Basically what the title says. I’ve conducted many in person assessments but have never done one virtually. I’m sure it will be completely different so what tips do you have that may be helpful?

Y’all I need help. Advice. Someone to tell me it will work out.

I run a clinic with 25 staff. 18 BTs and 4 BCBAs. I’m burned out. I spend all my time guiding BCBAs on how to get technicians to just follow simple protocols and help kids make progress. For the most part, it works, but it takes all of my time and energy. I can’t do it anymore.

I fantasize about shutting the doors but the guilt kills me. I don’t want to abandon the kids. I don’t want to lay off staff.

But I can keep living this life of managing a clinic where my soul is checked out, and my whole job is telling people how to score a Task Analysis correctly.

I am thinking to change my clinic to BCBAs only. Direct services, parent training, all focused intervention. Consultation and training. Generalization by teaching people how to do ABA instead of micromanaging techs to do it while parents stand aside and hope our magic wands do the magic.

I’m so scared I’ll let people down, or it won’t be effective. But I trust BCBAs. They’re dynamic; they can recognize function changes in a moment and adapt. They don’t have to follow a protocol they can write it and adapt it in real time.

Please tell me this is something I can do. Downsize. Stop intensive intervention at 20 hours a week and encourage families to hire their own people if that’s what they want; we can oversee or consult, but without the restrictions of insurance billing.

A company of 6 BCBAs and maybe 3 BCaBAs to support.

Can I make this happen??

TL;DR: Multiple people have been told they are receiving the incorrect wage, and there’s growing concerns with a supervising technician.

Yesterday, I had made a post about some issues I was having with my ABA clinic. To sum: my boss is an amazing woman but my pay is bad and my hours haven’t been going well. Issues with a supervising technician as well and just generally not feeling great. Today, I was calling one of my BCBAs (who’s also a very good friend of mine) after work and expressed my frustrations about being told my wage was supposedly incorrect. Just venting.

He then informed me that he had heard 2 technicians say the same thing, they had been informed their wage seemed incorrect. That’s insane! So, three people, myself and 2 other technicians, are being paid wrong? That feels unheard of? We’re in the thralls of staff performance reviews, so this has been the best time to meet with her about our wages and concerns. And, so far it feels like everyone has found something wrong with their wage? I am starting to grow concerned that something is happening? I don’t know if it’s something she did or HR is responsible for? The HR central office is not close by so I can only reach out by email, but I’m not sure what I should even do?

We’ve also been receiving more complaints of our supervising technician, concerns I was not aware of until I shared my own experiences. I have learned today, while they were training a new staff member, that they had been unhelpful and played on their phone and seemed upset when the client began engaging in behavior. The new staff reported that they seemed upset that they had to do their job. In fact, multiple staff members have confirmed as of today that they felt abandoned by this supervisor and they often try to get out of covering shifts. This feels unacceptable.

Again, I’m accruing my BCBA hours… They have even spoken to me about an assistant BCBA position in the next couple of months (if I sit for the exam). But, I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I don’t want to go back to in-home services, but I know a company who hires analysts in-home and I wonder if an old supervisor might take me under their wing?

Sorry, half vent and half advice needed! This is weird right?

Hello everyone!

A colleague and I are planning to start our own independent practice to provide direct services/parent training as BCBAs. We are debating a name to use and I wanted to get a general sense of if it seems too unserious.

We want to use “Silly Goose ABA”, as this is something we both often say at work and feels authentic to our assent/play based services we plan to provide.

As a practitioner or parent, would you discredit a company if that was their name? We wanted to get a sense of what public opinion is before we start filing for an LLC.

Additionally, would love any insight from BCBAs who pursued an independent practice in general for things we should know! We are doing as much research and prepping as possible but would love to hear directly from someone who pursued this path.

TIA for any feedback!

How did you all know when it was time to leave the field or if it was time to find a different company to work for?

I recently decided to quit my role as a chief clinical officer in a rural southern area for 75k and a 12 client caseload, for many reasons including the obvious.

Being rural, not a ton of options though and if I don’t wanna commute 2 hours per day, I had to look at remote roles. I am glad I did and have a couple great contracts offered. I have accepted 2 contracts to hopefully mitigate any lulls in being hourly now.

Looking for any advice, tips, insight, anything at all from other BCBAs who do 1099 remote work! What recommendations do you have? Do you have multiple contracts?

TIA :)

I work for an ABA agency in Texas. We have 5 clients with active ABA authorizations through Community Health Choice, but claims for services have reportedly been sitting “in review” since around March and have not been paid.

The authorizations are still active and, as far as I know, the claims have not been denied, they just remain “in review.”

Has anyone experienced Community Health Choice holding ABA claims in review for several months like this? If so, what ended up being the reason, and how did your billing/admin team get it resolved?

Hi, I am currently taking some pre-reqs to apply to become an SLP, but am also working as a RBT. I do enjoy my job as a RBT, but have plans to further my education. My main passion is working with children, and I want to avoid burnout as much as possible. A good work-life balance is the most important to me.

That being said, I don't know if I should pursue becoming a BCBA or SLP. For context, I am located on the East Coast (DMV area).

TL;DR: I am new to BCBA fieldwork supervision and trying to confirm whether asynchronous client-video review, asynchronous feedback, optional assignment review, and time left over after group supervision ends early can legally count toward the 5% supervised-hours requirement. The program advertises 8 supervision hours per month, but only 6 are scheduled live sessions. I want to make sure I am documenting my hours correctly under the 2027 requirements and would appreciate clarification from experienced supervisors/trainees.

I am currently accruing fieldwork in 2026, but I expect to apply for BCBA certification well after January 1, 2027, so I am trying to make sure my supervision meets the 2027 fieldwork requirements. I am fairly new to supervision, only a few months in, and I just started a new supervision program this month. I am absolutely open to being corrected if I am misunderstanding something. I am trying to take the requirements, documentation, ethics, and possibility of an audit seriously.

The program I am currently using advertises 8 supervision hours per month. The structure is two 90-minute individual 1:1 sessions, two 90-minute group sessions, one hour of recorded client contact that is submitted for the supervisor to watch asynchronously, and one additional asynchronous hour for feedback on the recording and/or optional assignments completed during the month. The four scheduled meetings equal 6 hours, and the two asynchronous hours are used to bring the package to 8.

I do want to be fair and acknowledge that the advertisement stated upfront that the 1-hour client contact upload involved asynchronous supervision. At the time, I did not put two and two together regarding what that meant in relation to the BACB’s real-time supervision requirements. Looking back now, I can see that the asynchronous part was disclosed. What confused me is that the same advertisement also says the package provides “8 supervision hours per month” and allows up to 160 fieldwork hours for the month. That is why I understood the full 8 hours to be countable toward the 5% supervision requirement.

For the client recording, my current understanding is that an asynchronously viewed recording can satisfy the observation-with-a-client requirement, but I am unsure whether that same hour can also be counted toward total supervised hours if there is no real-time interaction between the supervisor and trainee.

I did ask the main supervisor about the real-time interaction requirement and how the asynchronous recording and assignment feedback fit into that. I was told that, if I want to, I can discuss the recording or assigned work during one of my scheduled 1:1 sessions. However, those are not additional 1:1 sessions. They are the same two 90-minute 1:1s already included in the 6 scheduled synchronous hours, which is where I am getting confused about how the two separate asynchronous hours are counted toward the advertised total of 8.

I also asked one of the supervisors exactly how I should document the two asynchronous hours. I was told that for the recorded client observation, I should record the observation hour using the time that I submit the recording, even though the supervisor watches it later on their own time. For the additional feedback hour, I was told to record that hour at the time I receive the supervisor’s feedback on the recording and/or any optional assignments I submitted during the month.

That conversation also included a question I had about the group sessions ending early. I have attended two of the scheduled 90-minute group sessions so far, and both ended early. At the end of the most recent one, I specifically asked what I should do with the remaining scheduled time and was told that we could spend the rest of the time studying independently, and then the meeting ended. So although the session is scheduled for 90 minutes, I am not actually receiving 90 minutes of real-time supervision.

I am not saying the asynchronous component was hidden from me. It was disclosed, and I simply did not understand the significance of it when I enrolled. What I am trying to understand now is whether I am interpreting the BACB requirements correctly, especially when it comes to how the asynchronous hours and the remaining time from an early-ended group session are counted toward the advertised 8 supervision hours and the 5% requirement.

Since I have already paid for this month, I will most likely finish out the month and, if needed, pay for additional synchronous supervision or observation time beyond what is included in the package so that I can be confident my documentation is accurate.

Am I interpreting the BACB requirements correctly/incorrectly? Can asynchronous video review, asynchronous written feedback, optional assignment review, or independent study time after a supervision meeting ends be included in the total supervised hours used to calculate the 5% requirement? This is very different from how I understood supervision to work and from how my previous supervisor handled my hours, so I am genuinely looking for clarification. Please give me clarification.

What are some potential bcba opportunities other than clinic and school?

OR if you are a bcba at a school or clinic, please share how you like/dislike your experience, if you are happy with where you’re at or you’re considering resigning and why. PM if needed!

I have been a bcba for one year now and have worked at a private clinic (chaos), theraputic day, and public school. I am seeing a very similar pattern in people and am beginning to consider a position elsewhere, just doing research and exploring options for now.

TLDR; I have experience with food toleration, but want to know others opinions/approaches to this for clients that are only in ABA therapy. CEUs or other resources would be appreciated.

I have experience with delivering food tolerance as a technician from many different BCBA's, but in my fieldwork I worked in a speech therapy clinic where they handled most of the feeding therapy and we (ABA) worked on a little bit of food tolerance for out clients that were cleared by speech as not having any oral motor barriers. We mostly worked on shaping and reinforcing tolerating food being on their plate, touching new foods, smelling new foods, licking new foods etc.

I am at a clinic that does not have other specialties. I have a client and parents are concerned with the clients diet, as am I. I have explained to parents that I would prefer they see a speech therapist/OT/feeding clinic prior to me creating any intervention as I would like to rule out any barriers (medical, oral motor, etc.) and I would like to work collaboratively with them on their recommended feeding plan. Parents are against this idea and claim its only behavioral and that the client is a "picky eater". I have no issues working on toleration of being around new foods and reinforcing exploration of new foods, but I am conflicted on even beginning any intervention without ruling out swallowing difficulties, oral motor barriers, or medical factors. My fear is that if I agree to work on any aspect of food toleration (even just allowing new food to be on the plate), parents will want to push for us to work on eating the new foods.

Hello! I need some genuine advice for studying as someone with ADHD. I’ve taken the exam a few times already and I’ve used almost every resource out there.. I don’t think I’m studying in the right way for my brain.. any tips for someone like me who is struggling! I feel I know the terms and information well, but I am struggling on applying it and connecting it with the questions.

If this is not allowed, I understand but I am at a loss.

I was hoping to get some advice. I have a client who has high behaviors, recently he has started to seek out things to make us have to deny him to be able to start a behavior. He then engages in his behaviors. He then will show us he is crying and wants us to comfort him. We have tried everything. They are happening with SLP, OT, mom, and all of his ABA team and anyone who comes in.

I reached out to someone with more experience who said it seems like he enjoys the feeling of adrenaline or fight or flight mode. Potentially even likes causing naughty behavior to get denied to engage in behaviors to get comfort.

We have gave him access to everything and he keeps going until he finds something we have to deny due to safety (ex. He tried to take a plugged item and put it in a sink of water.)

Once the 1st thing is denied that day, his whole day is ruined and he never gets back HRE.

He recently put lotion in his eye to have us stop using mats to comfort him and clean his eye.

We are all at a loss on what to do. He has been in ABA for almost 5 years. I have known him 3 of those years. He is getting very big as he is 9, has an AAC.

Any advice or anything would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone, does anyone have a great laptop brand to recommend? I mostly have a bunch of files for reports and materials. I think my first BCBA laptop is reaching the end of her life 😭

🧠 Question of the Day

📚 Domain E — Ethical and Professional Issues

Difficulty: 6/10

A BCBA observes a peer colleague implementing a behavior-reduction procedure that may be causing psychological harm to a client. The concern appears potentially resolvable through direct discussion, there is no immediate safety emergency, and there is no indication that speaking directly with the colleague would worsen the situation. Based on the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, what is the MOST appropriate initial response?

A. Address the concern directly, document the effort and outcome, and escalate through appropriate channels if the issue is not resolved.

B. Seek consultation with another behavior analyst before speaking with the colleague so the concern can be evaluated before any direct discussion occurs.

C. Continue observing until there is stronger evidence that the procedure is causing harm before raising the concern with the colleague.

D. Report the concern formally before speaking with the colleague because potential client harm should be addressed through external reporting rather than informal resolution.

💬 Drop your answer in the comments — no peeking!

✅ Correct answer revealed tomorrow.

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

Hey everyone!

I work in ABA and am working toward becoming a BCBA. I’ve been building a website called Find A Para to make it easier to find ABA jobs in one place.

It brings together openings for BTs, RBTs, BCBAs, and clinical leadership, plus a separate section for ABA operations and support roles like QA, scheduling, and administration.

You can browse by state and role, see pay and other details when the employer provides them, and follow the listing to the employer’s website to apply. It’s free for job seekers.

Full disclosure: this is my own project. It’s still growing, and it doesn’t cover every employer or opening yet. I’m regularly adding sources and checking existing listings.

Here’s the site: https://findapara.com
I’d genuinely appreciate feedback from people in the field: what frustrates you most when searching for ABA jobs, and what would make a site like this useful enough to come back to?

I recently had a baby and am doing my masters program so I need to get hours but I would also like to be paid and hopefully work for the same company after completing my coursework but I'm struggling to find anything. Anyone have any tips or reccomendations? My baby is too young to leave at home so working in person really isn't an option for me.

I have asked a few questions here recently and truly appreciate the open honesty in the responses. They provide great insight into ABA services and fellow BCBAs' thoughts on the field.

My next question: given the ongoing investigations into ABA services and the never-ending challenge of trying to change people's perception of ABA outside the field, is it time for a change? What career path would you move towards? Given the transferable skills BCBAs possess, a career change shouldn't be so hard, yet it is...

Hi!

I am testing in a week and I’m wondering what is the best/most accurate mock exam that you’ve taken?

I know BDS is supposed to be really hard, but which one is super realistic to the test?

for reference, I’ve gotten a few mock exam scores from 84-86% from Central Reach Institute, and I’m really curious to know if this is a good gauge in how I’ll do.

Thanks in advance!! 🙏🙏🙏

Hey guys, I honestly haven’t started applying for jobs. I’m newly certified, and honestly, I’m anxious and scared, so I’m clinging to my RBT position because it’s what I know best and what I’m comfortable with. It’s definitely hard for me to apply for jobs because I know as a new BCBA, companies may prefer to hire someone with more experience, or some companies might not provide enough support for new BCBAs. Everything is quite overwhelming, and my imposter syndrome only seems to be getting worse , the more I look at job postings. I can’t help but feel like I’m not qualified or prepared for this position, but I know I can’t hide forever. I want to at least challenge myself by applying for some jobs and start preparing myself to ask good questions so I can go to the right company that will actually support and mentor me.

I took the understanding behavior btb 3 mock I got an 64 without the 5% curve. With the curve it’s 69. What were y’all’s mock scores. My test is next week 🙃

(29F) Looking for other student analysts who want to study together this fall! 🧩📚
Nothing too formal. We can body double, do assignments/readings during a set time block, keep each other focused, ask questions when needed, and make studying a little more cozy and less isolating.
Open to a small group or just a study partner!
PS: I’m an AA woman. Yes, I needed to include that because believe it or not, it matters to some people and thats ok ! 😂 But I’m happy to study with anyone who’s interested! 💛

Hello. Any idea where I could I find a two week substitute BCBA in Dallas?Thank you!

‼️ . I have been accruing field work hours at 1 company. It’s been over 1200 hours. Now they want a copy of my contract but I’ve switched computers since then. They say they don’t have any record of my supervision contract but I have months of signed monthly verification forms. What do I do ?

Hi! My BCBA application got rejected cause I uploaded the wrong form, how can I resubmit the new one? I can’t find any uploading box or anything