early childhood therapist

behavioral therapist

aba therapist

early childhood specialist

board certified behavior analyst

Beacon ABA Services

Beacon is a great place to get experience in ABA and be in the psychology field. It's a research backed science that is rewarding in itself as you get to help build families and teach children skills to communicate and thrive in their community. THe schedule is flexible which is great for appointments, holidays or emergencies, you can accrue sick time (state law) and there is great training that is on-going with the field. Most of the colleagues are wonderful, Regional directors in my area were knowledgeable and supportive. Beacon will support furthering education at their college program with tuition reimbursement/support

CONS
Upper management can be difficult to contact, gossipy and not always trustworthy
Fees for service positon only gives you payment for hours you work- no paid time off, no holidays, no pay for bad weather or client cancellations (retention is offered if you lose over 6 hrs due to client cancellations but deadline is midweek)

little action taken for chronic cancelling clients
advancement opportunities are minimal without a master's degree/BCBA
pay rate maxes out after about 3 years
TONS of paperwork, reports, material making, printing, emailing, online payroll submissions
Lots of wear/mileage on vehicles
Time is taken away from family



All in all this is a great job for a new graduate who plans to receive master's/bcba quickly. This is not a good fit for adults with children who would like to be home and available for their family. It has a lot of responsibilities with compensation that does not match.

Working with the kids is so great. Most families are great to work with, too. Coworkers can be hit or miss. I've worked with organized, supportive, and responsive BTs and BCBAs, and I've worked with those who never communicate anything. Everything is so last-minute. In March, we found out at 11 pm that we would no longer be providing in-person services, and then in the summer, I found out two days before that I would be returning to in-home instead of remote. It's also super common to be told that you'll be getting a new client the day before the company wants you to meet them. Paid sick time caps off at like 25 hrs; no other PTO unless you're on a salary. Always so much pressure to do makeup sessions, but if I have a full schedule, when am I supposed to fit them in? Supervision is random. I have one BCBA who supervises me once a week, but another one who hasn't done supervision with me in over a month. They also won't tell you until the day of that they're going to do supervision, or sometimes they just won't show up. Retention time exists for when families cancel, but setting it up is at the bottom of your supervisor's priority list so they won't get back to you about it for like 2 weeks. During our remote work, my hours were cut from about 30 per week to 8, and I received no help from Beacon. They sent out a memo that was like "We know you're all fee for service, but oh well. File for unemployment." The company doesn't care about employees at all. Only reason I've stayed so long is because I love my clients. Also, your 30 min "lunch break" will be dedicated to driving from one client to the next so that's fun. 

I worked as an associate behavior therapist prior to the start of the pandemic.  I learned quite a lot on the job.  You can advance quickly if you put forth the effort.  Some supervisors are better than others at providing guidance/instruction.  

I left the position during the pandemic due to the pandemic.  

I personally however, didn't like certain aspects of the position which isn't the fault of the company or management, just the nature of the work itself i.e traveling to client homes and actually being inside client homes (I am very particular about cleanliness, and some of my personal issue I think also stems from culture--I'm part Asian-- and never felt comfortable in most client homes due to less than what I consider sanitary environments--everyone is different so you may be ok with pets and pet fur around and sometimes pets in your face, unknown sticky substances on client's homes floors, odors, etc.  Some homes were clean, but most weren't.  In most Asian cultures, making one's home presentable before any company arrives is paramount so it is why I mentioned some of my issue might stem from culture).  And, because of the ongoing pandemic, these are things to consider for the position.  For example, shoe wearing in homes contributes to tracking in multiple microorganisms, and shoe wearing in homes is quite common in most households in our country whereas in East Asian cultures, it's extremely uncommon.  

Overall, still would recommend working here if you are truly passionate about making a difference in the lives of the clients.  

Overall, the families I worked with were great and were really the only reason I stayed as long as I did. They also offered really great training in the beginning and there is opprotunity for advancement as well. 
Back in March, management decided to move us to remote with no training on how to properly do telehealth sessions, leaving most of us lost and feeling unsuccessful at our jobs.
They decided in July that they would send all of the ABT and BT's back into homes while the supervisors (BCBA'S) were able to continue doing remote work. Supervisors were allowed to stay safe at home while direct care staff were left with little support and risking their own health. 
BCBA's were rarely helpful and not very supportive and very inconsistently provided supervision. 
The benefits are nothing special and might I add, VERY expensive. Very little paid time off and can only be used for sick time unless you are salaried. 
And the hours! Some weeks I was scheduled 30 hours and others I only worked 12 because of client cancellations. They offer retention hours to cover for lost hours, however the process is tedious, you can only qualify for them under very specific requirements and they can only offer you up to half of your lost hours. 
I would not recommend working here unfortunately. The pros do not out weigh the cons. 



Pay is dependent on sessions making cancellations significantly impact your financial security. Make up sessions are your responsibility and you will receive negative feedback if they are not scheduled, even if it is out of your control. The work is very rewarding but it requires long days. Sessions are anywhere from 1-3 hours each, typically 3. Meaning that days can be 9 working hours long, not including time between sessions and driving. A typical work day looked like a session from 8-11, driving to another town, session 11:30-2:30, driving another 20 minutes, session 3-6. Be prepared to eat in your car and constantly be on the go. The company seemed to me to be driven by money and insurance, which of course is critical to their success, but in this field can be a red flag. Their educational assistance is limited to the college they partner with. I chose a different masters program and not only would they not honor the assistance but my manager at the time was prohibited from writing me a recommendation letter needed to be accepted into the program because it was not “their school.” Overall, rewarding work, incredible kids, but terrible for financial, work/life balance, and appreciation. 

This company does not value their direct service employees aka behavior therapists. The families are great and the work feels meaningful but you are only paid when you are physically in the clients home. You do a lot of driving in between sessions and the company considers your drive time to the clients as your break so get used to eating at traffic lights. A typical day is 8-6 and since your breaks are spent driving to the client I wouldn’t call it a break. Especially if your around the city. If it takes you 30 mins of driving in circles to find a parking spot for a client in the city that is unpaid time that cuts into your paid session. Beacon doesn’t care to value that time.  On top of this you are expected to do hours of work off the clock to make supplies, file reports, go to the office, send emails/texts (since it’s your only communication with other staff). This typically adds up to about 8 hours of unpaid time a week. You also get no pto and if a client cancels last minute you just lose the pay for that session. Management is super disorganized and it results in a lot of inaccuracies in data collection directly impacting the client.

Please do not go here! I left a daycare to get away from the unprofessional, gossipy, popularity contest atmosphere and little did I know I was walking into one that was even worse. I truly thought this company was going to be it for me. But I had to leave for my own mental health. The center is so stressful from the awful people that work there(not including the supervisors) and being thrown into working direct with clients you have no experience with, with little to no training. Everyday I woke up instantly riddled with anxiety and dreaded going to work. The center is one big popularity contest. The more you gossip and fit in, the better. If not, you’re pretty much stuck with a group of people that have no interest in you even being there. Besides a select few of very kind co workers at the center, the rest are so concerned with being the “coolest” one in the room, the actual JOB and RESPONSIBILITIES of the children are just overlooked. So sad. I would never ever ever wish that kind of work environment even on my worst enemy!

It is hard to leave a review of Beacon as your work environment is entirely dependent on what region you are in. You could have an awesome and supportive BCBA and regional manager or one who is pushy and stringent about makeups. We did get paid for cancelations under 24 hours. However, the pressure to make up appointments can be harsh and put a strain on either you or the families you are with. A predictable schedule is not something you can ever assume, as kids get sick or take vacations. You will become a road warrior at this job and your car will likely feel that strain, although they do remburse at least 40 cents per mile of driving. 

On a positive note, when you are in a session with a child nothing is more rewarding or fun! Families differ, but all of them want their kids to grow. If you want to be a BCBA this is a great place to work and they pay 60% of your tuition. However, for most Beacon is a just-out-of-college, get on your feet job, and people leave after 2 years. This was a good experience but I would burn out if I stayed.

This is a great first job out of college but you cannot ever rely on a steady paycheck. I was supposed to be full time, instead worked 20 hours a week on a good week. Most days I only had 1 session a day which is 3 hours. You get mileage pay but only if you work 2 or 3 sessions a day. With COVID protocols, if a kiddo is sneezing then session has to be cancelled, which results in everyone canceling ALL THE TIME. Travel sucks, they had me driving to other regions on a daily basis to get me hours. Some days if I had 3 sessions, I would drive 200 miles that day. Very long days too, 8am-6pm. I felt like I had  good work life balance but only because I was barely working, which means small paychecks. I tried to get a car loan while working with this job and got denied because the hours are SO unreliable and the paychecks are up and down. The pay is good if you get the hours you want.

Can be very rewarding work, must be passionate to stay in the field! 
Depending on what area you live in will have varying experiences with management. (I’ve had both great supervisors and some who were not the best)
Not very flexible with schedule because they schedule everything for you and might have expectations that you have to work more than you’re comfortable with.
Definitely opportunities for advancement if you decide to go through with the Masters program.
Pay can be inconsistent because of the hourly pay and cancellations. I think that they should pay their employees better for the amount of work and effort put in. But they offer benefits for full time employees (insurance, mileage reimbursement, etc)


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