Child Development for BCBAs- Age 9-11
Presented by Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
In this third installment of her child development series for behavior analysts, Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA of Problem Zolved, LLC covers late childhood (ages 9-11). She frames the age range using developmental theory: Erikson's industry versus inferiority stage, Piaget's concrete operational stage, and the rise of social comparison and self-concept as children bridge toward adolescence. She reviews whole-child development across cognitive, physical, social, and emotional domains, including growth in logical reasoning, abstract thinking, perspective taking, and empathy, alongside common concerns such as bullying, exclusion, and the lasting impact of unresolved trauma. Practical guidance includes when to refer out (SLP, developmental pediatrician, feeding/ARFID specialists) and mandated reporting responsibilities. Brzak critiques cookie-cutter programming and age-based assessment selection, discussing the VB-MAPP, EFL, Socially Savvy, and barriers assessments, and argues for weighing caregiver and learner motivation, including the use of parent motivation inventories. Programming recommendations cover insurance-friendly framing of emotional regulation goals (tolerating no, coping strategies, accepting decisions of authority), teaching self-monitoring and self-reflection, maintaining echoic repertoires for redirection, naturalistic social reinforcement, and creating peer social opportunities. She closes with supervision and caregiver-collaboration strategies: checking ego and burnout, strengthening pairing (especially for remote supervisors), increasing 97156 utilization by retiring the term 'parent training,' avoiding coercion and sham choices, and considering cultural values such as interdependence when writing goals.
Register free & watch nowCancel any time. Cert delivered to your inbox the moment you pass the quiz.
Learner ratings
from 49 learners
100% would recommend this CEU to other professionals in their field (10 responses)
“Great session.”
— Lindsay M.“Wonderful series!”
— Melissa U.“,”
— Ashley T.“Awesome!”
— Liala T.“Did not feel helpful as a BCBA working with this age group in schools. A lot of the presentation was reading the chat and responding to things that the asynchronous user could not see. Much of the information appeared to be opinion based rather than researched based. I will check out some of the resources though. Maybe they will be more useful for my practice.”
— Vicky J.“Awesome content, very much needed!! We are so lacking in this area. Thank you. I will share with others.”
— Margaret D.
About this CEU
In this third installment of her child development series for behavior analysts, Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA of Problem Zolved, LLC covers late childhood (ages 9-11). She frames the age range using developmental theory: Erikson's industry versus inferiority stage, Piaget's concrete operational stage, and the rise of social comparison and self-concept as children bridge toward adolescence. She reviews whole-child development across cognitive, physical, social, and emotional domains, including growth in logical reasoning, abstract thinking, perspective taking, and empathy, alongside common concerns such as bullying, exclusion, and the lasting impact of unresolved trauma. Practical guidance includes when to refer out (SLP, developmental pediatrician, feeding/ARFID specialists) and mandated reporting responsibilities. Brzak critiques cookie-cutter programming and age-based assessment selection, discussing the VB-MAPP, EFL, Socially Savvy, and barriers assessments, and argues for weighing caregiver and learner motivation, including the use of parent motivation inventories. Programming recommendations cover insurance-friendly framing of emotional regulation goals (tolerating no, coping strategies, accepting decisions of authority), teaching self-monitoring and self-reflection, maintaining echoic repertoires for redirection, naturalistic social reinforcement, and creating peer social opportunities. She closes with supervision and caregiver-collaboration strategies: checking ego and burnout, strengthening pairing (especially for remote supervisors), increasing 97156 utilization by retiring the term 'parent training,' avoiding coercion and sham choices, and considering cultural values such as interdependence when writing goals.
From the talk
What was covered
Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA on ages 9 to 11: social comparison, assessment choice, insurance-friendly goals, referrals, and better supervision.
- Treat ages 9 to 11 as the bridge to adolescence, and build goals that help the learner feel capable in front of peers.
- Pick an assessment for the learner in front of you, never for the birthday on the chart.
- Measure caregiver motivation with a written inventory before you write a single home skill goal.
- Reword emotional regulation targets as tolerating no, using coping strategies, and accepting decisions of authority so they clear review.
- Keep echoic trials in active rotation so echoic prompts still work when you need to redirect.
- Drop the phrase parent training, ask for fifteen minutes outside session, and pair before you bring your agenda.
Why Ages 9 to 11 Matter More Than Most Treatment Plans Admit
Kelly Brzak opened her third child development talk with a frame, not a checklist. Ages 9 to 11 sit inside Erikson's industry versus inferiority stage (feeling capable versus feeling behind). Erikson gave every period of life a task. A child either meets the task and moves on in a healthy way, or carries the problem forward. Brzak noted those problems can persist across a whole lifespan.
This age range is the bridge to adolescence. Next comes identity development versus role confusion. So the work you do now feeds what a learner believes about themselves later. Brzak cited a researcher named Burke on a major shift between ages 8 and 11: children begin making social comparisons. They can talk about their own strengths and weaknesses. They can name personality traits in themselves and others. They can sort those traits as good or bad.
That is also when a self-concept (what a person believes about themselves) takes shape. You have one if you can list your traits, your strengths, your weak spots, your beliefs, and your values. Your 10 year old learner is building the same thing. Every failed social interaction is data they are collecting about who they are.
Brzak added a disclaimer worth repeating. If you call your 9 to 11 year old clients developmentally delayed, check your thinking. Delayed does not mean lower IQ. High IQ children often present with social, emotional, or communication delays.
We need to set our learners up for successful social interactions as much as possible.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Whole Child Development at 9 to 11: Cognitive, Physical, Social, Emotional
Piaget places this age in the concrete operational stage (logical thinking about real things). Reasoning gets more logical. Thought becomes less egocentric (seeing only your own view). Children start to express empathy. They can talk about another person's perspective, and sometimes accept it. Abstract thinking grows too. You see it in recall trials and in questions about elapsed time, money, and reading comprehension. Late elementary curriculum leans hard on exactly those topics.
Brzak offered a useful reframe on reading comprehension. She sees it as a communication gap more often than a reading gap. Her fix is intraverbal programming (answering words with other words). Build the child's word skills and comprehension tends to follow.
Physically, growth slows down from earlier childhood. Some children have already reached adult size. Food exposure still matters, and she was careful with that word. Exposure, not force. Check with caregivers about allergies first. Movement matters too. Childhood obesity can set in at this stage and damage a child's self-image.
Socially, reports of bullying are common. Ask any third through fifth grade teacher. Children start to voice real distress about being left out. They also begin to see their place in a larger community: a family, a class, a scouts group. Brzak recommends group teaching when you can get it. Generalization (using a skill in new places) may improve over one-on-one work. Emotionally, the stakes are high. She said unresolved trauma at this stage can stunt emotional well-being for life. It can show up later as failed relationships, self-centered behavior, and missing empathy skills.
You can teach a child this age logical reasoning skills.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Referral Triggers and Your Job as a Mandated Reporter
Brzak is blunt that our field is not the standalone in autism care. Believing otherwise shrinks us and hurts client outcomes. So she gave a short referral list for when something is not right. A child still not talking at this age: make sure the family has an SLP (a speech and language therapist). A child who is inconsolable: send the family to the PCP (the child's primary care doctor). A child who is unresponsive: call 911. Feeding trouble or stress around eating: refer out unless you are an ARFID specialist (ARFID is a restrictive eating disorder). Parents reporting severe delays: developmental pediatrician. Hyper sexualized behavior: a near immediate call to the abuse hotline.
She sees the follow through as part of the job, not extra credit. Behavior analysts can support other professions' goals during treatment, and she argues we should. Making the calls is hard. Getting a reply is harder. Try anyway.
Then the reminder nobody loves. You are a mandated reporter (required by law to report concerns). Definitions of neglect and abuse can be state specific. She has watched conditions that horrified her fall outside any legal definition after she moved to a new state. That does not change your duty.
Her most practical advice was about your own hesitation. She described making a call and finding herself dismissing her own read of the situation. Was this a big deal? Would they brush it off? All of that is side chatter. We operationally define things for a living, and this is not the place for it. Just make the call. And when a child discloses something, never answer with are you sure or are you making this up. Believing children and getting them support reduces long term trauma symptoms.
It is not our job to determine if the situation includes abuse.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Choosing an Assessment for a 9 to 11 Year Old Without Defaulting to Age
Brzak polled the room hard on this. Should you use the VB-MAPP (a language and learning assessment) with 9 to 11 year olds? The room split, and the honest answer was it depends on skill level, not birthday. Several attendees pointed to the barriers assessment (a scan of learning obstacles). They said it still earns its keep at this age. She agreed.
She ran the same question on the EFL (a functional life skills assessment) and on Socially Savvy (a social skills checklist). The EFL is commonly used for home skills, basic living skills, community participation, community independence, and vocational skills. Brzak said she's heard insurers are not accepting Socially Savvy, and only sometimes accept the EFL. Practitioners in the chat described using Socially Savvy as a supplemental programming scan rather than a standalone tool.
Her sharpest point came from self reflection on her own EFL work. Much of it, she admitted, looked like insurance hoop jumping. Skills did not generalize or stick outside of therapy. Her example: a caregiver agrees to target the child doing dishes. Six to nine months later, the child has not washed a single dish at home.
The missing variable was motivation, on both sides. She now recommends a parent motivation inventory: give caregivers a rating scale on how much they want each skill. Do not stop at do you agree with these goals. Ask which goal they want to start with first. Her own version tracks whether the child is independently successful, and if not, what percent of the time. That can show whether a caregiver needs prompting and fading tips (cues that fade over time) so the child succeeds without you there.
Now, Sundberg and Partington highlighted that each child is a unique individual.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Writing Goals That Fit the Learner and Survive Insurance Review
Brzak walked through a list of possible targets, yes or no style. Tacting colors (labeling something you notice). Receptive identification of body parts. Independent toileting. One step imitation. Echoing phonemes and blends. Joint attention skills. The room answered depends, over and over, which was the point. Some clinicians keep receptive body parts for safety goals at this age. Others keep color tacts if the learner loves art. Age alone never decides it.
Then she hit the wall most of us hit: emotional regulation goals get denied. Her workaround is wording, not abandonment. Try tolerating not getting my way. Stating and using coping strategies. Accepting no for an answer. Accepting decisions of someone in charge. Asking why at a later time. She's heard practitioners reframe this as tacting your own experiences. Same umbrella, different label on the paperwork.
Accepting no drew the most debate, and she invited it. The fair objection is that it can crowd out self advocacy. The room landed somewhere sensible: teach tolerating no, and teach advocacy too. Pay attention to whether the no itself was reasonable.
On goal quality, she prefers a running record (an open count of responses) over a fixed trial count. It forces more variety. Compare eight of ten fill-ins to thirty fill-ins of any type across two adults. Her other favorite goal formats for this age: following a conversation topic change started by a peer. Engaging with twenty different items and activities. Four of five new or non-preferred activities per session, across five consecutive sessions. She also named the temptation honestly. She writes several assessments at once, and gets paid for only a fraction of that time. It is tempting to pad the plan to reach ten goals. She had to learn not to.
The overarching motivation here is to expose and dismantle any practices of cookie cutter programming.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Self-Monitoring, Echoics, and Social Reinforcement That Sounds Human
Self reflection is the psychologist's version of self monitoring, and self monitoring changes behavior. Brzak calls this age perfect for handing the child their own tools. Teach them to ask: Did I follow instructions? How long did it take me? What voice tone did I use? Is there a different way I could have said that? Those four questions do a lot of work.
Keep the echoic repertoire (repeating what you just heard) strong, even with older learners. Echoic prompts are powerful for redirection, but only if the trials stay in active rotation. Her example: a child says I don't want to do it in a rough tone. Honor it first. Later, you prompt how about I don't want to do it. The odds of that prompt working are high, because you kept the repertoire warm.
She also asked teams to retire good job. Add a real comment about the target instead. If you get stuck, validate what the child said by repeating it back. A child says I don't like it, and you say you don't like that. It sounds generic, but it gives the child room to elaborate without pressure. Teach that to your technicians and to family members, not just to yourself.
Finally, build peer access on purpose. Knocking out every goal with adults is not the finish line. Ask how you will create social opportunities with kids their own age. And check your goals for cultural bias. Some families value interdependence over independence, sometimes across multiple generations under one roof. Brzak thinks that mismatch is one reason her own life skills programming did not stick. Her packing tip for this age: a whiteboard and markers.
It's definitely one thing for them to knock out all of your goals with adults.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Supervision, Pairing, and Caregiver Collaboration Without Coercion
Brzak closed by turning the lens around. Your supervision skill set can directly cause poor client outcomes, poor staff performance, and poor staff retention. So check your ego. The letters took work, but nobody owes you a red carpet. She often approaches her technician as the expert, because that person is with the child far longer than she is. Check your judgments. Check your attitude before you walk in. And check your burnout. Be honest enough to call off a session when you cannot focus on both the technician and the client.
Remote supervisors need more pairing (building value as a person), not less. You cannot model in an environment you are not standing in. The relationship is the transfer mechanism. Build it past the point where it feels sufficient.
On caregiver collaboration, she had concrete moves to raise 97156 use (the caregiver guidance billing code). Stop saying parent training. It can land as patronizing, and that alone may explain some no shows. Meet with caregivers for the last five minutes of each session. Ask when you can meet for fifteen minutes outside the session. If you work in person, check whether your 97156 is independently billable as a remote option. Bring admin work in case you get stood up, and do not take a no show personally. Keep requesting.
Her last guardrail was coercion (pressuring someone into compliance). Train technicians to offer choices and then honor them. Talk openly about the pressure to push through every programmed goal. That pressure is what turns a session into do as I say. Avoid sham choices (fake options with one real answer). Reduce demands when a power struggle is building. She gave the same caution about emotional regulation work. Do not lead a child about their own emotions, the way a lawyer cannot lead a witness.
How can I help you is a much better approach than how can I fix you.
From the talk — Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA
Common questions
Should I use the VB-MAPP with a 9 to 11 year old?▾
Only if the learner's skills are delayed enough for it to give you real information. Brzak and the room agreed that age alone is never the reason to pick or reject a tool. Many clinicians keep the barriers assessment in play at this age even when the rest of the VB-MAPP no longer fits.
How do I write emotional regulation goals that insurance will approve?▾
Keep the skill, and change the wording. Try tolerating not getting my way. Try stating and using coping strategies. Try accepting no for an answer, accepting decisions of someone in charge, or asking why at a later time. She's also heard practitioners say tacting your own experiences. These all sit under the same umbrella as emotional regulation.
Why do life skills goals stop working once therapy ends?▾
Usually because nobody measured motivation first. Brzak found caregivers would agree to a target like doing dishes. Months later, the child had never done one at home. She now uses a written parent motivation inventory with a rating scale. She asks which goal the family wants to start with. Cultural values matter too, since some families prefer that adults do the caretaking.
When should a BCBA refer out for a child this age?▾
Refer to an SLP if the child is still not talking. Refer to the primary care doctor if the child is inconsolable. Refer to a developmental pediatrician when parents report severe delays. Send feeding concerns to an SLP or an ARFID specialist, unless that is your own specialty. Hyper sexualized behavior warrants a near immediate call to the abuse hotline.
How can I get more caregiver sessions billed under 97156?▾
Start by dropping the term parent training, which can sound condescending and may be why families decline. Meet for the last five minutes of a session, then ask for fifteen minutes outside of it. Check whether your 97156 is independently billable remotely, and bring admin work in case you get stood up.
Is it okay to teach a child to accept no for an answer?▾
Brzak expects pushback on this and welcomes it. The real concern is that compliance training can crowd out self advocacy. The room's answer was to teach both: tolerating no, and speaking up. Pay attention to whether the no itself was reasonable.
About the speaker
Kelly Brzak, MS, BCBA runs a consultation and training company and holds a master's degree in child development. She came to behavior analysis from education and psychology. She did not encounter ABA (applied behavior analysis) until after finishing her master's degree. She has worked with children of all ages across many settings. That includes teaching, coaching, and house parenting with adjudicated youth (young people involved in the court system). This talk is the third in her child development series for behavior analysts.
This summary was generated from the recording’s transcript and reviewed for accuracy. Quotes are taken word for word from the talk.
What you'll learn
- 1Learning Objectives
- 2Participants will identify key developmental milestones for children ages 9–11 across social, emotional, cognitive, language, and motor domains.
- 3Participants will recognize common problem behaviors observed during late childhood and discuss developmental and environmental factors that may contribute to these behaviors.
- 4Participants will describe evidence based programming strategies for children ages 9–11, including practical approaches to caregiver pairing and the use of Behavioral Skills Training (BST).
Concepts in this CEU
Related talks
Talks that cover the same concepts
Child Development Deep Dive: Middle Childhood (6-8 year olds)
The Behaviorist Bookclub
Child Development Deep Dive: Early Childhood (2-5 year olds)
The Behaviorist Bookclub
Reflective Supervision and Provider Outcomes in ABA
The Behaviorist Bookclub
Getting the Right Answer Isn’t Enough: Establishing Speaker–Listener Repertoires for Complex Learning
The Behaviorist Bookclub
Solving Clinical Challenges with Research
The Behaviorist Bookclub
5 Days of Manding Mastery
The Behaviorist Bookclub
More from The Behaviorist Bookclub
Empowering Autonomy and Self-Management in ADHD Learners
The Behaviorist Bookclub
Shaping Behavior Change when ADHD is in the Picture
The Behaviorist Bookclub
From Hours to Competence: Assessing and Developing Supervisee Skills
The Behaviorist Bookclub
OpenCEU is supported by advertising from third-party sponsors. Sponsors are clearly labeled, have no influence over course content, instructors, or CEU decisions, and never appear on certificates. The BACB does not sponsor, approve, or endorse OpenCEU sponsors or their products.