direct support professional

registered behavior technician

special needs advocate

qualified intellectual disabilities professional

speech language pathologist

TERI, Inc

You’re with the students for most of the day and you’re the one who is in charge of the implementation of the behavior plan. The only person that can override your implementation of the treatment plan is the teacher or the behavioral specialist. Many of the high behavior kid’s behavioral plans rarely change for years. Which is very strange. I’ve worked in the field for over a decade and that’s not supposed to happen if a plan is not working. 

There are some extremely kind people at TERI. However, there are some very reactive and fearful people that do not know how to handle well extremely aggressive behaviors in children while maintaining compassion and implementing the least invasive measures to treat the client. If you advocate you’re not always heard depending on who is overseeing you and the staff that was there that covers for the other staff. Ex. The teachers will make you redo paperwork sent home that makes the other staff sound like they did the best they could and the child was just out of hand. Under policy they’re technically right, but if you watch it happen and you’ve worked in many other agencies you know there’s something off because their reaction is expecting the worst instead of treating each situation as a moment to de-escalate the behavior. Many of the aids do not have a ton of ABA education and training outside of what is given at TERI. Which TERI does a great job as a company to train their staff on a need to know basis. But that’s the problem. The AIDS don’t know something is off because they’ve been taught that this one way to implement ABA. Which leads to the very problem of higher up staff being taken up for their word. No one is checking their work. They all work together and have close relationships with each other. Hence the covering up. It’s a problem.

Most of the people there are super compassionate, loving people and truly do love the kids and adults clients as if they were their own family. But there’s a few people who are fearful and reactive that are higher up and have seniority. It was very heartbreaking for me to work in that type of environment.

TERI works to insures that their clients have a better and more enriched life, but they care little about their workers. Worker's thoughts and feelings do not matter for the most part, and there is some favortism. Communication to the front line is almost nonexistent, changes last second, or is just wrong and the employees are caught flat-footed to fix situations. Management is often micro-managing virtually and will put their workers in unsafe work environments. TERI will over work their employees, if you let them. Because of all the call-outs that happen a worker could work up to an 18 hour shift or more...and will be expect work the next day for their usual shift. There are no breaks, you have to eat with the clients, and if they are having challenging behaviors at meal times, eating can be spotty. The high healthcare coverage is about $138 ish out if your bi-weekly check. There is no direct deposit option, and sometimes I hear about other employees checks coming in the mail late.  The clients themselves can be very challenging, but not all are. It depends on the which house/program you are in.  Other frontline employees can be your only strength to get you through the day sometimes because management is slow to respond, critical, or just absent in their support for the most part.

I love what this company wants to do. Unfortunately it is a poor paying field and in order to gain the success that they imagine they need a team that is willing to work for passion and not the paycheck. My heart was completely in this job but I left once I moved farther away when I had my first child. A typical day started with clerical duties including but not limited to collecting and verifying documentation by other instructors and insuring that documentation met with legal practices and procedures, filing, and reporting daily behavior plans and implementation. Then my day completely shifted once clients arrived. I had helped develop behavior plans for each client that would aid in their growth in independence within the group home. Management didn't always act in the best interest of the clients or staff which was difficult in that they weren't the one's that saw the direct impact it had on each client. There was a big communication gap between each department which I believe stunted the growth and success of the company as a whole. The hardest part of the job was leaving each night and trusting that someone else would take care of them as well as I always tried to each day.

The most enjoyable part of my job is looking that we serve people with disabilities and we help them to achieve their goals according to their capabilities and help them to be independent as much as possible.  Working with  people with different disabilities and learning their behaviors is difficult. but  once you know them as a special individual then you learn to love them.  Building a relationship were trust it is the most important thing for them then is when teaching takes place and you get amazed  about their willingness to wok with you based in the care, love, communication, and trust. 
My personal achievement is when a client has been very difficult at the beginning when they meet you and at the end they will love you and will listen to you, so you can teach them, even try different activities that they were unable to do. So I'm happy when they try for you and see their smiles after they complete a task.  That's priceless for me.

The tour made it sound so wonderful, then after sitting in front of a computer (paid training) for a week, and starting the position,having little to no hands on training, it was awful. The students/ Clients are aggressive and Will bite, kick, punch, pull your hair etc. They are constantly understaffed, and put you in with more than one student at the Learning Academy,( I was hired as a one to one staff, not one to two.) 

The pay is average, the benefits are expensive, cheaper to get from the California exchange. They boast they have a gym you can use, but it has outdated broken equipment, We are expected to wear a uniform shirt every day, yet they only give you three shirts when you start, I had to buy two more. 

I worked with four "Certified Teachers", that were not credentialed teachers, they just had the title, I think the school districts they service would be very upset, not to mention the parents. But like everything there, its not disclosed to school districts, parents or guardians.

Overworked and undervalued. You will be constantly asked to put yourself in situations where you could get hurt- the pay just isn’t enough and the training doesn’t really prepare you. There’s not enough staff so you will always be pressured into working 19+ hours, some people were working 22hr shifts, minimal breaks during COVID. Management is not supportive until they need someone to fill a shift. Q’s don’t listen to staff suggestions, when staff are the ones actually in the house all day.  VR program manager is very nitpicky, doesn’t soo well with team environment, must have everything exactly her way. No direct deposit and checks are sometimes late & scheduling system is outdated. No real teamwork at all. Your physical and mental health will be shot after this job. There’s a reason turnover is soo high. 

For working in a school we are paid minimum wage with only a 25 cent raise every 6 months. Not much room for growth unless you have a teaching degree or your BCBA. The students are amazing, but obviously this field can be challenging at times since the students are highly behavioral.  They do give great training on ABST (assaultive behavior safety training), but also have online training that is tedious and not very helpful, which has to be completed annually. I love this job truthfully but it is not very career advancing and doesn't have very lucrative pay for how much work we do. The school itself has fun programs and does great with helping these ids learn social skills and academic skills. My co-workers are also awesome and for he most part we are all on the same page and are able to work as a team.

TERI Inc can be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life, or a one-way road to burnout. TERI does many things to address worker health and wellness, such as providing a workout space, access to employee health, and encouraging individuals to find their work balance, which is uncommon for a lot of agencies. At the same time, the pay for this line of work is pretty middle of the road, and as a result, often necessitates finding a 2nd job or working the oft available overtime in between departments. There is a bit of a disconnect with upper management at times, as well as a general lack of cultural awareness with clients that I experienced on multiple occasions. Those who can afford to pay are often given access to the better living situations, while those who depend on Regional Center or Medi-Cal get the leftovers. 

There is so much that I loved about working with this company.  I worked alongside people who had worked there for 40 years (that's UNIQUE).  

They do a lot to try to have a positive culture and support their employees.  Such fun holiday parties.  I would say overall, very positive.  That being said, I worked at the Country School and they require that you use your own cars.  This was a problem for me and I didn't know it was a requirement before I took the job.  I also wish there was better training. 

There also wasn't enough support for sick days and it ended up being problematic.  Supervisors differed in how available they were.  I met some truly amazing people and really enjoyed my time there.  

The stress about not getting time off for when my kids were sick, along with the pressure to use my own car, made it hard for me to work there long term.  But, what I saw is that employees stayed for a long time. I had a very positive experience there. 

A typical day at work felt like a day out with friends; with its laughs, struggles, successes, and accomplishments! I learned that this population is more able than disabled and that there is more to them that meets the eye. They are inspirational individuals who taught me more about love and self-acceptance than I ever thought I'd learn, especially from someone with a developmental delay. Every co-worker I ever had the privilege of completing a shift with was so lively, helpful, and went above and beyond their line of duty to make sure the clients had everything necessary to ease the day and avoid behaviors. Management was always available to answer our questions or concerns. They were organized and maintained excellent communication amongst one another to ensure all residential homes were in sync. Great pay, benefits, bonuses and employee incentives too!

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Direct support professional 50 salaries reported	$21.97 per hour
Registered behavior technician 28 salaries reported	$30.00 per hour
Special needs advocate 9 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
Qualified intellectual disabilities professional 4 salaries reported	$72,500 per year
Speech language pathologist 3 salaries reported	$65.00 per hour

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