board certified behavior analyst

registered behavior technician

care coordinator

operations supervisor

administrative assistant

Florida Autism Center

I went for the job interview after being a CNA for many years. Overall, the work atmosphere is lighthearted. Coworkers are a very compassionate, caring, and fun. HOWEVER… they need to address the elephant in the room.

I’d say this is an entry level job. The pay is typically less than the other centers in the area. You do get 3 floating holidays if you’re full time, and you do get a raise if you advance a level (RBT levels). Those are the only perks. Just know your worth. My center gave us pot lucks and pizza parties, but didn’t provide us with anything else. The center was ALWAYS out of stock of everything. Toilet paper, paper towels, gloves. They were always on “back order”. We resorted to using party napkins to clean (urine) accidents. The center was always very dirty. They hired a cleaning crew that would NOT clean - the floors would turn the kids’ feet black, and you’d find junk behind the bookshelves, indicating they were never pulled out. The hours are “flexible” until it comes to you. Your schedule could change 5 times in a day. I was never told if a client was going home early or if my client cancelled. They increased full time from 28 to 30 hours. Unless you want to be part time, you are required to be available at least 35 hours to compensate for “if a client cancels”, which isn’t your fault. If you show up and wait 30 minutes for your client, you do not get paid for that time, nor is that added to your required hours regardless of whether they cancel or not. 
ALWAYS PHYSICALLY WRITE DOWN EVERYTHING! I had communicated with my OM at the beginning of the month that my availability would change. Come a month later, I got pretty mad because my schedule had not changed. If you ask for them to change the schedule for next week, it’s “set in stone”. After 2 visits into her office and at least 4 recorded messages that month, my OM quoted the handbook stating that I had to give her 30 days notice prior. According to her, my first message a month ago was “not valid” due to me wanting to “discuss it”. I did not discuss it. I stated it. The OM began to quote the handbook and basically call me a liar. They will twist your words as if you never said them. There’s severe favoritism here. You will be accommodated if you’re one of those people. The BCBAs and receptionist will hang out in the OM’s office all day. The OM is not quick to respond to messages, but will call you out if you don’t answer her’s. She reprimands and states you have to contact her 24 hours prior,  but when that contact is made, she does not respond. When I did not answer my phone to come in early, she mentioned it into the entire group chat asking why I did not respond. OM has ignored my messages while responding to others, as well as not providing me with information I asked for. 

You do NOT get breaks. Management has no compassion for the RBTs and their workload. I was scheduled over 40 hours without my permission, with a 10 hour day. I asked for a break at the beginning of the day, to which I was quoted to by the receptionist that they’re not “legally required to give breaks in the state of Florida”. LEGALLY required. 10 hours straight with autistic children is EXHAUSTING! Especially if it’s 4 clients back to back. It’s not healthy for the clients or you. You can ask a day ahead for a 10 minute paid break (max; 30 is unpaid), but you can’t ask the day of even if you become fatigued, stressed, overwhelmed, or are with a particularly “difficult” client. I did not get a break until I cried, and a BCBA gave it to me before close. You do not get separate time away from the clients to eat (some clients will take your food and there’s no compensation). Management requires you to ask other RBTs to watch your client for a MAX of 7 minutes to use the bathroom. I got into trouble for a 10 minute bathroom break when I was having IBS. The receptionist receives an hour break, however. 

Clients will destroy your personal property with no compensation, which includes glasses and clients ripping out nose piercings. Some RBTs had to use personal computers (which they say not to do) due to client’s destroying laptops and them being on “back order”. 

Working as a BCBA at Florida Autism Center had both rewarding and challenging aspects. The Clinical Director at my center was truly exceptional—knowledgeable, supportive, and deeply committed to both her staff and the clients. She consistently went above and beyond, even while being pulled into non-clinical responsibilities that limited her ability to provide the level of clinical guidance she was capable of. The center-level team was collaborative and focused on client success, and the RBTs and supervisors worked hard to provide meaningful services despite operational obstacles.

However, many of the challenges stemmed from upper management. There was a significant disconnect between leadership and the actual clinical needs of the centers. Strategic decisions—such as accepting new clients without confirmed staffing or initiating large onboarding waves without adequate training support—were often made without input from those working directly with clients. These practices created strain on the team and made it difficult to maintain consistency in care. Staff who were willing to go above and beyond were frequently leaned on without clear communication or boundaries. In my own experience, I was asked to assist another center for a short-term need (4-6 weeks) that ended up lasting 7 months, without any follow-up or discussion.

Overall, while the clinical team within the center did everything possible to provide ethical and effective services, the lack of alignment and support from upper-level management made it difficult to sustain. With improvements in staffing practices, communication, and clinical leadership support, this could become a much more positive and sustainable work environment for dedicated clinicians.

Management is terrible, most of them have never worked as leaders/management and it’s apparent in the way they work. Everything is a mess, BCBA’s are aloof most of the time. You’re asked to do “chores” (take out trash, clean bathrooms, etc) outside of your paid time to help them keep cleaning (janitor) cost down, asking for help is like shooting yourself in the foot, management consistently talks down about staff yet asks them to go above and beyond. They also use performative measures like offering lunch once a week as a means to “keep morale high” since they loose staff like flies. If you’re a new RBT make sure to put all your RBT licensing information to your personal email and address, as I’ve heard the company has tried to withhold people’s licensing when they try to leave. Management will also keep you out of the loop regarding Medicaid, if you’re working with those clients just call Medicaid yourself to get your numbers. Keep proof of everything! Do your very best to get any communications in writing or email and save as much info as possible as management loves to spin things. Be careful who you talk to as well as some of the staff are close friends with management and will do anything to benefit themselves. Let supervisors know exactly what you’re doing and when and keep tabs on your schedule as they frequently change it without warning (could add a morning client the night before and write you up for not coming on time despite less than 24hr warning) and will try to accuse you of not working to chip time off of your schedule. They also paid under market rate, so do your research before joining them. On the bright side, The kids are great and most of your coworkers are genuine people. Reccomend getting your credentials here and leaving quickly. 

Typical schedules are subject to change on a daily basis - many staff do not receive enough hours and you may have gaps of several hours that will be unpaid even if you have made the time available.  (if clients call out - the company has been selective about whom they grant administrative pay.)
Bogus info on payrates, evaluation and raises.  Lots of favoritism and high turn over.  Seem to be either over or understaffed.  
Company utilizes tablets and laptops on a data collection system that often deletes important notes and work - meaning you will get to redo an important part of your job several times without pay. (And not once did management address concerns about proper payment for hourly work when "the system" glitched and deleted session info that needed to be rewritten and submitted on what seems to be a fairly common basis.)  No in-company training for CPR/AED or CPI --the office leaves you to float along and figure those things out on your own, but is quick to criticize without positive feedback.  

The good - challenging work that demands a balance of skill and clear communication on your part.  Training and credentialing is a somewhat lengthy process, and you will shadow with current staff during their sessions as part of hands-on training.  (Unfortunately, the staff involved in these sessions are not really trainers, and are neither compensated for or prepped on how to relay important information to newbies.)  

You'll grow as a person and can make an impact in the lives of others, but it comes at a cost - and for hourly employees, that can defeat the purpose of working.  Business-model asks more and more of employees without pay.  

I've been working at FAC for a year and I cannot imagine working anywhere else!  I started here with minimal knowledge of ABA and having never worked in the field before, and terrified that I would never be able to be proficient in ABA!  Their training program for new RBT's is excellent.  The Center Director is amazing and takes the time to talk to anyone about any problem.  All of the BCBA's offer constructive feedback in a kind way immediately to best benefit the kids.  The AOM is awesome and does her best to make sure that everyone has at least 30 hours a week and works hard to ensure that the day runs smoothly. She also makes sure that if a kiddo calls out for the day, the therapist still gets hours somehow so they're not missing out on paid time. The pay is a little lower here than other places, but we are offered a 401K, paid time off, and an affordable benefits package that you don't see offered in many other places.  All of the other RBT's at the center are kind and the most knowledgeable ones are always ready to help if you're in need.  I think the best part is that the BCBA's, Director, and AOM are always expressing their appreciation and gratitude for how hard we work as RBT's.  This is also an excellent place to earn supervision hours if you're in an ABA program planning to sit for the BCBA exam. There are always supervision hours available and the BCBA's are excellent at training their students!  Students going for their BCBA are eligible to help with programming as well as becoming Peer Mentors to teach new RBT's.  It provides a very well rounded supervision experience.

Overall the job from coworkers to management was good, and the clients really made the work environment worth coming back to but the job work/life balance was poor. You were more or less expected to be on call during their regular office hours and if you were on site, rarely were you notified that your client appointments had changed. You more or less were expected to monitor the schedule constantly for updates. Some days I would come in expecting to work 6 hours, and would go home early with 2 hours. Other days I would come in at, say 8AM, and be told to come back at noon for my next session. Management would try their best not to do this, but it all depends on the clients and whether they would give adequate time to notify the center of cancelations or tardiness.

Burn out was high among coworkers during my 6-month period with the company. Employees could benefit greatly by having "real" breaks (lunch breaks without clients/not in session). So personally, the good health benefits, pay, and occasional fantastic milestones with clients wasn't enough to keep me from burning out of a very physically and mentally demanding job. All the more power though to those who make it! You guys definitely are stars! The company treated us well during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and if given the chance to return to the company in a different capacity, I would consider it.

This center has the potential to be great, the center director is supportive and helpful, however, the regional manager is overbearing. The staff actually avoids this person when she is in the center because she treats the employees that poorly. Nothing the staff does is enough. If you're good at your job your rewarded by given more and more responsibility beyond your pay grade. The staff is blamed when numbers of billed hours drop when kids leave. They treat the kids like cattle, trying to fit as many as they can in the building. Its truly disgusting. The staff is really under paid. The wages are ridiculous. It doesn't matter the workload of the particular center, all employees across the board in the company are paid the same and it is wrong. It doesn't matter if your workload is double of your counterpart at another center due to the volume of your center, you make the same salary. They are continually given more and more tasks, and nothing is ever taken off their plate. Everything is expected now. The atmosphere is forcing the best employees to quit and the worst employees are allowed to act however they want. Favoritism is prevalent. The best people are leaving in waves, and unfortunately no one has the hopes that anything will change. Avoid it. It isn't worth the stress and poor pay.  It is sad because there are some wonderful people here that are making a big difference in little lives, some really special little lives.

I do not recommend working for this company or in aba in general. They entice all the young recent college grads with psychology degrees because they do not require a master's degree. And then they suck you dry. You are dealing with kids with the most extreme behaviors imaginable, and it is normalized to aggravate the kids to induce said behaviors (under the guise of providing them opportunity to "work through it" and "learn functional behavior") and then you are expected to simply stand there and take it as the kids abuse you (hitting, spitting, biting, pinching, screaming, and "inappropriate touching" at the hands of 5 year olds are common things you will be subjected  to daily). I have seen so many young enthusiastic recent graduates cycled through here and cast aside when they become burnt out after a year or less. The employees you interact with day to day are generally wonderful well meaning people. I loved many of my coworkers and supervisors. The issue is with the nature of the work itself. I no longer believe aba is an ethical practice for either the clients or the employees. I am literally going to therapy now to deal with the depression and trauma associated with this job. Am actively looking for other employment.

I oved this job when I started. It truly was a dream job. The ability to get paid to get my certification and go directly into the field was a huge plus. However, the pay is not worth what we go through here. We havent had stable management since September which isnt fair to us RBTs or the kids. We get no breaks and have to work around 9 hours a day because we are open 8-5. The hours are completely unreliable and you can start the week with a full 40 hours and with call outs get down to 27. They changed the full time benefits to 30 hours a week and half of us arent even getting scheduled that much even with full availability. Its hard to be able to afford to live when this job takes so much out of you both physically and mentally that getting a second job isnt an option. I went into this job thinking that I would be able to afford at least the bare minimum however with the cut in hours its nearly impossible. I love the kids and I love my coworker but burnout is real and its very difficult to get by when you work long days and the only break you get is a bathroom break for a couple minutes. If this company would treat their RBTs better with competitive pay and breaks it would be so much more enjoyable and the turrnover rate wouldnt be so high because theres actual incentive to stay. Get your certification here and start looking for a different company, its not sustainable long-term. 

A typical work day often consists of the same monotonous task that they always do. It has become more and more rare to see change enough to feel I'm truly doing these children and their family a service beyond being a glorified daycare. I have learned how little this company values individuals who go above and beyond and how little position our value has in general. You are guaranteed only thirty hours a week with no protection if multiple clients call out on your schedule. You will be under compensated and your concerns will be trivialized. This company over compensated by hiring to many people, guaranteeing a lack of hours. They promise to get more children in center but they never come and it they do more employees will be hired to prepare. Multiple goal posts will be put between you and a raise, its no longer performance based, you simply wait in a line and take mundane learning courses then wait three to six months to see if you have to do it again. This company does not value new ideas or employees who recognize their own value. They will hire anyone and ignore all mistakes they make for the sake of having a body to fill a position. You will work ten time as hard as the person next to you until you're too burnt out to do so and you will receive nothing for it. You will be taken advantage of and you will be replaced. 

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Board certified behavior analyst 34 salaries reported	$79,118 per year
Registered behavior technician 6 salaries reported	$23.08 per hour
Care coordinator 1 salary reported	$23.00 per hour
Operations supervisor 1 salary reported	$24.00 per hour
Administrative assistant 3 salaries reported	$20.50 per hour

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