Behavior Professional Experience Model: A First of its Kind

The field of ABA is blossoming! Despite recent exponential growth in university training programs, experimental and applied research studies, certified practitioners, and conference attendance (APBA, 2015; Carr & Nosik, 2017; Deochand & Fuqua, 2016), limited work has investigated the lived experiences of behavior professionals. Contemporary publications around professional issues oft present the opinion and voice of research faculty members or university professors. These experts provide important, knowledgeable perspectives and should not be underappreciated. However, the collective voices of practicing professionals have not yet entered into these debates. Brian Iwata (2015), one of the leading ABA researchers, recognizes the critical importance of incorporating practitioner voices to address aspects of our field.

Consistent with similar efforts to understand subsets of analysts (e.g., mothers of children with Autism who become behavior analysts; Barbera, 2009), I sought to gain an understanding of the professional experiences of teachers whom returned to school for a certification in behavior analysis. The research questions driving my research included: (1) What brought these teachers to the field of ABA? (2) How would they describe their training program and supervision experiences? (3) What actualized gains resulted from their training? Answering these questions provides meaningful insight into the training experiences of our behavior professionals and can help support the growth and dissemination of behavior analysis.

Sample

Six current BCBAs and two BCBA-seeking students participated in this study. The participants averaged five years of work experience in the field and an average age of 35. All of the participants described themselves as Caucasian/White; one was male.

Methodology & Analysis

One-on-one in-person interviews were conducted with each participant, following a semi-structured interview protocol and lasting approximately one hour. A combination of inductive and deductive qualitative coding was used to analyze the participant interviews, followed by systematic member checking to confirm the analysis.

Key Results

The participants described personal and professional experiences surrounding their return to school for a BCBA certification. Taken in sum, these experiences led to the formation of a chronological experience model (below) from before returning to school, through engagement in coursework and supervision, and becoming a behavior professional.

Behavior analysts come from a wide array of fields and academic disciplines. As such, they each bring a unique set of professional and personal experiences. These experiences, including family connections to special education, prior work with people with disabilities, and their educational background and training likely play an important role in the analysts’ decision to pursue their BCBA, engagement during their coursework, and continued work as a behavior professional.

Behavior analysts are introduced to the field through a range of serendipitous experiences. Most of the participants learned about ABA through work experiences working with students with emotional and behavioral needs and interactions with behavior professionals. Many participants described learning about the field through their direct contact with ABA or a BCBA. The future analysts then researched the field and profession, including possible in-person and online training programs.

Once in training programs, participants had to balance coursework with work commitments. This process was supported by the resonance between course content and their work, and positive supervision experiences. The participants also described the challenges associated with being a full-time teacher and a student; however, they appreciated the practical applications of their coursework. The analysts found their program experience rewarding and benefited from supportive, knowledgeable professors.

Overall, the participants had positive experiences with university-provided and in-house supervision and supervisors. They appreciated their supervisors challenging them to see behavior in a different way, answering questions, and explaining how to apply ABA concepts into their day-to-day work. Participants receiving in-house supervision found the experience incredibly rewarding. These supervisors were often program directors, instructors, or other behavior professionals that the participants were already interacting with frequently.

Once completing the course, supervision, and examination requirements, the participants become part of a growing group of passionate behavior professionals. The analysts saw important professional and philosophical gains from their coursework and experiences. Continued gains and a dedication to the field likely motivates analysts to remain in the field.

Discussion

Given the professional discipline of ABA is relatively new and not within every college or university, this provides some insight into how people come to find, or even stumble across, the field. Despite all being education professionals, each participant required an introduction to the field. Initial positive ABA experiences may influence program decision, engagement, and eventual success (obtaining a BCBA). While a poor ABA experience may lead to misunderstandings or misconceptions about the field. Results from this exploratory study and existing literature promote the need for reflection and discussion on how to increase exposure of ABA to future clients and practitioners, supporting the current push of the field for the purposeful dissemination of our science.

Behavior professionals should work as ABA ‘ambassadors’ – sharing the science thoughtfully and accurately while directly addressing misunderstanding or misconceptions. Current behavior analysts should also recognize good future practitioners, helping us grow our field with dedicated professionals. These two skills, dissemination and recognition, fit well within our ethical obligations as behavior analysts.

Several factors lead to the need to understand the experiences of behavior analysts. As an emerging professional field, we have established formalized entry requirements (coursework, supervised internship, and examination), instituted task/skill requirements (and adapted them based on job analyses), and incorporated ethical training requirements for all analysts. These developments have occurred as the demand for behavior professionals, specifically BCBAs, continues to rise. In order to continue growing, the field should ensure we have skilled, passionate analysts in the field working with clients and disseminating our science – our dedicated professionals can provide an important voice often missing from the field.

For more in-depth content on this work, you can access my article free of charge via ResearchGate or the Special Education Research, Policy, & Practice journal.