The How to ABA Podcast

Tamar Finkelstein is an RBT who recently finished school and is working in the field. What brought her to the field was her own diagnosis of autism when she was two. Her mother got her involved in early intervention and because of that, she’s had a life full of opportunities. Getting into ABA was sort of like a “thank you”, as well as the chance to share the impact it’s had on her with others. The biggest obstacle she’s encountered so far was not doing more research in the beginning. Being eager to get started can sometimes prevent you from taking the time to look into what centers are the best to work at. In some places, agencies can focus on quantity over quality and try to serve too many clients. A big gap is a lack of training as a new professional, and you can get into trouble if you’re not properly informed on rules and regulations. Changes within the field are hard to standardize because there are so many nuances within different families, centers, cultures, etc. Getting client buy-in when coming up with treatment strategies is so important. One of the key things Tamar has learned is to be critical and have an open mind. We all have our own beliefs and experiences that affect our own practices, and we can all learn from each other. What’s Inside:How Tamar’s experience with ABA as a child inspired her to get into the field.Obstacles in the field as a new professional.How ABA principles are applied in everyday life.Mentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on Instagram

As December comes to a close, we’re spending a lot of time planning for 2022. We’re really excited about some new initiatives, and we wanted to share our plans! Our members have been fabulous, and we are so thankful for each and every one of you.The first thing we’re doing in the new year is a free, three-day ABA virtual event, coming up in February (the 8th through 10th). The pandemic has proven that virtual meetings work and it’s such a great way to get people together to share information. You’ll hear from experts in the field and have the opportunity to earn CEUs. The ABAI conference is in May this year and we’ll be there doing a workshop on writing ABA programs. We’re hoping it’s in person and excited to meet you live. In our membership community, we’re looking for more ways for you to engage with one another. We love that we built a platform where we can all support each other and want to expand on it. We also welcomed a new member to our team who’s going to be helping us with supervision and mentorship support. She’ll be going through specific topics and cohorts, and we think it’s such a great resource to offer. Spots are limited, so if you’re interested, check out the link below to learn how to apply.If you’re interested in being on our podcast or have a topic or question you’d like to submit, let us know! Head to our website to get in touch. What’s Inside:Reflections on the last two years and what we’re looking forward to in 2022.Information on our upcoming virtual event in February.Our new team member and opportunities for mentorship and supervision.Mentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramBACB SupervisionRegister for the ABA Forum

Leanne Page is a BCBA and the founder of Parenting with ABA, an organization that provides parents with ways to utilize ABA in their everyday lives with their children. She started her career in special education and became inspired to pursue ABA after working alongside a behavioral analyst in her classroom. Leanne moved overseas for a while and then became a full-time stay-at-home mom after returning to Texas. After joining some mommy groups, she was shocked at how many parents were using punishment techniques and jumped at the opportunity to start sharing ABA techniques as an alternative. Leanne also started blogging (which is where we first discovered her!), wrote her first book, and her career took off from there.Even parents of children without an autism diagnosis can benefit from leveraging ABA principles in their homes. Things like token economies and sticker charts can work wonders, especially in transition periods like in between school and summer break. Renaming techniques into parent and kid-friendly terminology also help make things fun instead of too by-the-book. Leanne hopes that, through her training programs, she can save people from some of the mistakes she’s made and help parents tackle behavioral issues without punishment. One of the biggest challenges with training parents is the follow-through. Many parents don’t do the necessary homework after sessions needed for reinforcement to take hold. To minimize some of these barriers, it helps to identify them ahead of time, solving the problems before they start. According to what Leanne has seen, the two biggest barriers are effort and time. Solving these issues very much depends on your relationship with the parents and helping them schedule in the time they need to make techniques stick sets them up for success. What’s Inside:Why ABA is effective in parenting outside of special needs and diagnosesReal-life examples of ABA techniques in daily life with kidsBiggest barriers to parental treatment adherenceMentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramParentingwithABA.orgParenting with ABA on InstagramParenting with ABA on Facebook

Nicole Stewart is a BCBA and the co-founder of Supervision Reimagined, an organization that’s committed to standardizing supervisory best practices for the field. Nicole started her career as a behavioral analyst and a certified special education teacher. She went on to become a clinical director at a private placement group and she is now a full-time entrepreneur. Supervision Reimagined is working to reduce the barriers that restrict access to effective BCBA supervision. Nicole herself has supervised over 100 people throughout her career and has seen new professionals come in at a wide range of experience levels. Having a standardized process to follow streamlines the supervisory process for both the supervisor and the trainee and makes everyone’s job that much easier.One area where competency should be measured and standardized is hands-on experience being a direct care therapist. Many new BCBAs come into the field without this valuable experience. Another area is a clinically applied research project or experimental design. This experience could be turned into staff or parent training where the trainee would gain the experience needed to be able to communicate with the different stakeholders involved in a client’s treatment plan. Many BCBAs are overwhelmed and struggle to find the time to provide quality supervision. Nicole and her colleagues provide templates and resources on the Supervision Reimagined website and social media channels to help ease the burden. A common challenge that arises within the supervisory relationship is how to have tough conversations with trainees on performance. A little vulnerability goes a long way in terms of building trust and rapport. When there’s mutual respect and understanding that supervision is meant to provide support, conversations go much more smoothly.What’s Inside:Why standardizing the supervisory process is important.How to have honest conversations with supervisees about performance. How to deal with imposter syndrome.Mentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramSupervision Reimagined on FacebookSupervision Reimagined on InstagramSupervisionreimagined.comsupervisionreimagined@gmail.com

It’s our 25th episode! To celebrate, we thought we’d talk about the top five things we wish we knew when we were just starting out as newly minted BCBAs.It’s so important to be sensitive to the cultures of our families. Being mindful of cultural competency and where parents are coming from should always be a factor when developing treatment plans. Daily normal activities such as eating can have nuances that are culturally specific, and we should never assume a one-size-fits-all approach when working on skills. Being an open communicator with everyone we work with is also super important. We don’t really receive training on management and teamwork, but always communicating our expectations is key. Knowing the difference between impostor syndrome and knowing when to ask for help is critical for our professional growth. When working within a multidisciplinary team, being able to listen to everyone involved and going into each case with a fresh perspective helps us learn and grow. Being humble and admitting that we don’t have all the answers opens us up to collaboration and seeing things with a fresh set of eyes. One thing that keeps coming up is the need to lean into feedback on how to serve the autistic community better. Modifying our treatment approach based on these community voices will have a great impact on the future direction of the field of ABA. The field is constantly changing and being a BCBA is a lifelong learning journey. It’s important to always seek out knowledge yourself. Knowing where to go for good information is way more beneficial than feeling like you must know everything yourself. The How To ABA community is the perfect place to learn and ask for help from other like-minded professionals. Sharing with others in the field is such an important part of what we do!What’s Inside:The top 5 things we wished we knew as new BCBAsHighlights from some of our past episodesMentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on Instagram

Latocia Robins is the owner of Auspice ABA Services in Louisiana. Her company provides services for individuals aged two to adult. Latocia’s vision came out of noticing a lack of services being provided to those in the school system who needed support but didn’t have an autism diagnosis. She uses ABA to help clients with mental disorders like ADHD and OD and provides services to those struggling with addiction. When treating adults with addictive behaviors, ABA offers a treatment solution that puts words into practice. Putting a plan together and taking small steps day by day will shape behavior over time. Working with children is a bit easier since they aren’t as set in their ways as adults are, but if you can figure out a reward system that works, it translates into progress. Latocia’s driving force in her career is different every day, and it all depends on what successes her clients are having. ABA can offer so much outside of autism, and she’s seen that firsthand. When explaining ABA to her parents, she shows them how it can give their children more independence and sets them up with goals to get there. Seeing the bigger picture and focusing on the behavior instead of the diagnosis is key. Behaviors never come from out of the blue, there is always a reason for them. Sometimes there is a lot of anxiety behind a behavior, especially in the classroom. ABA can help everyone understand behavior better and provides the tools needed to reshape it. Advice that Latocia would give to new BCBAs is to strive to be better than your yesterday. No one knows all the answers, and each person is unique with their own set of challenges. Take everything case by case. Lean on your support system and pick their brains when you’re stuck. Check-in with yourself often to avoid burnout and take breaks whenever you need them. Sometimes clarity comes from those breaks, and you can come back with fresh eyes and new insights on how to solve a problem.What’s Inside:How ABA can help individuals outside of an autism diagnosisWhy the reward system for children is different for adultsHow to bring more awareness to ABA within our communitiesMentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramAuspice ABA Services

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 BCBAsHow tapping into your successes can be reinforcingWhy advocating for parents is importantMentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on Instagram

Staff training is an important part of our jobs. Whether you’re with supervisees, RBTs, or teachers, knowing your audience and having realistic expectations going into the training makes all the difference. Don’t assume that your audience knows as much as you do about the topic you’re presenting on and always start with what they understand. Set easy, attainable goals and consider using breakout groups to make things interactive. Adding video is another great way to mix things up and keep people engaged.Having your trainees walk away with handouts and visuals helps make things concrete. Handouts help tremendously with more technical concepts and can be used for future reference. Doing a pre and post-test helps track progress on learning and how effective your training has been. Senior members of your organization are great resources to help you with training, especially if you’re hosting a large group. Always use stories and anecdotes that are relevant to you and your audience. We are pleased to announce that we’ve made our staff training series available! Instead of reinventing the wheel, we’ve made it easy for you by creating reusable, editable training templates on a variety of different topics. They range from basic principles to more sophisticated concepts, like teaching language. There are ten different pieces of training that can be purchased individually, or you may purchase the bundle at a discount. Click the link below for more information!What's Inside:Tips for presenting to different audiencesIdeas for post-training takeawaysInformation on Shira and Shayna’s staff training seriesMentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramHow To ABA Staff Training Series 

Angie Pickering lives in Portland, OR, and has a lot of interesting things going on. She started her career as a typical 9-to-5 clinic-based ABA in 2006 and has watched the field evolve over the years. Angie sees ABA as being in a sort of reflective period and moving towards more client-centered care, which is exciting. Six months ago, she decided to take a leap and started her own consulting business. Angie delivers focused training for staff at various clinics and teaches at Portland State University. She also offers remote supervision services as well, and she encourages our listeners to connect if they’re interested. Angie is also developing an app called “Tracker!” which is expected to launch in February 2022. The app will streamline the documentation portion of ABA training and keep everything at your fingertips. It will interface with the 5th edition task list, so we will keep you all posted.The biggest challenge Angie sees is that BCBAs have such a limited amount of time with large caseloads, and it seems that quality training for trainees takes the brunt. Supervisors often lack the adequate training they need to handle teaching someone new, so they just try to get them up to speed enough to get out the door. There’s plenty of support at the university level, but there needs to be more efficient at the real-world level once BCBAs are out with real clients. If we can streamline and enhance the training process, it can help empower new professionals which trickles down to the clients having the best experience possible.What’s Inside:Ideas on how to improve the BCBA supervisory experience.Information on “Tracker!”, Angie’s upcoming app to help BCBAs.How to access a child’s motivation in their natural environment.Mentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramAngie Pickering/AKP Consulting - LinkedInAKP Consulting

Chris Collins is an RBT and the founder of ABAid Suncoast, a non-profit organization in Florida that helps remove barriers to entry into treatment for autism. Chris had a desire to create something that would offer direct support to clinics and provide financial assistance to families for diagnostics and treatment options. There are many children who can benefit from ABA services but because they don’t have an official diagnosis, insurance won’t cover their treatment, forcing families to pay out of pocket. Chris partners with treatment organizations in his community who refer families to him that are a good match for his program.In a perfect world, Chris sees BCBA as much less of a fragmented modality. Many BCBAs are sole proprietors, so there can be a lack of established common best practices and communication between organizations. There is no shortage of children in need of services, but there is a shortage of providers, mainly due to burnout. This shortage can affect families as well, as frequent turnover means their children miss out on the consistency and stability that having the same practitioner provides. Chris’ advice for new BCBAs is to have patience. Being a BCBA is a fluid profession, and you often have to roll with the changes. If you’re dissatisfied with your job, try to advocate for yourself to turn things around before quitting, as the same common problems tend to exist across organizations. Know what your tolerance threshold is and always try to find the joy in what you do. What’s Inside:How a non-profit organization is providing financial assistance for families in need of BCBA treatment.How a multidisciplinary treatment approach would greatly benefit children with autism and other disabilities.Why it’s important to advocate for yourself on the job as a BCBA.Mentioned In This Episode:HowToABA.comHow to ABA on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on InstagramABAidsuncoast.org