ABA Therapy Jobs
Although there may be various job titles or positions in an ABA company, needless to say the variety and number of these titles that grow exponentially once we consider all the companies that provide the services, at a minimum, a company will have two main jobs necessary to provide ABA-based services: a supervisor and a direct service provider (a.k.a. 1:1, shadow, behavior therapist, behavior technician, to name a few)
A supervisor is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (a.k.a., BCBA) or a Board Certified Associate Behavior Analyst (a.k.a., BCaBA) or an individual working towards their certification. The last two can function as a supervisor but only under the guidance of a BCBA or a BCBA-D. The supervisor is responsible for developing the treatment plan that may include a behavior intervention plan to address challenging behavioral excesses or deficits, the “curriculum” that comprises goals for skills across several pertinent areas that will be taught to the learner, and parent training goals. The supervisor will also be responsible for making sure that his or her team will be trained to make sure that the learner can learn from the services. Also, the supervisor will be responsible in making sure the parents/family/caregivers will learn pertinent skills in parent training.
A direct service provider is the person that provides the actual direct service. Other labels used to name this job category are “1 on 1,” “shadow,” ‘behavior therapist,” “or “behavior technician” just to name a few. These individuals work under the supervision of the BCBA and are responsible for the regular implementation of the treatment plan which also includes implementation of the behavior plans during scheduled “sessions.” The treatment plan is implemented across settings in which it was prescribed to be used such as home, school, and the community. To establish a standard and accountability among those providing direct services, the Behavior Analyst Certification Board has introduced a new class certification: Registered Behavior Technician (a.k.a., RBT). Registered Behavior Technicians go through standardized training, examination, and documented on-going supervision to receive and maintain their certification. RBT’s function as direct service providers.
As mentioned earlier, each ABA provider may be structured differently with various jobs or positions or titles like “Assistant Supervisor,” or “Lead/Senior Therapist,” or “Consultant” to name a few and that these titles may entail different sets of responsibilities within any ABA company; however, the basic jobs can be categorized in just two: a supervisor and a direct service provider.
