A better team plan: four short collaboration lessons

When several professionals support the same person, a short written agreement can help the team coordinate. Include the client as appropriate and the family or guardians in the discussion. Use a non-identifying reference in notes you share with the team.

Lesson 1: Start with roles

Ask each professional what they assess and treat within their own scope of practice and competence. Write down who to contact about each part of the plan. A shared client does not make every team member responsible for the same work.

Try it: At your next meeting, ask each person to complete: “I lead on ___; ask me when ___.”

Lesson 2: Choose one shared goal

Choose a goal that matters to the client and family, then agree who leads it and what each person will do. The team might, for example, agree how to support a person who wants to request a break. Agree on the words and prompts you will use.

Try it: Write one goal, its lead, and one action for each professional. Ask the client or family whether it fits their priorities.

Lesson 3: Make the data useful to everyone

Agree what each person records, how often you will share it, and what the team will do with it. A simple shared definition helps people compare notes without assuming that different settings look alike.

Try it: Finish this sentence together: “We will record ___, share it every ___, and review it at ___.” Follow your setting's consent and privacy requirements when sharing information.

Lesson 4: Plan for a disagreement

Agree how to raise a concern, what information to bring, how to include the client and family as appropriate, and who will document and follow up on the decision. The BACB ethics code asks behavior analysts to collaborate and document actions and outcomes when conflicts arise.

Try it: Decide who brings the team together when a plan is not working, and set a date to revisit the decision.

Put the four lessons to work

The free collaboration-plan worksheet brings roles, shared goals, methods, data, meetings, disagreements and review into one plan. Its guidance is open; the worksheet opens after a free form.

Open the free collaboration plan

Explore OT and ABA collaboration

For a deeper discussion of how occupational therapists and behavior analysts work together, explore Collaboration Series: OT & ABA, a $39 recorded training.

Keep learning

Read our guide to SLP and behavior-analyst collaboration for the professional sources behind these prompts.

Professional sources: ABAI Practice Board guidance on collaboration; BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts, standard 2.10; IPEC Core Competencies.