RBT Supervision Protocol

RBT Supervision Protocol

RBT SUPERVISION PROTOCOL: (Rationale for this document): All RBT Supervisors, including BCaBAs, BCBAs, and Lead Analysts, are expected to follow the supervision requirements and guidelines established by the Behavior Analysis Certification Board (BACB) as it relates to supervision and ethical behavior.

RBT supervision is to be based on:

• The Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts.
• The RBT Ethics Code.
• The Registered Behavior Technician Handbook.

RBTs MUST practice under the close, ongoing supervision of a qualified RBT Supervisor who is responsible for the work they perform. This protocol delineates how the RBT supervision must be performed.

Purpose of RBT Supervision

"The purpose of ongoing supervision is to improve and maintain" the RBT's behavior-analytic, professional, and ethical repertoires and facilitate the delivery of high-quality services to clients (i.e., any recipient or beneficiary of behavior-analytic services).

All activities must comply with the respective Codes (i.e., RBT Ethics Code for RBTs, Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts for RBT Supervisors).

Appropriate Activities (What the RBT Can Do)

"RBTs may perform only activities identified on the RBT Task List (2nd ed.) under the supervision of a qualified supervisor." Additional activities and/or tasks may be added at the discretion of the supervisor to address individual client needs.

Amount of Supervision (At Least 5%)

"RBTs must receive at a minimum five percent of the hours they spend providing behavior-analytic services each calendar month." For example, if an RBT works 100 hours a month, they must receive 5 hours of supervision.

Supervision Activities (What Should Take Place on an RBT Supervision Session)

RBT Supervision activities may include:

• Developing performance expectations.
• Observing, providing behavioral skills training, and delivering performance feedback.
• Modeling technical, professional, and ethical behavior.
• Guiding the development of problem-solving and ethical decision-making repertoires.
• Reviewing written materials (e.g., daily progress notes, data sheets).
• Overseeing and evaluating the effects of behavior-analytic service delivery.
• Providing ongoing evaluation of the effects of supervision.

Note: All tasks on the RBT Task List (3rd ed.) are to be included/observed and evaluated systematically as part of the RBT supervision process.

Structure of Supervision

Supervision MUST include at least two face-to-face, real-time contacts per month. Supervision may not occur over the phone or via email. The recipient of services MUST be present during these interactions.

Ethical Considerations (The Right Thing to Do)

"The RBT Ethics Code contains 31 elements that are organized into three sections: Responsible Conduct, Responsibility to Clients, and Competence and Service Delivery." The Supervisor is to work directly with RBTs to ensure compliance with the RBT Ethics Code.

Scope of the Supervision (Only Applicable to the Agency Caseload)

RBTs are to be informed/reminded that they "must meet the supervision requirements at each organization where they provide behavior analysis services." The scope of this supervision covers ONLY cases within The Agency.

Conducting RBT Supervision (General Guidelines / How to Do It)

1. Schedule supervision:

   • Coordinate setting and agree with caregivers and RBT on a time to conduct supervision.

2. Conduct a record review:

   • Review RBT's session progress notes.
   • Review the most current data on maladaptive and adaptive behaviors.

3. Identify what task(s) will be supervised:

   • Establish specific topics to be supervised according to the "RBT Competence checklist."

4. Observation:

   • Observe the RBT providing direct services to the client as per the objectives of the behavior plan.
   • Before mastering specific skill acquisition objectives of the client, the RBT must implement them during ongoing supervision to ensure measurement quality. If prompting is needed, the program cannot be considered mastered.

5. Feedback:

   • Provide corrective or positive feedback.
   • Use behavioral skills training to increase accuracy in the implementation of procedures.
   • Train RBT on how to properly conduct objectives that do not show positive progress and/or objectives recently added.
   • Skill acquisition objectives MUST be reviewed. Those showing a stable trend, no trend, or a decreasing trend must be revised and addressed.

6. Document:

   • Document feedback provided and session information in the ABA software practice management company-designed system.

Documentation

Before the onset of supervision, the BACB practitioners are to upload the relation of the supervision into their BACB portal.