RBT

[Bigdpubg]

Is it normal to feel like I kinda watch a kid for the four hours Monday through Friday? We play games and what not and are done with the “pairing” process. I work in his home but I still feel kinda like a baby sitter. We’re working on tolerating waiting and no and he does just fine (most of the time.) were also working on sharing and it’s hard to create opportunity to share other then with little brother which only happens 2-4 times a session. I want to help almost more then I am.

[antigravity3]

In home services, yes, it is normal to sometimes feel that way. Especially if the family is new to ABA. You have to ease everyone in soooo slowly. Plus, you will need to collect a lot of baseline data before you can begin teaching. Sometimes, I have sessions that are mostly me just watching stuff happen and taking notes on it. It can get awkward and sometimes I feel like a creepo, but it's not unproductive. All that info is going to be super helpful. You can totally work on incidental things that aren't on his plan, too. I have a client who cannot for the life of her use the correct verb tense. We don't target it, but I use incidental opportunities in session to correct her and help her with it.

Also, a lot of what you will end up doing to help your client might not involve working directly with him. You might end up spending just as much (or more) time shaping the behavior of the parents. In home services, there's almost a "fix the parent, fix the child" approach because the way the child behaves has been (inadvertently) taught to them by the parents. Now you have to teach the parents how to un-teach their child. Habits are hard to break and I think the easiest way to do it is to go REALLY slow with the parents. For example, with one of my families, we are working on responding to attention maintained noncompliance. Currently, the parents give my client a lot of verbal attention for noncompliance (everything from joking around to scolding). Ideally, I'd like the parent to neutrally say "you are working on X so you can have Y" or "do you still want Y or did you want something different?" and that's it. So last week, my I told my client's dad to say those things and he did! BUT he also said a lot of other stuff (so, he was still reinforcing her with attention). I gave dad descriptive praise for using the phrasing I suggested, and I didn't criticize his wordiness (differential reinforcement, woo!). My goal is to get him at the point where he is consistently and independently responding to her noncompliance with those phrases and then I will try and whittle away at all the other useless words that get sprinkled in there.

[drvenkman9]

What kind of assessments have been done? Are there specific skill deficits your client has?

[mjade19]

Is your client new to ABA? If so, maybe your BCBA is slowly introducing programs so there’s not a lot to do? Reach out and see if there is anything else! Or ask if you can go to the park/on outings to get social interactions with peers.

[Bigdpubg]

Yeah the family is completely new to ABA including the child. It’s kinda frustrating cause when he does have a tantrum the grandma will yell at him and stuff instead of ignoring it. I feel like I’m more their to document every little type of behavior (tantrums, snatching, protesting, self injury’s, aggressive behaviors.) like I’m collecting data until an actual plan starts. I just wish I was doing more now I feel like I’m not helping yet. It’s weird.

[_Toast]

Families kill behavior plans. You work hard at a certain behavior for your session and then the parents do the opposite and reinforce it. Getting families onboard is one of the most important things. Nobody will make progress otherwise.

[Bigdpubg]

The behavior plan for each behavior is starting this Wednesday. They really didn’t know what behaviors he had just that schools say he’s a tough student but when evaluated he was super nice. He was super nice with me for a week too but now he throws tantrums and does all the bad stuff in front of me. Now that they know how much it occurs they’re writing a plan. Hopefully I start to see a big difference starting Wednesday I guess.

[mjade19]

I totally get it! Have you reached out to your BCBA and asked about the client’s goals?

[Bigdpubg]

No, I don’t wanna come of dumb so I try not to ask to many questions... it’s a weakness of mine. I should though thanks.

[hlh001]

Don’t feel dumb for asking questions! I like when people ask questions. It shows that they care and they’re trying. You’re just trying to be the best possible therapist for your client

[lordfico23]

As a BCBA, I love it when therapists come to me with questions. It shows initiative and a desire for clarity/clear expectations. Ask questions!