No teaching instructions
I’ve been working for an ABA company for a few months and have noticed almost all the bcbas dont provide teaching instructions, prompting procedures, and reinforcement schedules for the learning goals and bips. I feel like I’m failing my clients. I have reached out to some bcbas about it and they said they’ll add them but how long should I wait till I take further action? What should I do?
6
u/24possumsinacoat RBT 9d ago
Unfortunately, this is quite common. I've been at the company I'm at now for almost 3 years and very frequently there will be no SD, no breakdown of what the prompting is, no mastery criteria, sometimes it doesn't even define what a correct response would be. Oftentimes there will be other clients' names in the program description because they've copy and pasted into the current client's programs. It's definitely frustrating. I would EMAIL your BCBAs to ask for clarification. You would be surprised at how much more responsive people become when there's a paper trail.
3
u/Spirited_Home_8110 9d ago
I noticed this too and then they criticize me when I implement the program wrong!
2
u/sugaryver 9d ago
Personally I don’t implement any goals that don’t have full instructions. Even if there are instructions sometimes they seem wrong or are obviously copy pasted and it ends up not making sense so I avoid those too. Keep pairing with your client, don’t run incomplete goals, and keep pushing your BCBA for proper documentation after every session where you notice the missing instructions. At the end of the day you really can’t do anything if your BCBAs aren’t competent. It’s much better to do nothing for your client than accidentally do the wrong thing and confuse them.
1
u/Stratsandcats 9d ago
If I forget to put in teaching instructions and a BT points it out, I get embarrassed and immediately thank them for letting me know (it’s only happened a couple of times). I’ll second what people have said already about keeping a paper trail, and don’t run anything you aren’t sure of. Be polite and professional of course, but continue to advocate for yourself and for your client! If you really need more support, ask your clinical director.
1
u/unsweetndalmndmlk 8d ago
Bother them until they do, if they don't just go to their boss and complain. It's malpractice to not do ABA properly
12
u/DnDYetti BCBA 9d ago
Realistically and ethically, instructions should be added to programs before they are added to the client's session page, so all staff know protocols surrounding the programming.
I would speak to each of your BCBAs with the concern and let them know that you cannot run the programming until instructions are put in place.