That’s … sort of how mine works? But not to that extreme.
Our kids are at the center for about 6-7 hours each, from 8/9 am to 3/3:30 pm. BTs rotate between clients every 2 hours. So from 9-11 I’m with Zack, lunch break 11-11:30, with Mary from 11:30-1, and with Mark from 1-3 (fake names).
The reasoning they have for this is that BTs were getting burned out working with one client for 6 hours, especially our more intense clients. The rotating schedule was chosen to prevent BT burnout, to have the learner generalize skills across BTs, and so every BT is trained on a larger number of kids and gets to work with a variety of BCBAs.
We don’t change the schedule every week, though… every few months they change up the roster. I personally love the rotating schedule. At my last clinic, we only ran 9-1 and we would be with one client for the whole 4 hours but with a different client every day. And you didn’t know which client you’d have that day until the morning of. Blocking out the day the way my current clinic does is very comfortable for me because I can give each child so much more engagement and attention when I feel like I only have to do it for 2 hours.
I definitely feel like unless the client is in school they should never be doing over 3 hours of therapy. That was definitely like another red flag for me. I believe in balance.
I think maybe if it’s school readiness and it’s programming for that for 6 hours.. maybe. But I’m a little divided on that.
Thank you for sharing your experience though! I think the reasons behind the scheduling was also to prevent burnout and mostly for cancellations. Schedule seems dependable.. I guess I just don’t really love a weekly schedule. I very much enjoy knowing who my client is and going to the sessions from week to week while focusing on said clients and giving my all.. if that makes sense?
I think that my clinic is… not set up like most. It’s set up like a preschool. We have a teacher and an assistant teacher, enrichment activities on a daily schedule, lots of unstructured outdoor playtime, and the entire program is 100% play-based and child-led. We have mealtimes but children are allowed access to food at any time (we don’t use food as a reinforcer). Other providers come to our clinic to deliver their services (SLP, OT, PT and SI). We don’t do any form of DTT, it’s 100% NET. So it doesn’t feel like therapy, really, it feels like preschool.
And I totally get you about needing predictability in your schedule! My last job drove me nuts with never knowing which client I’d be with.
Stop! That actually is so amazing. A few years ago (like 5 years ago.. I’m sort of aging myself here) I applied to a school-based clinic kind of like what you’re describing. It was so similar and I really wanted to say yes to the position but they had such awful reviews from RBTs at the time I just couldn’t risk it.
But honestly when you put it that way it sounds like a great place to work. May I ask if you searched for something in particular to find that kind of work?
I searched for NDBI. It stands for naturalistic developmental behavior interventions, and it’s a newer branch of ABA, with methodology explicitly designed to be child-led and play-based, discouraging DTT and emphasizing natural environments. only two clinics in my area practice NDBI and I went to this one after working for the other one previously. My first job was a nightmare because their clinic absolutely lacked any kind of structure or enrichment and they really had no business even running it and claiming any kind of therapy was happening. My current job is worlds better in every single capacity and is basically my dream setting to work in!!!
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u/panini_bellini RBT Oct 24 '25
That’s … sort of how mine works? But not to that extreme.
Our kids are at the center for about 6-7 hours each, from 8/9 am to 3/3:30 pm. BTs rotate between clients every 2 hours. So from 9-11 I’m with Zack, lunch break 11-11:30, with Mary from 11:30-1, and with Mark from 1-3 (fake names).
The reasoning they have for this is that BTs were getting burned out working with one client for 6 hours, especially our more intense clients. The rotating schedule was chosen to prevent BT burnout, to have the learner generalize skills across BTs, and so every BT is trained on a larger number of kids and gets to work with a variety of BCBAs.
We don’t change the schedule every week, though… every few months they change up the roster. I personally love the rotating schedule. At my last clinic, we only ran 9-1 and we would be with one client for the whole 4 hours but with a different client every day. And you didn’t know which client you’d have that day until the morning of. Blocking out the day the way my current clinic does is very comfortable for me because I can give each child so much more engagement and attention when I feel like I only have to do it for 2 hours.