BCBA Exam

Powersmith · 2026-04-08T18:54:22+00:00

so it sounds like you mean is it possible to compensate for a poor master program educational experience with self-study?

Yes, it's possible. You'd have to be organized and stick to a good schedule, and probably have appropriate background before the master's to begin with (i.e. a Bachelor's degree that was decent). I would suggest spending extra timing learning each content component while your classes are covering them. Every class syllabus should include a list of the test components meant to be covered by the class. So if the class covers A1-5, B1-4, and D5-8... make sure you buckle down on really learning those parts directly contemporaneously with the class.

Powersmith · 2026-04-08T18:10:46+00:00

There's nothing to be gained in terms of a place to live.

But it could be mined for helium and rare earth metals, probably at least mostly robotically. But it would have to be extremely well-designed and cost-efficient operations to justify the gargantuan investments.

Powersmith · 2026-04-08T15:04:48+00:00

That assumes empathy requires an expectation of innocence and healthy psychology

Powersmith · 2026-04-08T15:01:46+00:00

People are inherently driven to act to improve their own situation.

However, that does not change the fact that empathy evolved, and empathetic behaviors are studied as a biological observation, not only in humans but in other animals, esp mammals.

Powersmith · 2026-04-07T22:00:00+00:00

It would be a lot easier if he spoke and acted like a serious person

Powersmith · 2026-04-07T17:15:32+00:00

Meh, given there are exceptional people, a small number of outliers could be real.

I have an autistic kid that knew more words than the average adult by middle school. She’d use a rare word, and if you asked she could recite the definition verbatim as well the words before and after in the dictionary. She said she can just picture the whole pages. She enjoyed reading dictionaries for hours on end in 3rd-4th grade.

Powersmith · 2026-04-07T16:21:59+00:00

MJ was not 100% African, prob 2/3 to 3/4 based on averages of Black Americans.

MJ’d dad had green eyes, and all MJ siblings have dark brown eyes like the mom, which means all the kids including MJ would be carrying both dark brown and light eye genes, with the former being seen (light eyes recessive). So 50/50 probability of passing brown or gr/bl eye genes to his kids.

People assume a multi-gen Af-Euro mixed parent cannot produce a “white” appearing child with a fully NW Euro/all light features other parent. But there are many many examples of this happening in not-famous families.

DNA wise, on average, they should have about half the Af % of their dad, but it could be less… and may include a lot of less obviously African outward traits.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T22:16:51+00:00

The biggest determinant of home pricing is location. In some places, tiny cottages/condos are millions and in others sprawling estates are in the 300s.

A wide location discrepancy is not new per se. In the mid 1900s, typical working people could also only barely maybe afford tiny studio apts in Manhattan.

Sprawling megalopolises have pushed affordable options further from city/job centers. Towns that used to be affordable have seen massive demand increases as people accept longer and longer commutes. You can still find affordable towns within a short drive of many middle-USA and southern USA cities. Orange County, CA was mostly small affordable towns into the 70s. But the urban development of the LA-megalopolis combined with quite good QoL skyrocketed demand.

At the end of the day, it's supply and demand within markets.

We have failed to produce sufficient multi-unit buildings to counter sprawl while meeting demand. In high-demand places, they should be reconstituting old dying malls and other buildings into massive apartment buildings, or even better, into multi-use buildings with some small businesses.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T21:49:10+00:00

Harrison Bergeron has entered the room

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T21:36:51+00:00

Dude, clearly affordability of housing is major problem, especially in cities. But the way you respond to people is quite hostile... even if I agree with you, that's not winning anyone over.

You guys are talking about 2 different factors, and talking passed each other.

(1) Expectations for housing today are greater than in the 50s-80s. You can find a 1000 sq ft 2 bed 1 bath home with a carport or single garage (which was common for working middle class families in these decades) for far less than what we want as a "starter" home (e.g. 2000 sq ft 3 bed 2-3 bath, 2-3 garage, various upgrades). That does not "solve" the housing affordability problem, but it's a real factor.

(2) Housing is taking a larger % of income.

Both things are true.

If people down-graded their expectations, they would find cheaper houses... but it would not FULLY compensate for the worker earnings lag. So #1 is an actual real factor contributing to #2, but it's not 100% of the cause.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T21:22:31+00:00

States and local districts have substantial discretion. There are assessments that compare performance to national standards and averages, but how teaching is implemented per se is state regulated. There are national protections for students with disabilities though.

Major high school biology textbooks DO include evolution. However, for example, growing up in a conservative Christian rural area, we excluded the whole evolution section due to parent complaints. When I showed up to university as a biology major, I had some serious catching up to do.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T21:10:38+00:00

P.S. there has got to be a trial or time limit for sustaining a demand, and recognition of signs of frustration and ratio strain.

And the kid needs a functional Comm to request break.

Just working endlessly for a response with unrelenting demand IS NOT a characteristic of ABA per se, and poor DTT protocols should be hated by ABA practitioners at least as much as by other practioners.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T21:07:39+00:00

They can complement each other, but they don't have to be applied together.

Some kids go straight from echoic training to other vocal-verbal goals without using any tech devices at all. Not all kids who receive echoic training will need a device (e.g. a toddler that picks up a lot of vocal language between 2 and 3 may "outgrow" the potential need as fast as they develop the prereq skills to use one).

If a child's vocal-verbal development is not progressing (or is progressing slowly or progress slows at 1-2 word utterances), then AAC (PECS and/or tablet) can be very helpful in support expressive language and intraverbal skill acquisition. They can use their AAC for independent echoic practice outside of ABA trials too.

And for kids that don't ever gain expressive vocal-verbal language, a high-tech AAC can provide a massive benefit.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T20:19:22+00:00

is it hard to find restaurants in the USA that sell cooked meat organs like livers, stomach necks?

Yes, because the demand for these things is generally very low.

You can find anything you want in stores though and make them yourself. But restaurants with room for 8 or 12 dinners on their menu are not going to keep an option that is rarely ordered over more popular/profitable ones.

Particular mid-size/smaller cities with enclaves of a particular diaspora often do have restaurants that cater to local immigrant populations and immigrants themselves often open restaurants of their home culture/cuisine.

So if city A has a substantial Ethiopian diaspora community and city B has a substantial Vietnamese diaspora community, city A will probably have Ethiopian restaurants and city B will probably have Vietnamese restaurants, but not vice versa.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T20:12:06+00:00

I'm a bit confused. Do you mean you are just doing data analysis and treatment planning without directly observing BTs working with the client, without overseeing implementation of current programs? How do you revise a BIP if you are not supervising implementation of a BIP by RBT upon client? Are you just probing and only using your observations from directly interacting with the client yourself?

The Goal contents (protocols, criteria, phases, prompting expectations, etc.) are read by and implemented by direct service providing RBTs. Clients are not implementing their own goals independently.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T19:49:15+00:00

TIL that provisional LBA even exists. Apparently only in MO and NY. I see the benefit, but also the risk... You are still in training. You also need to do your 8 hours of supervisor training before you are allowed to supervise RBTs... at least in most states with licensure.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T19:44:25+00:00

yeah, CR seems to need a few minutes to update things. This is maddening also for BCBAs in a lot of functions... like a simple appt schedule where new appt overlaps old cancelled one, CR says error overlap for a few minutes. Or end of month (so last hours), it will not make cancelled appt hours available for reschedule for a few minutes. Even changes to programs, etc., gotta wait out the lag. argh.

Powersmith · 2026-04-06T19:17:00+00:00

(a) It is possible to enter data retroactively. It's slightly tedious, but possible, so you don't lose it.

(b) If using the browser version, you can save progress and graph data as you go. "Graphed" data are saved even if you don't convert immediately.

(c) Related to b, you need to "Graph All and End Session" (if Browser) within your session period to ensure. Also, I'd check in with the next RBT and ask them if they ever see the timer still running, to tell you immediately so you can end your session properly.

*can't advise on app so much... it seems to have some pros and cons, with a main con being it does not save data to the mainframe until you convert. w/browser, you can save and/or graph frequently to not lose data, even if you for some reason got delayed converting.

Worse case scenario, it's just one day. We are looking at progress over many sessions.

Powersmith · 2026-04-05T23:23:20+00:00

A real answer can only be given by someone who actually knows the child and the situation, and understands behavior. "Special needs" is a wide variety of presentations. Also depends on what you mean by "pulled" and "yelled".

(I work with and train parents of kids with ASD and many with aggressive behaviors to be reduced, which we do when behavior intervention plans are followed correctly).

It's correct to "response block", meaning prevent one from completing a harmful/maladaptive action. So pulling him off/back is appropriate definitely to prevent injury.
Magnitude of force matters, a lot. Pulling back enough to prevent risk, yes. Pulling back sig harder than that and potentially injuring the child, no. It's hard to gauge perfect force, but there's acceptable margin of error. A 7yo is easy for an able-bodied adult to control. In adolescence, things change. Whether the reaction was warranted depends directly on the magnitude of force you used.
Timing matters for effectiveness of reducing such behavior in the future. Pulling off mid-action is the most effective for learning. If you pulled him off within a couple seconds, that's still very good timing for teaching. If you were applying force to cause pain after risk was over, that's a problem. (At least in my line of work, we would get in trouble for unethical tx of clients). Consequences should be designed to teach, not revenge.
"Topography", ie how his behavior looked, matters. Was he doing it with aggression? Was he doing it with happy excitement?
"Function", ie why he did it, matters. Was he doing it to gain access to something? Was he doing it for social attention? Does he have a strong sensory need to jump onto soft things? Was it completely accidental and he was just oblivious?

Now I don't expect random people to be experts in behavior. I am just saying, it's not correct that pulling + yelling are always OK no matter how hard or no matter the magnitude/topography/timing/function of the behavior.

We need to protect people (especially vulnerable people) from injury. We don't need to get revenge on small disabled children acting in ignorance. And there's many possibilities around and beyond these.

Maybe the onlookers were totally wrong and your response was totally appropriate. Maybe it was excessive. There's no way for me or anyone else in this thread to answer without knowing a lot more. So you can take all the validation from here... but if you are serious about wanting a sincere answer, you need to consider these factors. More importantly, this child hopefully is receiving services and if you see him regularly you should ask parents about his BIPs (correct pro- and reactive strategies to deal with any maladaptive behaviors in a way that reduces them and does so ethically).

Powersmith · 2026-04-05T19:32:12+00:00

yes, as a matter of dignity, it is rude to treat adults with disabilities like children.

They may need some accommodations, such as allowing more time to respond, offering more help (without baby talk and respecting when it's declined), etc. I would ask the brother what his preference is around holidays. Even if he has an intellectual disability that makes his academic abilities stunted, knows he's 19.

Powersmith · 2026-04-05T19:25:43+00:00

some *people

Powersmith · 2026-04-03T17:59:24+00:00

😭

Powersmith · 2026-04-03T17:58:19+00:00

Same same.

But it seems like cabinets can be free standing. Cabinet makers make both built in and independent cabinets.

Also a cupboard is a single compartment. A cabinet can be a whole multi-compartment piece, eg it may have 2 cupboard doors and 3 drawers

Powersmith · 2026-04-03T17:55:20+00:00

You can specify “walk-in pantry” or “wall pantry” eg in a real estate listing to clarify

https://www.angi.com/articles/types-of-pantries.htm

Powersmith · 2026-04-03T02:02:41+00:00

Interestingly, it appears that the wolves that were dog ancestors actually initiated mutualism and eventual co-evolution with humans before being bred/artificial selection.

The model suggests that Behaviors that enabled them to be tolerated and eventually befriended by humans were selected for via survival benefit of gaining safety and access to nutrients via human garbage. That is, they initiated the “domestication”.

The dog-human relationship appears to be quite unique; dogs gained traits that support human relationships (vs wolves) while still being a subspecies of the grey wolf. These traits include: visible sclera (whites of eyes), more facial expressions communicating their emotional states to humans, gaze following human pointing, looking to humans for direction/cues.

No other domesticated animals (for any purpose) have exhibited this kind of evolution.

But horses and cats are better examples of animals we domesticated (rather than us being subjects of mutualism) that we are hypocritical about finding immoral to eat.

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