Behavioural Skills Training (BST) with ABA Therapists

So you are finally a BCBA, you have went through all the fun steps of credentialing to licensing (depending on your state), and you are now ready to start supervising staff (insert big feelings of imposter syndrome here). I have spoken to many people who said one of their biggest fears was when it came to supervising other staff. My first supervisee had been in the field for over 10 years and I am not afraid to admit could ABA circles around me, but I learned so much from her, and she even learned from me as well.

Our RBTs are the superstars of our field they are on the front lines with the families we work with, introducing the programs that we write. I always want to make sure that my RBT’s know how valuable they truly are and without them, I couldn’t do my job. Having worked as an RBT during my supervision time, I wanted to make sure that RBT’s had everything they needed to do their jobs, which caused me to go down the rabbit hole of organizational behavior management, but that’s a topic for another day.

When I am supervising RBT’s I like to use the Behavioural Skills Training Model: instruction, modeling, rehearsal and feedback.

Instruction:

Make sure that your instructions and description of the skill for your supervisees are clear and concise, you want them to be as pragmatic as possible. It is also important to give them a rationale for the skill and why you are teaching it.

Modeling:

Show them how to perform the skill, we recommend using in-vivo modeling. In-vivo modeling is where you demonstrate the skill in person.

Rehearsal:

Let your supervisee practice those new skills, practice makes perfect. If need goes back to modeling to make sure they have the skills down.

Feedback:

Feedback can be hard to give and hard to get, so make sure you are complimenting them on the good things that they are doing. Remind them that you are not really watching them but the actual program.

Resources:

If you like to read as much as I do, here are some great resources.

Don’t forget to download your FREE supervision guide by clicking below.

Click here to download our FREE ABA supervision guide

Loved reading about Behavioural Skills Training? For more information be sure to watch our video below on supervision.