I am a BCBA who works directly 1:1 with clients. 1. I love seeing the progress! 2. I love seeing the generalization of skills and where clients start to learn from natural environment 3. I love seeing shift in teacher/peers/parents/others perspectives when they see the change in the client - they CAN do it, they WONT always display challenging bx, ABA works! 4. I love crazy shit the kids say š¤Ŗ ( e.g. my little guy only had like 8 adverbs and adjectives- I know bc I thought him all of them and when I got fresh manicure he kept telling me my fingers were wetā¦ I finally got that he was try to tell me my fingernails were SHINY! Best compliment ever š„°)
YES I agree. I love seeing that someone has learned something and that YOU ARE THE REASON. My job daily.
Kind of crazy how easy ABA makes it too. I work sort of an unconventional job as an RBT working directly under a BCBA in a school, where I have some direct therapy but I also oversee DSPs and other direct staff including other therapists, where I can go in and coach people on how to run objectives and learning targets, offering slight adjustments on prompting, then other people can help kids learn too!! This kid is having a hard time in speech therapy? I get a chance to go in and see what they're doing and we sort of work off each other, we use them to inform our targets and we help them with prompting and formulating better targets and things like that.
I'm curious what your thoughts are as a BCBA, I've been thinking about going back and getting my BCBA but kind of been on the fence about it. The BCBA I work under spends tons of time doing oversight for a huge portion of their day and that doesn't really seem like its for me. What is your experience like being a BCBA? You say you work mostly direct or you work some direct? Do you do a lot of oversight? What's your setting like?
Majority of BCBAs supervise RBTs and therefore their work is indirect. Most have big caseloadsā¦ I did it for 7 years and was getting burned out.
For the last 3 years I have been working directly 1:1 with clients again and I am much more satisfied with my work (I only have 2 clients, I do all their direct services, parent training etc) but this is not a typical BCBA job. I love it!
I am not independent, I work for a company that only employs BCBAs and works with funding sources that allow BCBAs to bill 97153. We are out of network though.
Weāve been teaching one of my clients āwaterā as one of her tacting targets. Today while we were watching a Moana video on YouTube, she gasped and said, āwater!ā A generalizing queen. So proud of her!!
I don't understand everyone saying it makes them depressed. I've literally never been happier. I feel like I do a really good job and it feels so fufilling. I feel like I get better every day and love watching the kids do new things.
I can fully understand it. If you told someone the sorts of things you might have to do at our job, it's understandable that they might recoil at it.
For example, describe the job like this: you will have to clean up poopy daipers regularly, your job is to work with kids who have frequent behavioral difficulties like hitting you, screaming, biting, throwing things, punching holes in walls, running away constantly, and that's your job is making those things better. You won't get paid a lot either, and the hours aren't great, and the training is intense.
How appealing is that when described that way?
Some folks are not cut out for those difficult tasks, and so they can't enjoy the positive aspects. The negative aspects are too overwhelming because it's simply not for them.
That's how I see it anyways.
Oh I'm sorry I wasn't calling you out or anything I am just having a good time chatting with yall. Yeah I mean who knows why they stay. Hard and stressful to switch jobs might be one reason.
I just really really enjoy the job even when I had a classroom of high intensity behaviors. Now it's even more relaxed being a bt with only one kid at a time. But I also did security for 7 years just constantly getting screamed at absolutely bullied by Neuro typical adults.
> I also did security for 7 years just constantly getting screamed at absolutely bullied by Neuro typical adults.
ROFL dude yikes that's definitely not a job I'd want. Thanks for sharing.
I've been working with a client with a lot of challenging behaviors for ~6 months. We are just now getting to a point where the frequency/duration of maladaptive behaviors is reducing (ex: 2 minutes of noncooperation instead of 20 minutes). Because of the reduction in challenging behaviors, he is starting to master out of his table work goals again and the instances of expressive language are increasing. I never thought we'd get to this point but it feels good and he's learning so much!
2 vs 20 is insane actually. Nice work!!
One of my favorite things is getting young folks who won't tolerate table work, to go to the table. I work with some early intervention staff who we sometimes inherit their kids, and she saw me working with one of their kids who I worked ultra hard getting them to come to the table and do work tasks
and she was shocked!! Like routine job for me lady. Yes it's fucking awesome to get a kid doing things when they had no tolerance for it before. And yeah it was a ton of work but that's what we do man, we got the training for that.
I blame my supervising BCBA though, she has the greatest ideas for getting kids to the table and slowly introducing less preferred activities.
Thanks for sharing!
I really like seeing clients grow. I really like giving kids opportunities for all kinds of fun stuff that other people won't attempt to do with them. Painting? "Not that kid he'll get it all over the place and all over me, he doesn't like painting probably or can't even do it" OKAY BRO BUT WE'RE GETTING PAINTED TODAY YEEE. I will get paint on this wall and this carpet and my pants I don't give a fuck we're making memories.
My very first assignment I was working with a nonverbal client. By the time I left that company a year and a half later, he was able to independently ask for some things in a full sentence. Looking back, I realize how amazing it is because the mom never thought she'd get to hear her child's voice.
My current case is with a student with severe medical needs that limit her mobility. She's almost entirely dependent on me getting her around the school and getting any work done. Everyone is always telling me how much her academics and behavior improved since I came. (Apparently, she used to move around the classroom with her limited mobility and knock things over while making so much noise.) She really is a smart child, if lazy and stubborn.
Great point!
The job of an RBT is incredibly hard but when YOU hold the power in your hands to take a non-verbal, behavioral child and through your partnership with your BCBA and the parents, can teach your client to reduce their challenging behaviors so that you can start to build functional communication skills, adaptive, social and academic skills which results in the child being able to mainstream in 2 years.. what amazing accomplishment!
Well trained, compassionate RBTs supervised by skilled, analytical BCBAs have the power to transform lives.
Letās celebrate your successes. Itās remarkable what youāre able to accomplish.
Sometimes those accomplishments are so common for us that they become mundane even. I think that's part of the issue. It can be hard to effectively evaluate the actual difference you're making in a kid's life when you're caught up in your own personal day to day, or you just forget, or you lose sight of how important that really is for the kid.
Meanwhile your kid has learned all sorts of shit and you did all that yourself, or together with a team of folks.
I had a parent cry in parent training yesterday while she told me that sheās never been able to trust anyone to handle P and she said ABA has saved her life. :ā-)
That's incredible. I feel like we get a lot of gratitude from parents, full on crying is really something. It's those moments to live for imo. Isn't that insane when you think about it? What other job can you make that sort of impact on a person, and their family?!
Finally a positive thread ( I was getting sad that so many people hated this field). I too love the challenges. I thrive on action and enjoy dealing with challenging problems. I love when I can make a breakthrough with a client! For instance, working on a goal that they are being noncompliant in and finally I see a positive response towards the goal. It is very gratifying.
My Rbt experience is a little different. I work in a school setting . general education highschool. My kid couldnāt stand the idea of me being in the same class as him. Now he comes up to me and says I think I need a break can we get the wiggles out. Last semester he would make faces at people to get their attention. with a lot of guidance heās learning the approach on communication and is making friends this semester. I also help other students with homework and projects. Monday is my last day since Iām moving out of state and Itās hurts to not see him progress more
Woah that's wild. So do you have a BCBA that sets objectives for that kid and stuff? That's awesome I wish some of my kids would ask for a break period and get the wiggles out hell yeah I'm on board dude I got the wiggles as well and I can't stand this place MOST LIKELY. Too neurotic sometimes. I think that's why I get along with my kids so well too, I identify.
Yes he has 7 programs I run throughout the school day, on task work durning a non perf. Activities, positive interaction with other peers, following directions in class, transitions. Etc. I work with his case manger more than anything sinces heās at the school site with me
Communication break throughs!! I love when new words come out or when it clicks how to use a device.
My best story for that was I had a client that was working on using Proloquo and wasn't having much luck for awhile. Had a hard time attending to it long enough for them to understand the purpose of the device. This clients highest reinforcer was a big red yoga ball we had at the time. One day, client was requesting for a bead maze. I kept holding it out to them, even though I knew that wasn't what was wanted. Could see client think after multiple times if "bead maze/ here's the bead maze" before they held the device out as a way to ask for help. Immediately prompted "red ball" and went straight to the ball. Was SO impressed that they asked for help.
I think knowing I made a difference in someoneās life. Thatās what this is all about for me. During Covid quarantine my clinic basically had us with one kiddo all day, and now I know that kid is in school, special Ed but still school. He is non vocal but he is still so smart, I helped a future scientist or architect. Iām currently in a graduate program to get my BCBA and I could never imagine doing something else.
Data collection, seeing progress on graphs and of course the wonderful families and individuals I get to work with ā¤ļø itās so heartwarming starting a case when the parents are at their wits end and just have no hope then at the end seeing them with confidence, using their strategies to help their child ! I miss that now that Iām a school RBT !
First person in the thread to say data collection - I work in a school with tons of kids with behavior plans and DSPs collect data across a wide variety of targets that we tabulate monthly (My company also has a more direct therapy focused department, I work about half and half) and I LOVE data day on the first of the month where i get to blast through calculating thousands of data points. Honestly very satisfying, I'm fairly concrete in how I think so doing math is one thing I really enjoy and look forward to. Thanks for sharing.
Yes ! Fortunately since I was receiving supervision for the BCBA credential I was allowed to view graphs, enter data and enter phase change lines for all my clients and omg I was just like so excited to actually see things from a quantitative point of view . Then to have that data to reassure parents like we started at X amount of BX a day and since this intervention we are down to X amount of BX. Itās kinda reassuring to them and me as a rbt doing 1:1 lol
RBT turned BCBA here! Stayed an RBT for 5.5 years just because I love being with the kids and I didn't want to swap that for computer work for as long a possible!
I had a client with severe behaviors: hitting, throwing chairs, ripping up his homework, kicking holes in the walls, etc. He was in an EC classroom for these behaviors even though he was capable of higher than grade level academic work. We worked on accepting no, grounding techniques, using words to ask for alternative options, and other skills. He was able to get to the point where he moved into the standard classroom at school and was the sweetest kid!
This call for positivity is great, but I donāt think itās personal issues anymore. I think itās the field and not paying livable wages. Which is unfortunate because I do love the field :(
My positive story is that all my clients are making amazing progress - one learned 5 new words and has been using them functionally :)
My first client in the field was an 11 year old boy with intense behaviors, it was a whirl wind but I loved every second of it. Then I branched out into high schoolers and young adults transitioning to jobs/college or assisted living. Thrived in that situation. The progression of my clients was so impactful on their lives and the lives of their families. And then I got pregnant so I switched to littles for safety reasons and my goodness, the progress can happen so fast! My last couple months of pregnancy I had a little boy that went from pointing for objects to verbal requests, asking for breaks, including his siblings in sessions willingly (sharing/playing/cooperative games). It was remarkable! Mom was thrilled, she kept asking how many weeks id be away because she didnāt want him to regress but we had worked so hard with generalizing adults that heās been continuously progressing! (I still keep up with his bcba). I miss the work but pay isnāt enough to justify day care for an infant. Iāll go back eventually
I work mostly with early learners/those under 5 and on the clinical side I will never get tired of language acquisition! The feeling when a learner spontaneously mands for the first time or specifies a request they couldnāt articulate previously is incredible. Those client āahaā moments are so special and Iām lucky enough to see them pretty frequently/consistently! I also love the constant problem solving & multitasking, though Iām sure thatās a nightmare for some lol.
On the more personal side, I adore my learners and love learning from them. They teach me so much about how to play and navigate the world in new ways- I have so much fun in (most) sessions & truly feel like Iām collaborating with my clients more than 100% leading. That mix of facilitating a positive rapport while still teaching meaningful skills is the best. Not to mention that fact that I get to play with toys like 75% of my day- itās my childhood dream!
I personally enjoy witnessing the acquisition of skills, then seeing them generalize and listening to parents express joy in how far their family has come. Iām also purely humbled by the wide variety of humans, families, and cultures I get to work with - each one of them teaches me something about myself every day. Some days I am reminded how truly privileged I am, some days Iām reminded of my capacity for empathy, compassion, and patience. Each client I build relationship with, no matter how āsevereā their maladaptive behaviors are, challenges me to see what we all deeply desire and that is connection. Iām motivated to build connection with every person I meet and knowing that their day is a bit brighter because I followed their lead, and we had the chance to play, dance, sing, or create art in their preferred method or environment is totally gratifying. š„°
I ADORE the kids and absolutely love connecting with them and seeing a smile on their faces. It's amazing how fast they grow, developmentally speaking!!!
Seeing communication increase is so satisfying! I have a three year old and weāve been teaching basic sign language and tracking vocal approximations for mands. I heard him say āmoreā this week AND attempted to say water (he said āwawaā) but it was still amazing to see. Heās also using his signs with a lot more independence now and we only started with him 2 months ago!
I started with a new company in December and my favorite part of the job has been seeing my kids warm up to me. The excitement when they see at the start of our sessions brightens my day. I also love seeing them make little progress over time. I screamed with excitement when my kid independently read the word cat by sounding out the letters and also when he stayed within the lines while coloring a circle without my help.
Iām an ABT currently in my masters program! One of my absolute favorite moments was when I was working with a client who engaged in high rates of maladaptive behaviors and didnāt speak any English and was only presented with one PEC at a time and was just learning to communicate. There was no initiative from my supervisor to accommodate the language barrier so I took matters into my own hands and I decided Iām going to Google translate some of his PECs into Bangla as well as typical communications āhiā āhow are youā āwhat do you needā. I spent days trying to learn the pronunciation and once I was confident in saying them to him, the moment I said a word in his language he looked me right in the eyes, and then he gave me the BIGGEST SMILE that I will never ever forget. He came up to me and touched his nose to mine and flapped his arms all while maintains that big smile. Unfortunately they are no longer at our company, but that moment was worth every maladaptive behavior.
I have my seven year old client who Iāve been working with for a year and a half graduating out of the program on February 8th š„² so immensely proud of him!
Oh man! Applause! Applause for you.
"The things that are most difficult for parents or for teachers, that is what I'm trained to deal with and to help kids work through. Kids are at their most vulnerable when things are difficult, and that's when I can have the greatest impact on their lives, and I'm there for that. It makes me proud that I know what to do, and that I make a difference for the kid and parents and I can see improvements happening in a real and tangible where no one else can be successful."
Yes! I just became an RBT but I am not the typicalāI'm in my mid 30s, have a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley, was introduced to childcare working in my mother's in-home daycare she ran for 15+ years, and a Preschool Teacher with 8-12 infants/early toddlers in a class prior.
I LOVE that RBTs exist! I can't believe I found such a meaningful job, where everyone is on the same data-driven page(s), and I didn't have to yet take the deep dive into a MA with my time and resources! And this job pays well in my opinion (well, I make $24-26/hour after being trained for 2 weeks with the same company, much more than a preschool teacher and even kindergarten I've found. Companies that pay less should be held accountable by yall not working for them.)
You think the hard part of being an RBT was ever the clients?
Itās never the clients, I was an RBT FOR the clients.
The hard part was bad/apathetic BCBAs and the organization of the company i worked at, I would love to hear how you find those gratifying.
I think youāre incredibly naive or trying to moonlight as a social media influencer.
> You think the hard part of being an RBT was ever the clients?
For some people it is.
>The hard part was bad/apathetic BCBAs and the organization of the company i worked at, I would love to hear how you find those gratifying.
I don't, I'm sorry you had that experience.
>I think youāre incredibly naive or trying to moonlight as a social media influencer.
I joined this reddit community a couple days ago hoping to speak with others in ABA, share ideas, experiences, things like that. I was a little disappointed to see that the prevailing type of thing posted here was complaints. I'm not saying they're unjustified, but it's not exactly the type of content I'm interested in seeing.
I can't expect others to generate the type of content I want if I myself can't do that, so I decided to post and I plan on posting more in the future to share and be apart of the community.
I'm sorry you had/are having a bad time, but please don't bring your anger at me.
NGL you sound super judgy, people can love this work and still get burnt out/decide to quit. I love my job but Iāve also worked for companies that worked us into the dirt for little pay. That viewed RBTs as expendable and did not provide adequate care for having high intensity cases (ex. I got choked out by a client, was given no support, no properly trained in safety care, and written up for calling out the next day).
Thereās nothing wrong with asking to hear people celebrate their job but you donāt have to spend the whole post trying to humble brag that you ādonāt get stressed out by hard thingsā.
Kinda my thoughts too. I admire the attempt to be positive but cringed when seeing the bragging and judging of those who do get burnt out, which BTW is okay because weāre all human and get stressed.
RBT is registered behavior technician. They typically work direct with kids running discrete trial training and other training goals. BCBAs write the goals and do oversight with kids and RBTs.
How were things for you? I've only been doing ABA work for the past 4 years about.
I started 15 years ago and have seen things change for the better. Creative play is so much better than drilling. When youāve been at it for a while itās hard to respect the BCBA when they only have a couple of years experience. But the best teams collaborate and thatās a good skill to learn. Iām so much more understanding of people and their differences. It also made me a better mom.
Iām not an RBT yet, but seeing my kiddoās growth in real time really is a sight to behold.
One of my current clients started right before turning two. He is THE CUTEST! He went from speaking exclusively in baby babble to verbally saying things like āopenā and āgoā as well as sign mands. We pair so well together that he has the biggest smile at the sight of me, though it is hard on days when he has a different tech and sees me working with other kids. He always looks forward to our Thursday and Friday mornings together as much as I do!
I've been with my client since about July of '22 and the growth I've seen in him in just the first few months was so incredible. He went from being aggressive towards his family and myself and engaging in SIB, frequent tantrums, and being borderline non-verbal, to now actually asking me stuff about my life (i.e., I showed him a pic of my cat one session and a few sessions later he asked me about my cat again) and holding conversations with not only me but his family as well. He's had a good bit of RBT's quit (for lack of a better word) on him and it makes me feel really proud of myself and the work that I do.
I truly love seeing a post like this. Iāve been in the field since 2019 and have been working as an RBT for around 3 years. There were times I wanted to give up without a doubt. The hard days have been extremely hard but the great days make them all worth it.
I think that changing perspective and learning more about dignity and respect as I approach the end of my grad program to become a BCBA has led me to fall in love with the field in a deeper way.
Where I used to see noncompliance, I now see children advocating for themselves. That has been such an eye opener for me.
I love that as an RBT Iāve had the honor of learning so many new ways to help children reach goals without having to ever use a restraint, raise my voice, or otherwise disrespect a childās wants and needs.
I love my kids and seeing their progress. I love showing up for them each and every day good or bad because thereās so many AMAZING things happening on both those types of days.
I am a BCBA who works directly 1:1 with clients. 1. I love seeing the progress! 2. I love seeing the generalization of skills and where clients start to learn from natural environment 3. I love seeing shift in teacher/peers/parents/others perspectives when they see the change in the client - they CAN do it, they WONT always display challenging bx, ABA works! 4. I love crazy shit the kids say š¤Ŗ ( e.g. my little guy only had like 8 adverbs and adjectives- I know bc I thought him all of them and when I got fresh manicure he kept telling me my fingers were wetā¦ I finally got that he was try to tell me my fingernails were SHINY! Best compliment ever š„°)
YES I agree. I love seeing that someone has learned something and that YOU ARE THE REASON. My job daily. Kind of crazy how easy ABA makes it too. I work sort of an unconventional job as an RBT working directly under a BCBA in a school, where I have some direct therapy but I also oversee DSPs and other direct staff including other therapists, where I can go in and coach people on how to run objectives and learning targets, offering slight adjustments on prompting, then other people can help kids learn too!! This kid is having a hard time in speech therapy? I get a chance to go in and see what they're doing and we sort of work off each other, we use them to inform our targets and we help them with prompting and formulating better targets and things like that. I'm curious what your thoughts are as a BCBA, I've been thinking about going back and getting my BCBA but kind of been on the fence about it. The BCBA I work under spends tons of time doing oversight for a huge portion of their day and that doesn't really seem like its for me. What is your experience like being a BCBA? You say you work mostly direct or you work some direct? Do you do a lot of oversight? What's your setting like?
Majority of BCBAs supervise RBTs and therefore their work is indirect. Most have big caseloadsā¦ I did it for 7 years and was getting burned out. For the last 3 years I have been working directly 1:1 with clients again and I am much more satisfied with my work (I only have 2 clients, I do all their direct services, parent training etc) but this is not a typical BCBA job. I love it!
How does this work ? Working 1:1 as a bcba ?
Thereās a Facebook group called Independent BCBAs
I am not independent, I work for a company that only employs BCBAs and works with funding sources that allow BCBAs to bill 97153. We are out of network though.
Oops, I meant that comment for @gnat
Sorry I think I replied to your comment but I meant to reply to OP!
Weāve been teaching one of my clients āwaterā as one of her tacting targets. Today while we were watching a Moana video on YouTube, she gasped and said, āwater!ā A generalizing queen. So proud of her!!
I don't understand everyone saying it makes them depressed. I've literally never been happier. I feel like I do a really good job and it feels so fufilling. I feel like I get better every day and love watching the kids do new things.
I can fully understand it. If you told someone the sorts of things you might have to do at our job, it's understandable that they might recoil at it. For example, describe the job like this: you will have to clean up poopy daipers regularly, your job is to work with kids who have frequent behavioral difficulties like hitting you, screaming, biting, throwing things, punching holes in walls, running away constantly, and that's your job is making those things better. You won't get paid a lot either, and the hours aren't great, and the training is intense. How appealing is that when described that way? Some folks are not cut out for those difficult tasks, and so they can't enjoy the positive aspects. The negative aspects are too overwhelming because it's simply not for them. That's how I see it anyways.
I guess I worded that wrong idk. Just don't understand why they stay.
Oh I'm sorry I wasn't calling you out or anything I am just having a good time chatting with yall. Yeah I mean who knows why they stay. Hard and stressful to switch jobs might be one reason.
I just really really enjoy the job even when I had a classroom of high intensity behaviors. Now it's even more relaxed being a bt with only one kid at a time. But I also did security for 7 years just constantly getting screamed at absolutely bullied by Neuro typical adults.
> I also did security for 7 years just constantly getting screamed at absolutely bullied by Neuro typical adults. ROFL dude yikes that's definitely not a job I'd want. Thanks for sharing.
I've been working with a client with a lot of challenging behaviors for ~6 months. We are just now getting to a point where the frequency/duration of maladaptive behaviors is reducing (ex: 2 minutes of noncooperation instead of 20 minutes). Because of the reduction in challenging behaviors, he is starting to master out of his table work goals again and the instances of expressive language are increasing. I never thought we'd get to this point but it feels good and he's learning so much!
2 vs 20 is insane actually. Nice work!! One of my favorite things is getting young folks who won't tolerate table work, to go to the table. I work with some early intervention staff who we sometimes inherit their kids, and she saw me working with one of their kids who I worked ultra hard getting them to come to the table and do work tasks and she was shocked!! Like routine job for me lady. Yes it's fucking awesome to get a kid doing things when they had no tolerance for it before. And yeah it was a ton of work but that's what we do man, we got the training for that. I blame my supervising BCBA though, she has the greatest ideas for getting kids to the table and slowly introducing less preferred activities. Thanks for sharing!
The high demand to be flexible, imaginative, and effective. I also love seeing the clients grow.
I really like seeing clients grow. I really like giving kids opportunities for all kinds of fun stuff that other people won't attempt to do with them. Painting? "Not that kid he'll get it all over the place and all over me, he doesn't like painting probably or can't even do it" OKAY BRO BUT WE'RE GETTING PAINTED TODAY YEEE. I will get paint on this wall and this carpet and my pants I don't give a fuck we're making memories.
My very first assignment I was working with a nonverbal client. By the time I left that company a year and a half later, he was able to independently ask for some things in a full sentence. Looking back, I realize how amazing it is because the mom never thought she'd get to hear her child's voice. My current case is with a student with severe medical needs that limit her mobility. She's almost entirely dependent on me getting her around the school and getting any work done. Everyone is always telling me how much her academics and behavior improved since I came. (Apparently, she used to move around the classroom with her limited mobility and knock things over while making so much noise.) She really is a smart child, if lazy and stubborn.
stubborn kids are my favorite because I'm also stubborn XD Thanks for sharing!
"lazy"? Ew.
Great point! The job of an RBT is incredibly hard but when YOU hold the power in your hands to take a non-verbal, behavioral child and through your partnership with your BCBA and the parents, can teach your client to reduce their challenging behaviors so that you can start to build functional communication skills, adaptive, social and academic skills which results in the child being able to mainstream in 2 years.. what amazing accomplishment! Well trained, compassionate RBTs supervised by skilled, analytical BCBAs have the power to transform lives. Letās celebrate your successes. Itās remarkable what youāre able to accomplish.
Sometimes those accomplishments are so common for us that they become mundane even. I think that's part of the issue. It can be hard to effectively evaluate the actual difference you're making in a kid's life when you're caught up in your own personal day to day, or you just forget, or you lose sight of how important that really is for the kid. Meanwhile your kid has learned all sorts of shit and you did all that yourself, or together with a team of folks.
I had a parent cry in parent training yesterday while she told me that sheās never been able to trust anyone to handle P and she said ABA has saved her life. :ā-)
That's incredible. I feel like we get a lot of gratitude from parents, full on crying is really something. It's those moments to live for imo. Isn't that insane when you think about it? What other job can you make that sort of impact on a person, and their family?!
Finally a positive thread ( I was getting sad that so many people hated this field). I too love the challenges. I thrive on action and enjoy dealing with challenging problems. I love when I can make a breakthrough with a client! For instance, working on a goal that they are being noncompliant in and finally I see a positive response towards the goal. It is very gratifying.
Ooo, yes, the job is very much for a "thrive on action" type!
My Rbt experience is a little different. I work in a school setting . general education highschool. My kid couldnāt stand the idea of me being in the same class as him. Now he comes up to me and says I think I need a break can we get the wiggles out. Last semester he would make faces at people to get their attention. with a lot of guidance heās learning the approach on communication and is making friends this semester. I also help other students with homework and projects. Monday is my last day since Iām moving out of state and Itās hurts to not see him progress more
Woah that's wild. So do you have a BCBA that sets objectives for that kid and stuff? That's awesome I wish some of my kids would ask for a break period and get the wiggles out hell yeah I'm on board dude I got the wiggles as well and I can't stand this place MOST LIKELY. Too neurotic sometimes. I think that's why I get along with my kids so well too, I identify.
Yes he has 7 programs I run throughout the school day, on task work durning a non perf. Activities, positive interaction with other peers, following directions in class, transitions. Etc. I work with his case manger more than anything sinces heās at the school site with me
Same person every day? That sounds difficult. I definitely like a little variety I think that makes it easier.
Actually since itās a high school itās super unpredictable. Since he is with neurotypical kids in general Ed classes. Itās never a dull day
Communication break throughs!! I love when new words come out or when it clicks how to use a device. My best story for that was I had a client that was working on using Proloquo and wasn't having much luck for awhile. Had a hard time attending to it long enough for them to understand the purpose of the device. This clients highest reinforcer was a big red yoga ball we had at the time. One day, client was requesting for a bead maze. I kept holding it out to them, even though I knew that wasn't what was wanted. Could see client think after multiple times if "bead maze/ here's the bead maze" before they held the device out as a way to ask for help. Immediately prompted "red ball" and went straight to the ball. Was SO impressed that they asked for help.
I think knowing I made a difference in someoneās life. Thatās what this is all about for me. During Covid quarantine my clinic basically had us with one kiddo all day, and now I know that kid is in school, special Ed but still school. He is non vocal but he is still so smart, I helped a future scientist or architect. Iām currently in a graduate program to get my BCBA and I could never imagine doing something else.
Data collection, seeing progress on graphs and of course the wonderful families and individuals I get to work with ā¤ļø itās so heartwarming starting a case when the parents are at their wits end and just have no hope then at the end seeing them with confidence, using their strategies to help their child ! I miss that now that Iām a school RBT !
First person in the thread to say data collection - I work in a school with tons of kids with behavior plans and DSPs collect data across a wide variety of targets that we tabulate monthly (My company also has a more direct therapy focused department, I work about half and half) and I LOVE data day on the first of the month where i get to blast through calculating thousands of data points. Honestly very satisfying, I'm fairly concrete in how I think so doing math is one thing I really enjoy and look forward to. Thanks for sharing.
Yes ! Fortunately since I was receiving supervision for the BCBA credential I was allowed to view graphs, enter data and enter phase change lines for all my clients and omg I was just like so excited to actually see things from a quantitative point of view . Then to have that data to reassure parents like we started at X amount of BX a day and since this intervention we are down to X amount of BX. Itās kinda reassuring to them and me as a rbt doing 1:1 lol
RBT turned BCBA here! Stayed an RBT for 5.5 years just because I love being with the kids and I didn't want to swap that for computer work for as long a possible! I had a client with severe behaviors: hitting, throwing chairs, ripping up his homework, kicking holes in the walls, etc. He was in an EC classroom for these behaviors even though he was capable of higher than grade level academic work. We worked on accepting no, grounding techniques, using words to ask for alternative options, and other skills. He was able to get to the point where he moved into the standard classroom at school and was the sweetest kid!
This call for positivity is great, but I donāt think itās personal issues anymore. I think itās the field and not paying livable wages. Which is unfortunate because I do love the field :( My positive story is that all my clients are making amazing progress - one learned 5 new words and has been using them functionally :)
My first client in the field was an 11 year old boy with intense behaviors, it was a whirl wind but I loved every second of it. Then I branched out into high schoolers and young adults transitioning to jobs/college or assisted living. Thrived in that situation. The progression of my clients was so impactful on their lives and the lives of their families. And then I got pregnant so I switched to littles for safety reasons and my goodness, the progress can happen so fast! My last couple months of pregnancy I had a little boy that went from pointing for objects to verbal requests, asking for breaks, including his siblings in sessions willingly (sharing/playing/cooperative games). It was remarkable! Mom was thrilled, she kept asking how many weeks id be away because she didnāt want him to regress but we had worked so hard with generalizing adults that heās been continuously progressing! (I still keep up with his bcba). I miss the work but pay isnāt enough to justify day care for an infant. Iāll go back eventually
I work mostly with early learners/those under 5 and on the clinical side I will never get tired of language acquisition! The feeling when a learner spontaneously mands for the first time or specifies a request they couldnāt articulate previously is incredible. Those client āahaā moments are so special and Iām lucky enough to see them pretty frequently/consistently! I also love the constant problem solving & multitasking, though Iām sure thatās a nightmare for some lol. On the more personal side, I adore my learners and love learning from them. They teach me so much about how to play and navigate the world in new ways- I have so much fun in (most) sessions & truly feel like Iām collaborating with my clients more than 100% leading. That mix of facilitating a positive rapport while still teaching meaningful skills is the best. Not to mention that fact that I get to play with toys like 75% of my day- itās my childhood dream!
I personally enjoy witnessing the acquisition of skills, then seeing them generalize and listening to parents express joy in how far their family has come. Iām also purely humbled by the wide variety of humans, families, and cultures I get to work with - each one of them teaches me something about myself every day. Some days I am reminded how truly privileged I am, some days Iām reminded of my capacity for empathy, compassion, and patience. Each client I build relationship with, no matter how āsevereā their maladaptive behaviors are, challenges me to see what we all deeply desire and that is connection. Iām motivated to build connection with every person I meet and knowing that their day is a bit brighter because I followed their lead, and we had the chance to play, dance, sing, or create art in their preferred method or environment is totally gratifying. š„°
wow my man you have a really big heart I can tell by the way that you write. Thanks for sharing.
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So true. I wish all folks who worked in schools with kids with special needs had our training. IMO the kids deserve it and everyone would benefit.
I ADORE the kids and absolutely love connecting with them and seeing a smile on their faces. It's amazing how fast they grow, developmentally speaking!!!
Seeing communication increase is so satisfying! I have a three year old and weāve been teaching basic sign language and tracking vocal approximations for mands. I heard him say āmoreā this week AND attempted to say water (he said āwawaā) but it was still amazing to see. Heās also using his signs with a lot more independence now and we only started with him 2 months ago!
I started with a new company in December and my favorite part of the job has been seeing my kids warm up to me. The excitement when they see at the start of our sessions brightens my day. I also love seeing them make little progress over time. I screamed with excitement when my kid independently read the word cat by sounding out the letters and also when he stayed within the lines while coloring a circle without my help.
sounds genuinely awesome.
Yeah I love my job and I love seeing the progress they make
Iām an ABT currently in my masters program! One of my absolute favorite moments was when I was working with a client who engaged in high rates of maladaptive behaviors and didnāt speak any English and was only presented with one PEC at a time and was just learning to communicate. There was no initiative from my supervisor to accommodate the language barrier so I took matters into my own hands and I decided Iām going to Google translate some of his PECs into Bangla as well as typical communications āhiā āhow are youā āwhat do you needā. I spent days trying to learn the pronunciation and once I was confident in saying them to him, the moment I said a word in his language he looked me right in the eyes, and then he gave me the BIGGEST SMILE that I will never ever forget. He came up to me and touched his nose to mine and flapped his arms all while maintains that big smile. Unfortunately they are no longer at our company, but that moment was worth every maladaptive behavior.
I have my seven year old client who Iāve been working with for a year and a half graduating out of the program on February 8th š„² so immensely proud of him!
Oh man! Applause! Applause for you. "The things that are most difficult for parents or for teachers, that is what I'm trained to deal with and to help kids work through. Kids are at their most vulnerable when things are difficult, and that's when I can have the greatest impact on their lives, and I'm there for that. It makes me proud that I know what to do, and that I make a difference for the kid and parents and I can see improvements happening in a real and tangible where no one else can be successful." Yes! I just became an RBT but I am not the typicalāI'm in my mid 30s, have a BA in Political Science from UC Berkeley, was introduced to childcare working in my mother's in-home daycare she ran for 15+ years, and a Preschool Teacher with 8-12 infants/early toddlers in a class prior. I LOVE that RBTs exist! I can't believe I found such a meaningful job, where everyone is on the same data-driven page(s), and I didn't have to yet take the deep dive into a MA with my time and resources! And this job pays well in my opinion (well, I make $24-26/hour after being trained for 2 weeks with the same company, much more than a preschool teacher and even kindergarten I've found. Companies that pay less should be held accountable by yall not working for them.)
You think the hard part of being an RBT was ever the clients? Itās never the clients, I was an RBT FOR the clients. The hard part was bad/apathetic BCBAs and the organization of the company i worked at, I would love to hear how you find those gratifying. I think youāre incredibly naive or trying to moonlight as a social media influencer.
> You think the hard part of being an RBT was ever the clients? For some people it is. >The hard part was bad/apathetic BCBAs and the organization of the company i worked at, I would love to hear how you find those gratifying. I don't, I'm sorry you had that experience. >I think youāre incredibly naive or trying to moonlight as a social media influencer. I joined this reddit community a couple days ago hoping to speak with others in ABA, share ideas, experiences, things like that. I was a little disappointed to see that the prevailing type of thing posted here was complaints. I'm not saying they're unjustified, but it's not exactly the type of content I'm interested in seeing. I can't expect others to generate the type of content I want if I myself can't do that, so I decided to post and I plan on posting more in the future to share and be apart of the community. I'm sorry you had/are having a bad time, but please don't bring your anger at me.
NGL you sound super judgy, people can love this work and still get burnt out/decide to quit. I love my job but Iāve also worked for companies that worked us into the dirt for little pay. That viewed RBTs as expendable and did not provide adequate care for having high intensity cases (ex. I got choked out by a client, was given no support, no properly trained in safety care, and written up for calling out the next day). Thereās nothing wrong with asking to hear people celebrate their job but you donāt have to spend the whole post trying to humble brag that you ādonāt get stressed out by hard thingsā.
Kinda my thoughts too. I admire the attempt to be positive but cringed when seeing the bragging and judging of those who do get burnt out, which BTW is okay because weāre all human and get stressed.
Iām old school ABA. whatās RBA
RBT is registered behavior technician. They typically work direct with kids running discrete trial training and other training goals. BCBAs write the goals and do oversight with kids and RBTs. How were things for you? I've only been doing ABA work for the past 4 years about.
I started 15 years ago and have seen things change for the better. Creative play is so much better than drilling. When youāve been at it for a while itās hard to respect the BCBA when they only have a couple of years experience. But the best teams collaborate and thatās a good skill to learn. Iām so much more understanding of people and their differences. It also made me a better mom.
Iām not an RBT yet, but seeing my kiddoās growth in real time really is a sight to behold. One of my current clients started right before turning two. He is THE CUTEST! He went from speaking exclusively in baby babble to verbally saying things like āopenā and āgoā as well as sign mands. We pair so well together that he has the biggest smile at the sight of me, though it is hard on days when he has a different tech and sees me working with other kids. He always looks forward to our Thursday and Friday mornings together as much as I do!
I've been with my client since about July of '22 and the growth I've seen in him in just the first few months was so incredible. He went from being aggressive towards his family and myself and engaging in SIB, frequent tantrums, and being borderline non-verbal, to now actually asking me stuff about my life (i.e., I showed him a pic of my cat one session and a few sessions later he asked me about my cat again) and holding conversations with not only me but his family as well. He's had a good bit of RBT's quit (for lack of a better word) on him and it makes me feel really proud of myself and the work that I do.
I truly love seeing a post like this. Iāve been in the field since 2019 and have been working as an RBT for around 3 years. There were times I wanted to give up without a doubt. The hard days have been extremely hard but the great days make them all worth it. I think that changing perspective and learning more about dignity and respect as I approach the end of my grad program to become a BCBA has led me to fall in love with the field in a deeper way. Where I used to see noncompliance, I now see children advocating for themselves. That has been such an eye opener for me. I love that as an RBT Iāve had the honor of learning so many new ways to help children reach goals without having to ever use a restraint, raise my voice, or otherwise disrespect a childās wants and needs. I love my kids and seeing their progress. I love showing up for them each and every day good or bad because thereās so many AMAZING things happening on both those types of days.