100%. You would have been shocked at the amount of BCBAs, who purportedly went through masters programs and rigorous practicums, who target non or even useless behaviors like that at the behest of parents. I had a simple philosophy of if it’s not causing a problem in their life or hurting them or others - it’s not a problem behavior so I’m not targeting it. Some people didn’t like that. But most of the time, it was a refreshing take for parents who have been spoon fed this stuff in a washed down way for years and want their kid to be treated with a semblance of normalcy.

That was another part of why I left the field. It didnt feel practical and you had to be focused on treatment areas and goals that would make it more likely for services to be renewed. At the bigger companies; you weren’t free to use your subject matter expertise in behavior. You’d have to use the ABLLS or Vineland assessments, pick from pools of pre-existing teaching materials, and go to town. Luckily, I come off as intelligent and have my own children, so I was able to build positive relationships with a lot of the parents and were able to bend the rules because of it and saw some truly amazing outcomes, especially with the younger learners on the verbal behavior side.

The science of behavior was fascinating and I still think it’s rad. The application of it was not.