Occupational therapists treating autistic clients often share those clients with a behavior analyst. Sensory profiles, ADL routines, visual schedules, and behavior support plans overlap constantly. When the OT and the behavior analyst speak the same language, treatment plans get built once instead of twice, and the client doesn't get caught between competing frameworks. Special Learning has been providing ABA training resources since 2010 and serves 32,000+ customers in 140+ countries.
What we offer is cross-disciplinary professional development: the ABA literacy that makes you a stronger collaborator on any team working with autistic clients.
Occupational therapists and behavior analysts share more clinical territory than most practitioners realize. Visual schedules are a core OT tool and a standard behavioral intervention. Sensory-based behavior strategies sit at the intersection of both disciplines. ADL routines for autistic clients almost always require behavioral scaffolding alongside the motor and functional skills the OT is building.
When OTs understand how behavior analysts think, several things shift:
Share a client with a behavior analyst? Build your collaboration plan with our free tool: roles, shared goals, data sharing, meetings and how you settle disagreements, ready to copy or print.
Working with a behavior analyst for the first time? Read how occupational therapists and behavior analysts work together on the same client: where the two fields overlap, what gets in the way, what helps, and the eight things to agree on in writing.
Karen Chung founded Special Learning on May 15, 2010, because the training resources didn't exist. The platform now serves practitioners across six continents. The mission from day one: get evidence-based resources to every practitioner who needs them.
OTs who co-treat autistic clients with behavior teams benefit from ABA literacy. Sensory profiles, ADL routines, visual supports, and behavior plans overlap significantly. Special Learning's library covers the behavioral frameworks OTs encounter on shared cases so their sessions align with the behavior plan.
OTs address sensory, fine motor, and ADL goals. Behavior analysts address behavioral function, skill acquisition, and environmental supports. When both practitioners share vocabulary around reinforcement, prompt fading, and data collection, the interventions reinforce each other instead of competing.
The course offered here is Compassionate Mandated Reporting Across Disciplines. It is for professionals across disciplines, including OTs, rather than an OT-specific curriculum.
Compassionate Mandated Reporting Across Disciplines costs $39, paid once. It is a recorded 110-minute panel with a downloadable slide deck and a certificate of completion after you pass its quiz. It does not provide CEUs.
The ABA Glossary Complete, the AI Knowledge Interface, and free clinical tools at special-learning.com/resources/ including visual schedule builders, behavior trackers, and ABC data collection forms are available at no cost.
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