7 Essential tips for parents for working with your BCBA from a Parent/Practitioner
I have the unique experience of working in the field of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and receiving ABA based service for my autistic child and our family. I have purchased service from a couple of Board Certified Behaviour Analysts (BCBA) ov the years and of course have worked alongside a BCBA for the entirety of my career. This unique experience has presented me with some valuable insight that I thought may be useful to others. Below are some thoughts I would like to share.
“It is very important that you are direct and honest with your BCBA. The skills taught and the methods used to teach these skills need to be something that you (and possibly the school team) can also practice with the child. ”
1. “ABA is the science in which procedures derived from the principles of behavior are systematically applied to improve socially significant behavior to a meaningful degree and to demonstrate experimentally that the procedures employed were responsible for the improvement in behavior” (Baer, Wolf, & Risley, 1968).
This is very, very, important to understand. The plan that is developed by your BCBA MUST meet the threshold of ‘improving socially significant behaviours’. These behaviours can vary greatly but the key is that they benefit your child and your family. Please spend time and make lists of the behaviours you would like your child to engage in because you believe it will improve their quality of life (or assist them to create their own). Your BCBA may suggest some teaching around prerequisite skills but should ultimately develop goals that you (or your child) identify as important and meaningful to their lives.
2. Be Comfortable with the Goals that are developed.
ABA is a broad umbrella of teaching methodologies and intervention methods. Your BCBA will likely want to assist your child in multiple ways and may have many ideas of what skills should be taught and how they should be taught. It is very important that you are direct and honest with your BCBA. The skills taught and the methods used to teach these skills need to be something that you (and possibly the school team) can also practice with the child. This means you should never agree to more than you are able to manage at any given time. Small manageable goals will have more impact and meaning for your child and family.
3. ABA doesn’t live in the therapy session.
Although some goals may start off being practiced in the therapeutic environment, they eventually need to ‘live’ outside of the therapeutic environment. This means you MUST be able to help your child practice the skills they are learning so they have them ‘in the real world’. Your BCBA will be very considerate of what you can and can’t do within your home but at some point, you will be required to take responsibility for the skills learned.
4. Remember, ABA is an evidence-based practice that requires data, data, data.
Data informs all decisions a good BCBA makes. As a parent, we tend to see the best of our child and can unintentionally ‘skew’ the data by minimizing the overall impacts certain behaviours have on the child or family. It can be very upsetting to see our child’s challenges laid out in an ‘operational definition’ or on graphs that show how often they have these challenges. We must always keep in mind that the BCBA wants to support and they require honest and detailed data to make informed choices about the methodologies and interventions they use. Be particularly wary of practitioners that do not require data. You are likely not receiving good ABA services if consistent and concise data collection is not part of the intervention. Learn more about Data Collection in ABA Watch the video.
5. Parents are a valuable part of the overall team.
Parents know what is best. Trust in that. There is no greater knowledge than that of a parent. Parents need to trust their instincts and practitioners would be well served to hear what parents have to say. The BCBA may be the ‘expert’ in ABA but the parent in the ‘expert’ with regards to their child.
6. BCBA’s make recommendations that are empirically validated.
Your BCBA will likely be sensitive and accommodating when you discuss what you can and can’t put in place in your home. Just remember, when a BCBA makes a recommendation, they are empirically validated…proven. When they water down or make to many changes to accommodate you (or the school), the interventions will likely not work as well. You are better off saying ‘not right now’ and coming back to that particular goal when you are better able to follow through with all pieces of the intervention.
7. Even the best schedule will have its challenges.
Life is not predictable so trying to build a perfectly predictable schedule will always fail. Building in the ability to accept change from time to time is crucial to life. Make sure your BCBA assists you with building unpredictability into various skills, routines, and schedules wherever possible.
I have had the opportunity to see the benefits of ABA-based services in my home and with the clients and families, we serve. Parents/caregivers are an integral part of the process. When parents are included as valued members of the overall team, the development of skill abounds!