registered behavior technician

special education teacher

board certified behavior analyst

speech language pathologist

occupational therapist

Summa Academy

To be transparent to job seekers, this is a program for people with non-verbal ASD and related conditions. 
You will work with a team and have multiple supervisors. 
They give pages of negative feedback and some of it included things or occurrences that never happened. 
The concern policy is helpful for established employees. New employees should keep quiet and positive regardless of anything or you could be targeted. There are good teachers here. They are heavily experienced in ABA. I would not say it’s a good fit for beginners or people who have issue with gossip, cliques and being iced out. There are snacks on Fridays. There are a few “OG” staff as they call themselves, who are overtly and passively verbally aggressive and unkind to others. 
The students are the best part of the job. You should be experienced and knowledgeable of aggressive behavior that can stem from people with ASD, especially non-verbal. You need to be a self starter with the an ability to figure out what to do and when yourself. Staff is approximately 25% in their mid 30’s and the rest are in their 20’s. Ageism is real. Targeting staff is real. I was on eggshells most of the time and made the mistake of trying to resolve an issue. You will need teflon thick skin to work here. 

Summa is a start up so there aren't a lot of procedures put in place. If you're new to the ABA and/or special ed world, this is not the place for you. You will not learn what you need to be successful. Summa lacks in trainings for RBTs and teachers. If you already have a strong foundation, Summa is a good start. However, if you have a bit of melanin in your skin or stand up for what you believe in, this is also not the place for you. Leadership seems like they just want people who say "yes" to everything and don't try to have conversations to understand why you don't agree. If they do have that conversation, it's almost like a courtesy - they're just doing it to say they did it but not really learn from it. I get it, they're also a business, but you can't be preaching one thing and practicing another. This is just another NPS that preaches education over profits, yet does the opposite. Theyll also use you and when they see that they cannot get what they want from you anymore, you're no longer important. I really believed in Summa but they showed their true colors when I stopped agreeing to everything.

Summa Academy is overall a fun and enjoyable work space. Everyone has a “student first” mentality. After being with the company for 3 month, it was hard to continue to thrive in an environment with little clinical support. Most of the kiddos are moderate to severe behavior which constantly needed BCBA support which was rarely available. The BCBAs are in Administrative roles that take away time from the “students first” environment. Prior to being an employee at Summa, I was told that I would receive supervision towards my credential as a BCBA. My first weeks of employment I offered to set up a contract (that is required for the BACB) to accumulate these hours. I was told to hold off and i would be given one. I never received my contract and along the way accumulated my hours. Long story short, every BCBA told me they could not sign off on my hours and I still have yet to recieve signatures for my hours during my time. Summa did not support my career goals, or other employees career goals like they said they would. 

Summa Academy opened in September 2021. The founders are very passionate, kind, involved, and hard working individuals. The founders of this school truly want to make a difference in the lives of the students they serve and are always looking for ways to grow in all areas of the work that they do. The leaders of this school have done a phenomenal job to create a school from scratch and are always looking for areas of growth to better serve their students.

As an RBT we have the opportunity to serve students who many districts have failed in the past. It is truly rewarding to be a part of the change. Our leaders are amazing individuals with great work experience who are willing to help the staff during challenging times. Behind the scenes the leadership team and teachers are working tirelessly to create an amazing school for our students as well as staff. Our leadership team is always willing to talk with staff and support as needed to ensure their success. 

I absolutely loved working here at Summa! If I could’ve stayed longer—I would’ve! The work environment and the support you get from the team is phenomenal and overall amazing. No question of yours will go unanswered; whenever there is a potential issue, it is immediately addressed, and we do team debriefs, so something that might not have been noticeable to the rest of the team until you mention it, the issue will be addressed and solved almost immediately. It’s truly a beautiful experience, getting to work with the children, building rapport, having fun events and parties with them, helping them with any work they’re doing…It really was a beautiful experience, and I would definitely recommend this job to anyone who is interested in furthering their current career in ABA or just dipping their toes into ABA. 

Enjoyable part: 
RBTs worked as a team, pay is decent, working with kids, 
Hardest part: 
Admin and HR are bullies. Lots of favoritism. If you are not part of the favorites then you are pretty much walking on egg shells. They withhold a lot of information about there policies, it’s almost like they pick and choose which applies to you. Therefore, if you don’t follow perfectly there guidelines, they will purposely target you and bully you about their policies. Yet, if you ask questions they pretty much ignore you and scare you into being written up or with warnings. I’ve never experienced being bullied at work until this company. They will say “we care” but actions show another and they will do anything to cover themselves up.

This is a behavioral school and nothing is put together. RBTs have no behavioral plans in place and teachers act like they know what they’re doing but they don’t even have a degree in behavioral health. Teachers have stepped down because they’re stressed out. RBTs are taken advantage of and used. The staff gossips all day. This school has one of the most unprofessional teachers I have ever worked with in all of my years of ABA. This teacher will put you down and talk about you right in front of the students. If you have ideas for your client they get shut down and they don’t get put to use and RBTs are never heard. It was just a bad experience all around. 

Summa Academy is doing great work for underserved kids with special needs. However, there is a lack of training and supervision, which can lead to a very stressful work environment. There is an unspoken expectation that you should know how to handle very difficult situations yourself and it is looked down upon if you can’t. Overall, Summa is doing a lot well, but there needs to be more support when an RBT is having a hard time and it would be better if there was more of a structure to the daily routine because things were changing daily and it was hard to keep up and adapt quick enough. 

Management gossips  and are mean to staff they do not like. Very toxic work environment. Work starts at 8:30 and ends at 3:30. I learned some new things about ABA. The culture toxic and gossipy. You feel like you are in HS. The hardest part of the job is feeling comfortable around management and having to walk on eggshells. The most enjoyable part of the job is the kids. You are responsible for supervising kids with autism and helping them on IEP goals. 

I was very happy working for Summa as a Behavior Tech.  Supervisors were always readily available to help and offer support.   Hardest part was the job itself--children with behavior issues and special needs, but also rewarding when building rapport and feeling like there's progress being made with the child.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Registered behavior technician 6 salaries reported	$28.50 per hour
Special education teacher 4 salaries reported	$102,500 per year
Board certified behavior analyst 6 salaries reported	$97,500 per year
Speech language pathologist 3 salaries reported	$115,000 per year
Occupational therapist 2 salaries reported	$63.75 per hour

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