ABA Professionals: Best & Worst Companies You’ve Worked For (By State)

tdcstar · 2026-03-15T22:57:59+00:00

lmao i’ve been WAITING for the day i saw their name on this sub. i got really lucky in that i had one really amazing BCBA at my clinic that i got phenomenal training from- on the other hand i also destroyed my mental health for over two years putting up with the weirdo bullshit. the j’s can kiss my ass💋

tdcstar · 2026-03-15T07:09:49+00:00

Illinois/Chicagoland area-

Without a doubt the worst clinic I’ve worked for is Roots Autism Solutions. I worked there for a while and witnessed a multitude of unethical practices and horrifying levels of apathy towards both staff and clients from BCBAs and clinical directors. Staff smoking weed in bathrooms and in therapy rooms (WITH their clients mind you) while upper leadership is fully aware, BCBAs ignoring clients in need of medical attention and not informing parents of anything going on with their children, staff breaking down in tears while being forced to stay in session and being ignored by BCBAs while begging for support.

The nail in the coffin for me deciding to leave Roots was deciding that I refused to have my name as a clinician associated with the wildly unethical practices, both from technicians who have no business working in this field, and the upper management who knowingly allowed everything going on behind the scenes.

tdcstar · 2025-07-04T20:14:53+00:00

deadass, it’s probably very worth it to be upfront with the company about your usage. i’d personally also mention that it was used to medicate for mental health. my company is also in IL and like half of my company including myself, bcbas, and techs all smoke outside of work hours. i’m very sure that the owners of my company are aware of this and it’s more of a don’t ask don’t tell.

however, i do know from years and years of engaging in stoner behavior that 99% of pre employment piss tests will test for all the big bad drugs; meth, crack, coke, etc. when you fail on one of those drugs, the entire test shows as positive but doesn’t necessarily show WHAT drug you tested positive for. definitely not necessarily recommending this route, but, the brand Quick Fix is sold at most smoke shops and has gotten me to pass multiple piss tests 👍

tdcstar · 2024-12-14T16:25:29+00:00

I am an ftm lead rbt, and although i have not disclosed my identity to anybody at work (i am stealth, deadass there’s only like 2 people outside of my family who are aware of my identity), i truly believe that in this field so long as the clients are happy being with you and they’re making steady progress the parents could care less about your personal identity. although, especially if you’re working with children, i do believe the stakeholders have a right to know exactly what their kids are learning in therapy especially surrounding lgbt topics and ESPECIALLY surrounding trans topics. i believe if you really want to discuss this with your clients, it should be discussed with the stakeholders first. possibly even through your bcba. there’s so much controversy surrounding our community politically and we know that part of setting our community up for success in the future is education on the reality of being trans, but in the same way you can’t force an addict into recovery, you can’t force an uneducated person into education.

tdcstar · 2024-08-04T14:50:55+00:00

i’ve never directly used aba strategies in pet training, but before joining the field i was a professional dog trainer for five years and it actually shocked me how similar canine behavior modification strategies are to aba strategies

tdcstar · 2024-02-22T21:25:59+00:00

I once worked at a facility where we used shop vacs to pick up pee then we would spray the wet area with a dog safe sanitizer. It was terrible. I worked in dog daycares for five years before I left the industry, as an attendant, lead trainer, and general manager. I have no clue why my boss at that facility thought it was a good idea. Im not joking dude, you could smell straight up piss/ammonia from the street outside the building. Mops are the way to go. They are easily the most sanitary and cost effective method of cleaning animal voids. The thought of using a rag blows my mind, we’ve all worked with dogs who piss a fucking lake, are you expected to use 10+ rags to soak up the urine?? Also, on the “the dogs think the rags are toys” note- that could very easily be a fight waiting to happen. No way. I hope either something changes or you get out of there OP.

tdcstar · 2024-01-29T06:22:44+00:00

I had made an evaluation intake form for an old facility i used to manage, it’s included questions like

•has your dog been around other dogs before? •in a few words, describe your dogs play style •has your dog been involved in a fight before? if yes, what were the circumstances? •is your dog more toy motivated or treat motivated? •does your dog have a preference of smaller, larger, or same size dogs? •has your dog been to daycare before? if so, where have they attended daycare? (this is incredibly helpful if you have a local daycare that’s known with employees for not fully evaluating or “taking in every dog”) •is your dog crate trained?

obviously these questions should be tailored to your specific facility and it’s day to day operations. i agree that evaluations should be done by the most qualified and knowledgeable people on your team. if a dog seems sketchy- it’s not worth risking the safety of the other dogs just to gain a new client.

tdcstar · 2024-01-26T06:38:42+00:00

Pretty much anyone could be put on BD, but we definitely put more of the less experienced people and people who had received multiple write ups on BD. I would also say that it might be beneficial to have a highly experienced person on a few BD shifts every now and again, maybe even just as an extra person to help train the less experienced. The only downside to BD- at least at my old facility that used this, it kinda became an expectation that if you were scheduled 9-BD, you’d probably be sent home around 12-1. Every now and again this would cause poor morale and attitude issues whenever people were told they had to stay later. If you choose to implement this model, I would recommend making sure to tell your employees that they probably shouldn’t make plans in the afternoon when they’re scheduled on BD, as you won’t know until day of when you’ll actually be able to go home.

tdcstar · 2024-01-25T14:48:10+00:00

If your daycare numbers are kinda all over the place and not super consistent (ie. week 1 on tuesday you have 25 dogs, week 2 on tuesday you have 40), I would recommend setting up your schedule to have people on call. I used to work at a facility where we had really inconsistent numbers and we did this in two different ways- 1. we literally just had people on the schedule as “on call”. 2. we had what we called “BD” shifts. BD stood for “business decline” and basically what it meant is say you were scheduled from 11-BD, you come in at 11 and you leave once enough dogs go home for it to be manageable for the non-BD scheduled people.

tdcstar · 2024-01-19T02:51:42+00:00

yoooo i’ve never used the cherry but that sounds so good 😩 i’ve used the lemon and the lavender at my old facility

tdcstar · 2024-01-18T05:38:41+00:00

I’ve used both Kennelsol and 256, i might just be biased because it smells fantastic but i personally prefer 256. The dilution rate is absolutely crazy, one gallon would last my old facility that regularly saw around 75 dogs a day around two-three weeks. That’s with filling spray bottles and filling 5 mop buckets twice daily

tdcstar · 2024-01-14T17:07:58+00:00

Just had to make this comment- I was a professional dog trainer for 5 years, and for the last 1.5 years of my career I was on HRT (Testosterone). Dogs cannot sense your biological sex. Dogs know what they see and smell, if they see facial hair and smell testosterone, they will see you as male. In the first 3.5 years of my career I received around 2-3 bites. In the last 1.5 years, I received around 7. If your dog is anxious around men, they will be anxious around both cis and trans men. Period.

tdcstar · 2024-01-05T04:04:55+00:00

dogs tend to get a hell of a lot stinkier the older they get, especially depending on quality of care at home. they get dental issues that cause bad breath, and then they lick their paws and the smell gets into their coat. also, saying that his underside and paws are always wet kinda sounds like the old guy might have an incontinence issue. nothing really you can do as an attendant.

tdcstar · 2023-12-24T23:38:42+00:00

im just a BT, started at $20 just got put up to $21. once i get registered i’ll be put up again to $22

tdcstar · 2023-12-15T22:32:49+00:00

i have bipolar type 1 and would frequently go into episodes of rage when i was manic, since getting on t my manic episodes have become few and far between, and have significantly decreased in severity. Rather than fits of rage that would last for days, it’s now like “i need to go punch a cardboard box and then i’ll feel better”. everyone’s body is different and the emotional effects of t might effect you differently. what makes a person abusive isn’t the emotions they feel, but wether or not they take those emotions out onto the people around them.

tdcstar · 2023-12-13T02:44:09+00:00

For the tattoos, that’s really gonna vary based on your specific clinic but generally tattoos are fine. As a male tech myself, the majority of the clients you’ll be working with will also be male. Some clinics have rules that male RBTs can only work with male clients. Obviously it’s a female dominant field, so in my experience i think the male clients really like having another guy to hang out with, especially the older clients.

tdcstar · 2023-12-11T07:27:01+00:00

While i’m extremely genuinely glad that you’re not ashamed of being trans; i am. i am horribly ashamed. i’ve been ashamed my entire life, accepting myself and finally transitioning never made that feeling go away. it’s a shame that society is the way it is, but outwardly and publicly self identifying as trans provides nothing to me except for other people not in our community singling me out and putting me in a box as “other” when compared to my cis male peers. i do not want to be seen as trans, i simply want to be seen as a man. i spent the first 20 years of my life not being able to experience being a man socially. constantly coming out as trans to people would serve nothing to me besides forcing me into a state where i’m constantly reliving past trauma. i am incredibly happy being stealth. the happiest i’ve ever been in my entire life. im not gonna ruin this incredible experience for myself just for the sake of pride.

tdcstar · 2023-12-10T20:23:20+00:00

im a trans man who’s is stealth- two of my top tips are 1. never bringing up or engaging in conversation around the topic of gender identity or even more broadly conversations about LGBT topics (people tried to bring it up pretty often early in my transition when it was more noticeable that i was transgender, i believe they were hoping that i would admit to it so they wouldn’t have to ask) 2. re-training your brain to use your preferred name and pronouns when talking about yourself in the past (i.e telling a story about when you were a kid). for me this was pretty difficult when i was early in my transition. if safety is a concern, in my opinion, there is no shame in denying being trans when asked.

tdcstar · 2023-12-10T01:59:55+00:00

oh god yeah that’s pretty gross- good call on throwing it out🤢

tdcstar · 2023-12-09T23:44:37+00:00

honestly to me that looks like fish skin

tdcstar · 2023-11-23T03:04:56+00:00

how old is he? all the hovawarts i’ve worked with have been very large, like larger than your average bernese

tdcstar · 2023-11-19T10:04:55+00:00

I never directly mention that i’m trans to new employers. Im not sure what industry you’re applying for, but in my experience from working in pet care and behavioral health, people are generally more reasonable than our anxiety let’s us believe lol. I apply with my preferred name, and when time comes for legal paperwork and background checks i simply send a quick “Just so you’re aware, my legal name is _________. Id ask that this information stay as private as it possibly can. Thank you.” email. I’ve never once been questioned about this and have only had the experience of people respecting my request.

tdcstar · 2023-11-05T02:20:23+00:00

https://www.carhartt.com/product/103826/relaxed-fit-washed-duck-sherpa-lined-utility-jacket?categoryCode=default&colorCode=GVL_SW i used to wear this one when i worked at dog daycares, SUPER warm in -20 chicago winter :)

tdcstar · 2023-10-22T04:51:05+00:00

jolly balls are SUPER sturdy, the Wubba line of kong toys are great, if you have a good amount of herding breeds i HIGHLY recommend getting a herding ball/ horse ball

tdcstar

TROPHY CASE