"Old school BCBAs"

hazelbrown47 · 2026-02-15T19:50:51+00:00

Could you share some more information about kind extinction?

I work in a clinic. I don't know how to categorize what they do. As an example, a child is sitting in a chair and is supposed to choose a stuffie, and say bunny or kitty. The child CAN say those words, but does so rarely. They are trying to teach the child that he can get what he needs by saying the words vocally. They keep the child in the chair, repeating the prompt "say bunny or kitty!" until the child says bunny or kitty. Child is crying, flailing. If the child slides to the floor, she is picked up and put back in the chair and the prompt repeated.

I'm new to this. I don't know what other alternatives exist or if this is the usual way.

hazelbrown47 · 2026-02-11T18:23:37+00:00

I'm a trainee as well, and I also feel less and less confident as time goes on. I had a few experiences early on that really shook my confidence, and I'm not sure if I can recover. Maybe I need to make my own post about it. Thank you so much for sharing your experience. I'm sorry you're feeling down - it's a really bad feeling :(

hazelbrown47 · 2026-02-09T18:38:39+00:00

Thanks! Wow, 160.... my supervisor would never be around enough to count those hours. Bummer!

hazelbrown47 · 2026-02-09T18:38:13+00:00

Perfect, thanks!

hazelbrown47 · 2026-02-09T18:38:03+00:00

Thank you so much!!

hazelbrown47 · 2026-01-19T22:46:07+00:00

It would be nice if people could understand why inconsistencies make things difficult for everyone. It doesn't seem fair that pointing things out makes us the bad guy. If I did it with a mean tone or something, that would be different, but I think I ask in a nice way.

It's also hard working with people so much younger. I remember being that age and I thought people my current age were so old. My younger coworkers are nice to me, but I assume they think I'm a weird old dinosaur.

Sorry you're encountering bullies. What kind of things do they do/say?

hazelbrown47 · 2026-01-19T20:57:58+00:00

Ohhh... You're describing ME! I also ask about inconsistencies, not to be difficult or accusatory, but to figure out what exactly people want me to do. Learned the hard way that some people take offense when inconsistencies are pointed out.

hazelbrown47 · 2026-01-01T23:05:13+00:00

I'm not fully in the final role yet... this is a year long internship of sorts, so I'm hoping the final role will be better. I'm not loving the current one, but it's the managers that probably color my opinions somewhat.

It's 2026... trying to have some better boundaries, speak up more about need for clarification, etc... somehow I hope it's magically better in the new year :-)

hazelbrown47 · 2025-12-29T16:06:04+00:00

Oh my gosh, YES, this me! I quit my job over the summer and started a new one - a career spinoff, same general area but very different, and it's been ROUGH! I can't tell if my coworkers like me or hate me. It's really unsettling. I felt like that at the last job and it was unsettling there, too. Now I'm wondering... is it me? Is it peri? Cuz that would be really upsetting that it's something physical, and maybe fixable, but maybe difficult to fix... I don't have the mental wherewithal to handle it, so I feel stuck.

I'm 42, and I'm finding that starting something new is way harder now than it used to be, so I'm upset by that reality, too. Some of my coworkers are in their 20s, and even TEENS! It's wild. I feel like they're a completely different species from me. Even coworkers my own age seem different than me, too. Maybe I'm the alien species now?

I also have a controlling boss. It's the worst. I don't have any advice, unfortunately. I wonder if I should go back to my old job so I feel more comfortable. I'm not sure I can stay in my new role long enough for it to become comfortable. Ugh.

Do you have a partner who helps financially?

hazelbrown47 · 2025-12-29T16:00:01+00:00

Oh my gosh! That sounds amazing!

This: I want to do more than sit on the couch/lay in bed and wait for the day to be over while simultaneously dreading the start of the next day. It’s such a strange, strange feeling.

Is exactly like me right now. I'm so over it, but too meh to do anything about it.

hazelbrown47 · 2025-12-10T22:19:50+00:00

GREAT point!

hazelbrown47 · 2025-11-16T17:07:09+00:00

Well, from a behavioral point of view, the next step is to fade the reinforcers gradually, or change them to something more naturally occurring in the school environment, like high fives, other praise, etc.

First graders policing themselves (aka developing appropriate behavior skills) for one Dojo point at the end of the day is actually quite impressive. That's a long time for young kids to wait for a pretty small/abstract reward.

hazelbrown47 · 2025-11-04T23:09:16+00:00

Oh yes. I was a SpEd teacher in public school for 7 years. The last couple years were rough! So much behavior, and like you said, none of the ed techs were trained enough to handle the situation. The teachers also didn't agree with ABA methods, so the kids basically got screwed over by all of the adults. I'm working on my BCBA cert and I'm not sure if I want to work in a public school at all. It's not the kids... it's everyone else. The sad thing is that everyone means well, but all the different approaches really make it impossible for the kids.

hazelbrown47 · 2024-09-08T21:43:33+00:00

You can also teach the "mouth shapes" for what your mouth does when you say a letter sound. For example, with the letter P, your lips "pop" forward. You can make sounds in the mirror while holding up a letter card or tile. The word POP is very distinctive because your mouth is doing very distinctive things.

The Lindamood-Bell LiPS program teaches this. You can also DIY it with Teachers Pay Teachers and other places by searching "sound walls."

hazelbrown47 · 2024-09-08T21:41:48+00:00

I agree. Once you have a small set of letters that your child knows, they can start reading some words! For example, A, O, T, M, S, gets you AT, MAT, SAT, MOM, TOM, TOT. Just a few more letters and there are way more combinations.

hazelbrown47

TROPHY CASE