teacher's aide

teacher

school teacher

board certified assistant behavior analyst

safety specialist

Lodestone Academy

This could be a very rewarding job leading to a career. It is stressful and demanding at times. It takes a special person to work as a Learning Specialist at Lodestone Academy. The starting pay is $15 an hour. Recently, we are allowed to make up to almost $19 an hour based on our performance. Pay is weekly so that is good. Paid holidays are great. We get 2 weeks paid at Christmas, 1 week paid at Thanksgiving, 1 week paid for July 4th and all the other national holidays are paid too. My job also gets 4 days of paid personal time off. Good work hours 7:30 to 2:30pm. Management team is okay. Always understaffed because people who can't handle the student behaviors usually quit or do not show up for work. Learning Specialists need way more training.  If you have a criminal record you cannot work at the school. All in all, it's a good place to work. I love it there and hope to work there for a long time. I love the children and understand they cannot help the behaviors they have. 

Lodestone is like your second family, I still visit their facility from time to time just to see the kids and the staff.  I actually met my husband at Lodestone!  When you are working in an environment where it is so intense that you have to have a walkie on you at all times and cameras in every room just to ensure that everyone is safe, it becomes quiet taxing.  Our kiddos had so many different sever  and potentially dangerous behaviors that it was imperative to be on call at all times when school was in session.  Fortunately, each and every staff member was heavily trained in Safety Care and because we did this every day, everyone was in sync with one another making the culture very strong and secure.  Unfortunately, I was not able to move up financially and was offered a better paying position.

If you are just getting your foot in the door in the field of ABA this is a great place to start. You will be provided ample amount of training and education moments to develop skills and understanding with kids with a wide range of functioning levels. Most of the families LSA  provides services for are wonderful. However, I would not suggest if you are pre established in the field. You will be required to deal with the fact that the school is consistently short staffed and the pay for a tech is $9 - 11 an hour. The insurance is good though. As a specialist you will be capped at $27000 and regardless of the hours you put in a week or the amount of years you are there you will not make more than that.

If you are in a field like psychology or aba, you can learn a lot about dealing with children with autism. However, pay is absolutely terrible. In my opinion, there's no where near enough training to prepare you for working in this job. You get things thrown at you and attacked almost regularly. The kids can't help themselves so they are not to blame. Never enough staff so I've seen people struggling to handle many kids at once. I would have to talk myself into coming in each day. This job could do with A LOT more staff training and a pay increase to account for the stress and the physical exertion of each day. $15 an hour is not enough for all that you do. 

The management at Lodestone is sad. Employees were eagerly offering solutions to issues that we had and while the managers urged us to give feedback, they didn't actually use any of it. There is no room for advancement unless you become a behavior specialist, which does not have much of a pay increase, but it will be a great learning experience. 

The job itself is a beautiful way to learn about the boundless capabilities of a kiddo with autism. It will teach you patience, care, and how to prioritize. It's great for students in psychology or education who need to learn about all walks of life before beginning their career. However, you will not earn much money and you will most likely be frustrated with the leadership. Worth it for the kids, but don't get stuck there.

You will meet incredible employees who have a passion for ABA. You will also meet incredible kiddos who desperately need time and patience when it comes to learning. 

However, there is no room for growth. They do not provide you with RBT training if you’re thinking of becoming one. They train you to teach the children, protect yourself and others from getting hurt, and how to take data, but don’t want to pay you as an RBT. 

If you’re thinking about becoming an RBT, this is a great first step. Once you realize ABA is a passion of yours, my recommendation is to get certified from another organization and find an RBT job elsewhere because there are a ton of them. 

There is a lack of structure. Understaffed leads there to be improper training and leaves you more or less thrown to the wolves. There was nothing to protect the kids from outside people being hired as they seemed to just hire whoever they could get and there is a lot of turnover. 

The people you work with are great and very knowledgeable. Everyone is willing to lend a helping hand. The biggest downsides are pay, lack of benefits and advancements as well as lack of training for new staff. 

You will always receive an abundance of help and support from everyone it’s like working with your best friends. Good work life balance and plenty vacation time 

It’s okay but it’s very dangerous work so the pay does not equate to the amount of stress you have to deal with. They are super stingy with limited time off requests and completely understaffed.  Nice people though

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher's aide 3 salaries reported	$17.17 per hour
Teacher 1 salary reported	$26.25 per hour
School teacher 2 salaries reported	$56,500 per year
Board certified assistant behavior analyst 1 salary reported	$55,000 per year
Safety specialist 1 salary reported	$20.00 per hour

Working at Lodestone Academy: Company Overview and Reviews

Lodestone Academy

Lodestone Academy Ratings

Popular jobs at Lodestone Academy

Salary Satisfaction

Job Seeker Tools

Employer Tools

Browse

Stay Connected