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FROM THE MOUTH OF RBTs… (Source: Reddit)

Reasons I want to quit being an RBT

Central Reach
Slow tablet
Kids who don’t want to listen
Parents who don’t want to listen
Teachers who don’t want to listen
Out of touch BCBA’s
Emotional Labor
Low pay
inconsistent hours
Kids who spit on you
Kids who hit
Kids who slam my face into the ground
Pull my hair
Jump on me
I’m sure I could think of 100 more things…
I went into this job 2 years ago because I truly enjoy teaching, but I find myself hating this field more and more every week…anyone else?

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Outside of HR issues (low pay, inconsistent hours, etc), if this individual worked for an ethical ABA agency that provided ongoing training and quality supervision, he/she would have been taught the skills to address (1) how to gain instructional control; (2) pair with parents and teachers and use data as a reinforcement to facilitate collaboration; (3) address challenging behavior and a multitude of additional skills to improve their quality of life by being a stronger BT/RBT. Not to mention better outcomes for clients.

Business practices / HR practices are only one side of the coin. The other side of the coin – which also costs money – is clinical practices.

Our responsibility is to invest in our BTs/RBTs so that they are given the resources, training, supervision, mentoring, coaching, and whatever else they need to always be learning and improving. Yet so many agencies run their businesses like a sweatshop.

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Being an RBT for me was extremely fun because where were you going to find a place where you can be completely silly without having to worry what people thought about you? This was the only job that made me feel like I could make a dramatic difference while being myself.

I also liked to be surrounded by people that had the same goals of wanting to help kids and the teamwork made the job much easier and more enjoyable.

Change and progress was the ultimate goal for our kiddos. The early intervention program was seriously only a miracle because I saw changes in the kiddos that from day one, you wouldn’t even recognize who they were.

Changes from being able to utter 3-4 words where they can only make a syllable from when they started, the behavior decreases in which kiddo that used to engage in 30-40 0 self-harm to only half, learning how to wait during games, table work where they use to swipe and drop to the floor if they had to.

My favorite was when the parents would tell us what amazing progress they were making at home. I used to tear up and felt for these parents so much because it was already difficult for them and now, they can trust and rely on ABA and the therapists knowing their goal was ours.

By Emma Rogers, BA, RBT

Mother Child
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