Reflections of a Behavior Technician in
What led you to pursue a career as a Behavior Technician?
“Becoming a Behavior Technician, for me, wasn’t anything I knew about prior to applying. I found it on Indeed. I felt really unfulfilled and stuck in the same loop at my old job which was in the restaurant industry. Finding a (Behavior Technician) job that required no prior experience seemed like my best option. Just because I knew I wanted to get my foot in the door for a career later on. I knew this was the best way to do it.”
What was your favorite part of the behavior technician training?
“My favorite part of the training was pretty early on when we’d meet with all the other new hires. We would role play and I felt very comfortable because everybody was learning about ABA as well. It allowed me to take initiative for the very first time, and it’s helped me a lot throughout my role as a behavior technician. I learned to actively take a leadership and teamwork role. In that experience I was able to give and receive feedback for the way I would approach a situation. I found that very helpful later on, too.”
What is one of the most rewarding moments you have experienced as a Behavior Technician?
“Having exciting experiences and proud moments as a Behavior Technician in Barstow is the best part of the job. It happens so frequently! Since you live through all these experiences with the client in their daily lives, I think it’s very rewarding to see all your efforts come to fruition. Especially when they perform a skill independently and spontaneously. My very first client, he really struggled with brushing his teeth. He would have really huge meltdowns that escalated and de-escalated. A year later, I got him ready to brush his teeth and he did it with no problem. He didn’t need any assistance and he didn’t seem like it was that big of a deal. He learned to get through it and now it’s part of his daily routine. That made me really proud!”
What are some of the top qualities that you believe contribute to success as a Behavior Technician?
“I feel like patience is one of the top qualities that facilitate success between you and your client. As you live through these experiences with them, as overwhelming as it may be, practicing patience will help you handle the situations more effectively. In turn you’re also serving as a model for them to look at how they’re supposed to handle aversive and overwhelming situations. Also, having an open mind is vital, because this is a learning experience for everybody involved. This means your family, your supervisor, your co-workers, and YOU. Having an open mind is extremely important because you can find out different ways to approach situations. Understanding that there’s always light at the end of the tunnel. Every situation, no matter how tense it may be in the moment, there’s always a chance for progression. The last quality is confidence in your actions and your decisions. I know it can be very hard at first to not feel very guilty, and bad, for having a client follow through with a task that they may find aversive. However, growing that confidence as you learn by trial and error is very important, just so they can understand that sometimes they may not want to do things that they don’t find fun… but there will always be time for fun after.”
What is your Advice for new behavior technicians?
“I have two pieces of advice. The first one being you need to continuously remind yourself of why you’re here. It can be easy to get burned out but continuously reminding yourself why you decided to help these families is very important. I feel like everybody that enters this job has a sense of wanting to help others and be in service of others. That’s amazing… but you always need to keep that in mind even when things seem like they’re too overwhelming or they’re too
stressful. Those reminders are what push you through and keep you going until the end of the journey. My second piece of advice is to always communicate. I feel like communicating is the best form of facilitating the learning process for the client. I feel like we all work as a team. The
family, supervisors, co-workers, this is all just a support system for the client to achieve their goals. Since working with Autism Behavior Services, Inc. I’ve always felt valued. I’ve always felt heard and I’ve always felt supported. So I don’t think you need to be afraid to reach out for any types of issues. Or, if you just want to express your feelings to anybody, this company does a great job of making sure you feel supported”
Who we are
At ABSI, we are committed to helping children with autism. This is why we provide ABA for toddlers all the way through adulthood. We believe a consistent and specialized therapy plan is key to developing and reinforcing nurturing, positive, functional social skills in the home, school and community settings.
Our certified Behavior Technicians work with families to develop a therapy program specifically designed for clients and their families. It is our goal that what families and their children learn from us, will be the bedrock for a lifetime of learning that they continue to build upon.
In our continued high quality pledge for helping children with Autism, we believe in the highest level of training for our therapists.
All Behavior Technicians at ABSI receive their certification in CPR and as a Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) to ensure safety and premier therapy for your child with Autism.