Holding the Line: Advocacy for Clients, Staff, and Yourself in Remote ABA Services

CBAs are ethically obligated to act in the best interest of their clients and supervisees, even when doing so creates friction with agencies, families, or organizational pressures. This session addresses at least two common scenarios in which that obligation is tested: pushing back on service hours that are not clinically justified, and intervening when in-home expectations have expanded beyond the appropriate scope of the RBT role. Attendees will examine how to identify these situations, how to communicate clearly and professionally with agencies and families, and how to ground advocacy positions in the BACB Ethics Code. The session also addresses self-advocacy for BCBAs operating in contractor or consultative roles.

1. 1Following this session, attendees will be able to: (1) identify clinical indicators that suggest a client’s current service hours are not proportionate to treatment need; (2) describe a procedure for communicating scope-of-role concerns to a family when in-home expectations have exceeded the RBT’s clinical function; (3) apply relevant sections of the BACB Ethics Code to support advocacy positions with agencies and families.