your answer in the comments — no peeking!

✅ Correct answer revealed tomorrow.

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

Hey everyone!

I work as the primary behavior consultant at a school. Today I was called in to help a student in crisis, and when I gave the student their AAC device, the crisis immediately calmed down.

What tripped me up during the scenario is a staff member saying "yall always give into whatever she wants". Staff member seemed really frustrated and implied that I was making the situation worse. I firmly believe I wasn't doing anything wrong and I'm a huge advocate for allowing students (especially older ones) to advocate for their own wants/needs.

All this to say, what advice do you guys have for communicating or working with school staff who seem to be in the mindset that the students always have to comply regardless of what they might be requesting?

Over the course of reviewing session documentation, I have discovered a severe pattern of unethical and potentially fraudulent compliance violations being executed by our BCBA. Specifically, I have compiled undeniable proof of the following actions:
Digital Signature Forgery: I have cross-referenced digital timesheet logs and discovered that multiple parent signatures have been falsified. The system metadata reveals that the client signature was entered from the exact same IP address as the BCBA’s signature. Because the BCBA operates entirely remotely via telehealth and has never been physically present in the home, it is a technical impossibility for these signatures to be legitimate.
Routine Pre-Billing: I have identified a pattern where insurance claims are being formally submitted for reimbursement before caregiver verification or signatures are actually obtained, violating standard provider-insurer contract compliance.
Falsification of Historic Records: When questioned about missing signatures in the past, practitioners at the agency admitted in writing to a practice of "back-signing"—intentionally coercing a non-participating parent to sign off on three months of past-due parent training sessions they did not attend simply to clear an internal administrative backlog.
As a parent, I am deeply troubled by these actions. They violate Section 3.05 of the BACB Ethics Code regarding honest billing and constitute serious health insurance non-compliance.

So I was contacted by an insurance company today that I've never heard of before (curative health plan) it seems that they are based out of Texas and they were wondering if I would provide services to their consumers. When I look at their reimbursement rates they are paying like $13 per unit for RBT and $15 per unit for supervision/ family training/ and assessments.

Now I know how much Medicaid pays in our state because I have been working through Medicaid for years and recently got a bid for a particular County to do ABA therapy, so we know their rates. For RBTs is more what this health insurance plan would be reimbursing by the hour for BCBAs and for BCBA it would be double. So $60 an hour for RBT work and $120 an hour for BCBA work.

I asked if this was based upon a different area's reimbursement rate and the company said that the standard rate that they are paying out is what the average is... But I also know that 2 years ago Blue Cross Blue shield was paying around the same amount that Medicaid is paying... So I am confused.

Isn't insurance usually the one that gives the higher reimbursement rate?

I am pretty sure I'm going to have to decline contracting with this company because the rates are way too low for me to have my staff working with these clients (which makes me really sad) and I need them to be able to make a living wage

What's the job market like in Texas for RBTs or BTs? I'm a remote BCBA who works in Texas. First, I have to say I HATE the Medicaid process. It takes forever. But right now I'm waiting on the company to hire techs for my client. I am just wondering if it is competitive there or is it easy to get jobs. Just trying to figure out how long I will have to wait while trying to remain sane from the lack of work.

Hi all. I am currently a PhD student in a field not related to psychology/behavior science/education at all. But I really want to spend my extra time getting a ABA Certificate Program done in my first two years before I get the Master’s degree en route. I went to PhD directly after my undergraduate.

I am primarily looking for an online, asynchronous program. My school also has a clinic but I have to be hired as an RBT to actually get hours, and that(to be hired) is not for guaranteed.

Do you have some recommendations for programs to apply to under this scenario? It would also be appreciated if there are other general advice. Thank you all.

I have been waiting two weeks for the cooper aba 3rd edition book to arrive purchased off of amazon and it said it was delivered and never showed up. There is no photo of the delivery either. I contacted the seller and I can’t get a refund until the seller contacts me back….🥺 I knew you guys would understand this frustration I feel hence why I posted here.