behavioral therapist

aba therapist

registered behavior technician

early childhood assistant

assistant teacher

In STEPPS

Working here started off great, I was very excited and everyone was nice and supportive. They had told me I was going to get full time hours, which I did not. I was working maybe 25-30 hours a week. They continued to tell me that they would get me more clients but had to wait and that if I got my RBT that I would be eligible for more clients. Once I got my RBT I still was not at full time and my clients were continuously canceling which we did not get paid for. They put me on a case in Encinitas and I was living in Escondido at the time. It took me an hour to get there and several times when I was 5 minutes away they would cancel session and I would not get paid. So I was driving an hour just for it to be canceled. They had said before that you can get office work to make up extra hours but had to be within good standing which meant you could not cancel any sessions regardless of the reason. You could not cancel more than 5% of your sessions which the low amount of hours I had plus the constant cancelation that means if I missed one or two sessions I would not be eligible for office extra hours. Overall I just felt led on constantly, they were moving me around with new clients and then not informing me with enough time that sessions were being canceled. I think it has the potential to be a good work place and I could tell that they were trying I just felt that their policies were unfair and that they should be more honest about the amount of hours you will actually get. 

I felt truly supported in the training process as this was my first experience in the ABA field. It was extensive while being involved beyond simply PowerPoints. A typical work day would include driving to the office, school, or client's home and then implement ABA strategies in targeting acquisition goals. I never hesitated to ask any questions since all of my supervisors had been truly supportive and willing to assist therapists. Primarily working independently with the occasional supervision may have been difficult at first, but you generally pick up the rhythm quickly. Coworkers were extremely friendly when do you get the chance to see them at the office. Personally, the only con with this job was the large gap you may have in between sessions. It did not seem uncommon for therapists to have 2-3 hour gaps in a typical work day. This also extended to paid drive time being variable since drive time considered point A to point B without factoring going home, etc, for these gaps in which car miles added up quickly. With that said, the most enjoyable part of the job was definitely the kiddos. Seeing their progress over the long term was definitely the most rewarding! This job certainly offered me valuable insight into the Psychology field of ABA.

I have worked at a few different ABA agencies and I want to share how In STEPPS is different from the others. The other companies did not seem to really care about their clients and staff. In STEPPS seems to care very much as exhibited by their initial training, ongoing training, and supervisor support. I feel the quality at In STEPPs is better than the other big agencies. I appreciate that I don't feel like a number and that the supervisors care about me and my wellbeing. I noticed someone talked about hours and not having enough- not sure if they have talked to scheduling or supervisors but I find that they're really communicative and try to help. I also appreciate that they have a sane day cancelation policy where you still get paid up to two hours and get to complete training. At my last agency I was just out the pay. In STEPPS is still a relatively small agency especially when you compare to like AST, EasterSeals and ALP so I appreciate the feel of the company and all they do to try to ensure our happiness and the progress of our clients.

I was impressed by InSTEPPS’ training program. I found it to be much more in-depth than any other behavioral therapy agency I’ve worked with. However, it was a disappointment that I had to resign quickly after my hire due to lack of transparency regarding how many hours of work would actually be available to me as a BT at InSTEPPS. I was told my work would be full time, but in reality it was more like 25 hours a week. I felt misled, and the agency was unhelpful in meeting my request for more work. I’ve learned this is a common occurrence with BT agencies, so be direct when asking about available hours for your potential cases in the interview. 

I also found the agency’s data entry and documentation system to be grueling. You will be asked to fill out the same insurance form each session you work, at a high level of detail. I quickly started to feel like more of a form machine than a direct support professional.

Once Covid hit, it shook up everyone including this company. At the beginning, this company was giving hero pay to those that were providing in home service such as myself. However, within 2020 the company would only give hero pay when there were extremely high surges of Covid rates. This job was stressful before and it became even more stressful now with Covid seeing how most of our kiddos struggle with having masks on, giving others personal space, and touching multiple things and others. I realized that we were undervalued and deserve a high pay raise especially since hours are inconsistent. How does the company expect us to stay with low pay and bad hours, very hard to live on.

The company was very inconsiderate of the therapist feedback. The company have had several people to quit in 6 months. The company is not local, everything is done via email and video call. They work you part time and text, email, and video call you all day(annoying). They wanted the therapist to lie about the patients data so they can continue giving services and get paid. They lie about getting you the certificate for rbt. They seem to be really nice and caring in the beginning but once you are hired it all changes. The caregivers were over protective and did not allow therapist to do the job. For example the caregiver would walk into session and request for the patient to use prefered blue paint instead of red. I thought that therapy was to break the chain of preferred items. But anyway good luck if you apply. 

What is the best part of working at the company?
Support from fellow teachers is strong.

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
No organization or procedures in place. Teachers are left to supervise therapists, aides and students with little to no structure in the classroom. Schedules are vague.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Work environment is high stress and culture is- teachers in survival mode. Everyone looked exhausted and stressed. Very little support from administrators. No cohesiveness amongst the team. This is a school on life support. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
School starts at 8:30am, teachers run the classroom and break one to one aides during the day. Recess and lunch are very long breaks and students complete academics between breaks for sensory and movement. There is very little structure. Day ends at 2:30pm

The population I work with at In Stepps, are children on the spectrum.  Most of the children were diagnosed with Autism.  A typical day at work would consist of driving to the clients home or school.  I work on their individual goals that have been set up by their supervisor.  I go through their goals in their natural environment giving them the most out of their session.  It is a joy to see the progress each child is making individually.  I also go to weekly supervisor meetings and discuss clients.  I also work directly with the supervisors when they come out to the session with me.  This gives me the opportunity to clarify any on going questions, and have a different point of view on a goal.  The work environment is very friendly orientated and welcoming.  I enjoy working with my peers, as well as my supervisors.  The most enjoyable part of my work day, is seeing the child smile, and master a goal they had been working on.

As someone who never had experience working with kids on the spectrum, In Stepps gave me all the training and field guidance I needed to succeed at this position. Especially in the beginning when conducting session alone was intimidating, the supervisors and peer-trainers would always be available to come out and provide extra support for me during my sessions. I grew to become very comfortable conducting session myself thereafter. 
I was a college student during my time here, and scheduling was happy to accommodate by switching clients for me every quarter (however there was some lag time in between). 
Overall, great work environment with helpful upper management. All my co-workers were just as lovely.

Working at Instepps was promising as an RBT. However, once upper management changed in the OC division, morale and quality diminished over the years with constant unprofessionalism from upper management (i.e. boss gossips about others or you, guilt trips from boss, boss promises something, but doesn't follow through) , frequent BCBA turnover, and the pay did not keep up with the industry standard. Work flexibility became more and more restrictive. For the amount of work and hours required (billable hours are high) this company beyond underpays all its employers at all levels. There is a high level of unprofessionalism . Very unfortunate that they do not care for their clients and quality of treatment provided. Not the place to work at if you are doing it for the love of ABA or value your work ethic.

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Assistant teacher 49 salaries reported	$22.84 per hour

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