A Day in the Life of a BCBA


A Day in the Life of a BCBA

October 9th, 2021

The schedule below highlights an average full-time in-home BCBA schedule over three weeks.


Things to Keep in Mind:

1) BCBA's that work with clients in the school or clinic setting will have less commute time and will likely get off work much earlier.


2) The BCBA work schedule will be influenced heavily by:

  • Number of assigned clients and their proximity to one another

  • Client's individual needs (i.e., the severity of problem behavior)

  • Staff training and support needs (i.e., inexperienced RBT)

  • Required billable hours set by the organization and insurance (i.e., 25-30 billable hours a week)

  • Mandatory parent training based on client needs and the organization's policies

  • Required supervision percentage based on client needs and organization policies (i.e., supervision of 5-20% of RBT direct service time must)

  • The number of clients assigned to the BCBA (typically 8-20 for in-home and clinic-based BCBA's).

  • The frequency of client and RBT cancellations

  • The ability to provide telehealth services which may decrease drive time and allow the BCBA to see more clients during the workday

  • Number of Treatment-Plan Updates due (generally every six months for each client with a total of 2-3 Treatment Plan Updates due each month)

BCBA WORK SCHEDULE

Disclaimer: This is a fake schedule. The names on this document are not real.


Key Words:


Intake- Activities required to initiate services with a client and develop a Treatment Plan (i.e., introductions, review of policies and expectations, and Functional Behavior Assessment to determine needed skill acquisition and behavior reduction goals/interventions).


Registered Behavior Technician (RBT)- is a paraprofessional certification in Applied Behavior Analysis provided through the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Registered Behavior Technicians are only authorized to provide behavior analytic services under the supervision of a BCBA or BCBA-D (Doctoral-Level Certification). To learn more, go to https://www.bacb.com/rbt/.


Admin Time- Non-billable activities such as responding to emails, meetings with team members, performance management activities, clinical and professional training, time management tasks, etc.







Disclaimer: All views expressed on this post are my own and do not represent the opinions of any entity whatsoever with which I have been, am now, or will be affiliated.