In the How To ABA community, we’re always looking for ways to support each other. We decided to take some time to share some of our biggest failures to help others learn from our mistakes and perhaps do things differently. Shayna shares that one of her first-ever clients didn’t flourish under her leadership because she felt she had neglected one of his biggest interests. It was a missed opportunity to build up his motivation and today, she would have approached the situation from a different angle. Shira learned from a particular case that aligning with parents is more important sometimes than aligning with the school board. Leading with parent goals helps build trust and connection and parents really do know best when it comes to their children.

In terms of successes, it’s key to celebrate both big and small wins. How we define success is subjective, as what works for one case may not work for another. Providing children with a sense of independence through skills like speech and toilet training is always rewarding, especially when parents may have been told it would be impossible. A client of Shayna’s gained so much independence that he can now live on his own. Shira has been inspired by people she’s met who get into the field of ABA after learning about it from her, which is a measure of her successful mentorship and enthusiasm. When we review ourselves in a supervisory setting, we tend to go straight for the failures and are always harder on ourselves than we need to be. It’s important to relive our successes whenever possible as they are reinforcing and remind us why we do what we do.

What’s Inside:

Shira and Shayna’s successes and failures as BCBAs
How tapping into your successes can be reinforcing
Why advocating for parents is important

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Biggest Failures and Successes as a BCBA with Shira and Shayna