Beyond Table Work
Presented by Noah McAmis
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Learner ratings
from 27 learners
96% would recommend this PDU to other professionals in their field (27 responses)
“I guess I would still recommend it for a free PDU, but I didn't like that it kept you waiting for so long in the beginning to start the lesson and I couldn't tell how qualified this person was to be presenting it”
— Vanessa M.“Yes”
— Shawn R.“slow paced a little boring/patronizing”
— Edgar M.
About this course
Beyond Table Work helps RBTs recognize that meaningful teaching opportunities exist throughout every session, not just during structured activities. Participants learn practical strategies for embedding treatment targets into play, routines, transitions, and everyday interactions while maintaining client engagement, session structure, and fidelity to the treatment plan. Through scenarios and hands-on practice, RBTs learn to identify natural teaching opportunities, creatively use the environment, and understand how natural environment teaching and structured table work can strengthen one another.
Credits
1 PDU · 50 min
From the talk
What was covered
How RBTs can find teaching moments in play, routines, and transitions using the SPOT framework, without losing structure or scope.
- Ask where the teaching is right now instead of waiting for table time.
- Run SPOT in under a minute: spot the engagement, pick a target, overlay without overtaking, transform the environment.
- Set up the room before the client arrives. What is out and what is out of reach shapes the first five minutes.
- Keep the fun going when a response is wrong: reinforce the attempt and catch the next one.
- Change the toy, the room, or the game, but never the target, the prompt, or the criteria.
- Tell your supervising analyst when a natural approach works, so it can shape the next program.
The Session That Looks Perfect on Paper
The talk opens with a session that looks great. Picture an RBT (a frontline behavior therapist) named Jordan. Jordan has worked as an RBT for about a year and a half and is solid and reliable. It is 10 a.m. on a Tuesday at the clinic. Jordan arrives early, pulls the program sheet, and grabs the bin. The table is set. Flash cards for receptive identification (pointing to a named item) are out. The token board (a chart for earning rewards) is ready. The data sheet is waiting.
The session runs clean. The client responds. Jordan keeps a good pace, prompts when needed, and reinforces on time. Data goes down on every trial. If a supervisor walked in right then, they would be thrilled.
Then Noah McAmis rewinds the same hour and looks at the edges. On the way to the table, the client stopped at the window. They pointed at a bird for about five seconds. They looked back at Jordan and pointed again. Jordan said come on, let's get started. During a token break, the client grabbed two toy cars off the shelf. They lined them up by color and were absorbed. Jordan waited for the timer and called them back. Near the end, the client's favorite snack sat on the counter across the room. The client looked at it three quick times. Jordan was heads down on data.
That is three moments where the client was engaged and motivated. All three went by. McAmis is careful here. Jordan did not make a mistake, and this is not a knowledge gap. Jordan knows what manding (asking for what you want) is. The issue is that Jordan sees teaching as one place, one set of materials, one format. That is a perception problem, and perception can be trained.
This is a textbook session, right? We all have written a session like this.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
Where's the Teaching? The Question That Reframes a Session
McAmis contrasts that with a session he watched. An RBT was working on manding with a client who was driven by food. Food is a shaky reinforcer (something that makes a behavior repeat). Kids get picky. They fill up. Motivation drops halfway through.
During a break, the RBT was just pairing (building fun with the client). They sat on a yoga ball. The client climbed onto their lap. The RBT bounced, and the client giggled. They bounced again and got more giggles. Then the RBT stopped and waited. The client wiggled and looked up for the next bounce. That was the moment. The RBT modeled a simple verbal mand. The client gave barely an approximation, but got the bounce. Within a few minutes, the client was manding for bounce.
They spent the session right there, on the same target from the program sheet. Same target, same data, very different experience for the client. Nothing in the plan changed. Someone saw the moment and did not walk past it.
So the question McAmis repeats all day is not when is it time to teach. It is where is the teaching, right now, in this activity. He asks it in the car line, on the playground, at snack. Sometimes the honest answer is that the client needs a break. That counts. The point is that you looked instead of waiting to get back to the table. Break time and reset time add up to a big chunk of every session.
And I want to be clear that asking the question doesn't mean you have to teach in every single second, right?
From the talk — Noah McAmis
The SPOT Framework, Step by Step
SPOT is a thinking process, not a script. It runs in under a minute, in a clinic, a home, a school, or a park. S is spot the engagement. Start with the client, not the program sheet. What does this kid care about right now? What do they do when nobody asks them to do anything? For Jordan's client it was the bird, the cars, and the snack. The motivation was already there. You do not have to build it. You have to see it.
P is pick a target. Now look at the data sheet. Which target fits naturally inside what the client is already doing? Cars sorted by color point to receptive identification of colors. A snack across the room is a manding chance. The key word is naturally. Ask one question: does this fit, or am I bending the moment to match the program? Bending it costs you rapport and clean data.
O is overlay without overtaking. McAmis says this is the step people struggle with most. You lay instruction on top of the moment. You do not take the moment over. Prompt, model, and reinforce the attempt. If the response is not perfect, do not slam the brakes. T is transform the environment. That one is for days with no bird at the window. Two tissues and a penny can become a game. A dance move can become your redirection. Your energy, your voice, and your willingness to look silly are strong materials. S, P, and O are for found moments. T is for moments you build.
Run it on the bird and it takes about ten seconds. S: the client is pointing, so engagement is there. P: manding or labeling both fit. O: Jordan stops, points, and asks what's that, then waits. If the client says bird, or even a buh buh, she reinforces it. If not, she models once and heads to the table. T was not needed, because the engagement already existed.
You start with the client. Not the program sheet.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
SPOT in Four Real Settings: Blocks, Cereal, Lunch Line, Park Bench
First scenario: a four year old has left the table. She is building a tower out of big foam blocks. The next target is receptive identification of colors. The natural version sounds like this. Hand me the blue one and you get to put it on top. The tower keeps growing. She gets the blocks she wants. You get your trial. Nobody stopped playing. Compare that to nice tower, let's go sit down. Same target, but now she has to give up what motivates her to answer a question.
Second scenario raises the age. A teen client is at the grocery store on a community outing. They push the cart and slow down at the cereal. The target is independent manding for preferred items. The want is already real, so nothing needs to be set up. The work is overlaying without overtaking in public, with other shoppers nearby. McAmis has seen the alternative: an adult running cereal requests off picture cards in the aisle. The natural version is dignified and age appropriate. It is also the exact skill the client needs when you are not standing there.
Two harder rounds follow. An eight year old lines up for lunch with twenty other kids. The target is tolerating waiting, and you have no toys and no timer. Ideas from the room included playing I Spy and talking about lunch. Others suggested a first then statement, or a contest to see who could stand longest on a line spot. The last round put a sixteen year old on a park bench. The target was greeting unfamiliar people. The best answers used the RBT's own behavior. You greet people first and let the client watch. A shy client might start with a wave, then shape (reinforce closer and closer tries) from there. McAmis pushes further. Vary how you model it. Ask someone for the time. Talk about a dog. Otherwise you build a robot with one script.
None of this is theory. McAmis shared things he has watched RBTs do. One client hated waiting, and the table and timer had become a battle every session. The RBT built a pretend drive through. The client placed an order and waited at the window. Same target, way more practice, and the client loved it. The RBT stretched the wait by messing up the order. Another RBT ran show me the apple with play food instead of flash cards. One started dancing instead of giving a verbal prompt when a client began to escalate. The client would whip their head around and copy the moves. Not one of them changed the target.
Nobody hands you a note that says teaching opportunity here, do it now.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
The Illusion of Control: Keeping Structure Invisible
A fair worry comes next. If you follow the client's lead, who is running the session? McAmis answers that good natural environment teaching (teaching inside everyday activities) takes more clinical thinking than table work. It just does not look that way from outside. From the client's side, the session feels like freedom. They play, they pick, they laugh. From your side, you are making decisions the whole time. Much of it happens before the session even starts.
He compares it to a good birthday party for a five year old. The kids think they are just having fun. Somebody decided when the cake comes out. Somebody decided which game goes first and what stays in the closet. The planning is not visible, but it is there.
Three things are yours to control. The first is environment arrangement. Walk into the room and look at it the way your client will. What is out? What is in reach? What is visible but locked up? What will derail the first five minutes if they find it? A favorite toy in a clear bin they cannot open creates a reason to communicate. So does a bubble lid screwed on extra tight. McAmis admits he got burned once by a session room he never checked, with the top reinforcer sitting out.
The second is intentional transitions. Child led play is great, but one activity for too long can turn rigid fast. Leaving the same toy the same way every time becomes a fight. Strong RBTs move between activities on purpose, not randomly or abruptly. Every new activity is a new place to teach. Every transition is practice at a skill learners need. The third is teacher choice. You start child led, then take your turn to pick. Do not pick the top item, or you have nothing left. Do not pick the worst one either. Pick something they will tolerate or warm up to. That means knowing your client's preference hierarchy (ranking of what a client likes) well enough to choose fast.
The client feels free. You maintain control.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
The One Mistake That Undoes It All
There is one mistake McAmis says will undo everything. He owns it from his own early days.
It looks like this. The client is playing and having a great time. The RBT embeds a target, which is SPOT working. Then the client gets it wrong. The RBT shifts into full error correction (steps to fix a wrong answer). Three step correction. Repeated trials. What color is this, again. The play has stopped, and so has the fun.
Now the client learns something nobody meant to teach. Play has become table work in disguise. Your pairing takes the hit. Next time you walk over to play, they walk away.
The swing shows the better version. The client is on a swing. You hold it and wait for push. They reach toward you. You model push once. If they get close, great, big push. If not, you reinforce the attempt, keep the swing moving, and catch the next one. The swing never stops being fun. The skill is not knowing how to prompt and model. You already have that. The skill is keeping the moment alive while you teach.
But not every trial has to be successful.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
Scope of Practice: What Belongs to the BCBA, What Belongs to You
Creativity needs a hard line, and McAmis draws it plainly. The what belongs to the BCBA (the supervising behavior analyst). The how and the where belong to you. The what is the target, the response criteria, the prompting hierarchy (the ordered levels of help), and the reinforcement rules. Those live in the treatment plan. You do not change them, even on a day you are sure you are right.
The how and where are the context, the activity, the materials, and the moment you create. That is creative implementation, and that is where SPOT lives. He tested the room with three cases. First, the plan says to target manding with a verbal model prompt. The RBT runs that same prompt during a game of catch instead of at the table. That is creative implementation. Second, the client nails it for several sessions, so the RBT stops using the prompt. That is overstepping, even if the RBT is right, because fading a prompt (removing help over time) is a clinical call. Third, colors run during art by asking for the red paint. That is creative implementation again.
McAmis adds a piece that is easy to skip. When something works, write it down and tell your BCBA. Say that the client responded well when you ran the target that way. Then ask if it is okay to keep doing it. That is not asking permission because you are in trouble. You spend more time with the client than anyone else on the team. What you notice helps your supervisor write better programs.
The quick self check is one sentence. If the thing you are about to change is written on the program sheet, stop. If it is the toy, the room, or the game, it is yours to choose. If you are not sure, ask before you change it.
The what is the target? The response criteria. The prompting hierarchy.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
Beyond Table Work, Not Instead of Table Work
The three tools work as a set. SPOT finds the moment. The illusion of control keeps the structure invisible. The scope guardrail keeps you in your role. SPOT without structure turns into chasing a client around the room. Structure without the guardrail can drift into changing programs. McAmis says you need all three.
He also closes with a warning about the takeaway. Table work matters. Some clients and some targets need that table. Sitting down, tolerating demands, and pushing through something that is not fun are real skills. Those get built through structured practice. Do not walk in tomorrow and tell your BCBA you are done with the table.
Natural teaching and discrete trial training (structured drills at a table) are not competing. They feed each other. The pairing you build through play earns the cooperation you need later. His example is simple. A kid who learns to touch red quickly at the table is building a real skill. That same kid can hand you the red paint during art. The art shows the skill is real. The fun during art is part of why that kid sits down with you tomorrow.
The talk ends with an assignment worth doing on your own. Pick one client you will see this week. Pick a target they do not love, the grind that still has not been run after three sessions. Write one specific way to make that target more engaging. Not I will do more play based teaching. Specific enough that next week you will know if you actually did it. One person in the room named a pretend drive through for waiting. That is the level of detail he wanted.
This course is called Beyond Table work, not instead of table work. Table work matters.
From the talk — Noah McAmis
Common questions
What is the SPOT framework in ABA (applied behavior analysis)?▾
SPOT is a four step way to find teaching moments outside structured work. S is spot the engagement, meaning start with what has the client's attention. P is pick a target from the data sheet that fits naturally. O is overlay without overtaking, and T is transform the environment when no engagement is there yet.
Does natural environment teaching replace discrete trial training?▾
No. McAmis is direct that this is beyond table work, not instead of it. Sitting, tolerating demands, and working through hard tasks are skills built through structured practice. The two approaches feed each other, since play builds the trust that makes table time go better.
How can an RBT keep structure while following the client's lead?▾
Through three levers you control. You arrange the environment before the session starts. You decide what is out, what is in reach, and what stays in a bin. You move between activities on purpose rather than randomly. You also take your turn picking an activity, choosing something the client will tolerate instead of the top reinforcer.
Can an RBT change a prompt or target during natural teaching?▾
No. The target, response criteria, prompting hierarchy, and reinforcement rules belong to the treatment plan and the BCBA. The activity, the materials, the room, and the moment are yours to choose. If the change you want is written on the program sheet, report it to your supervisor instead of doing it.
What should I do when a client gets a response wrong during play?▾
Do not switch into full error correction in the middle of the fun. Prompt or model once, reinforce the attempt, and keep the activity moving so you can catch the next opportunity. Stopping the play for one clean trial teaches the client that play has turned into table work.
Who is this training for and what credit does it carry?▾
It was built for RBTs, and it carries a PDU, which is a professional development unit for technicians. The speaker said plainly that it does not provide continuing education units for BCBAs. Supervisors are welcome to attend and learn alongside their teams.
About the speaker
Noah McAmis led this training for RBTs on finding teaching moments beyond the table. He covered the SPOT framework, the illusion of control, and the line between creative implementation and overstepping scope. He drew on sessions he said he has run or watched in clinics, classrooms, and community settings. He mentioned that he builds PDU (training credit for behavior technicians) content for OpenCEU. He said he is one of the few currently offering PDUs there. He also described himself as someone RBTs bring ideas to. He said he loves when they come to him because they know the client best.
This summary was generated from the recording’s transcript. Quotes are taken word for word from the talk.
What you'll learn
- 1By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- 2Identify teaching opportunities that occur during everyday routines, play, transitions, and other natural contexts.
- 3Apply the SPOT framework to identify and describe a natural teaching opportunity within a given scenario.
- 4Describe how RBTs can maintain structure during natural environment teaching through environment arrangement, intentional transitions, and strategic activity selection while remaining within their scope of practice.
- 5Generate at least two natural teaching opportunities for a given treatment target and context and describe how instruction can be embedded while maintaining client engagement.
- 6Explain how natural environment teaching and structured table work can complement one another and identify one strategy for making a non-preferred treatment target more engaging.
Concepts in this course
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