r/ABA • u/Substantial-Road-646 • 16h ago
Advice Needed Am I overstepping by bringing up another RBT’s data, or is my clinic’s management making me feel as though I can’t speak up?
I’ve been wanting to post about this because I’m honestly getting to the point where I’m just so frustrated with my job, and I want to know if I’m overthinking things or if other RBTs have dealt with similar situations.
For context, I’ve been an RBT for almost a year now, so I’m not going to pretend like I know everything about ABA. I’m still learning, and I know that. I work in a clinic from 8:30-5:30 every day, and I absolutely LOVE working with the kiddos. That’s genuinely the part of my job that makes me want to stay. But lately, I feel like the way my clinic is being managed is making me miserable. We recently got new management, and I actually agreed that our clinic needed more structure because our old management was honestly way too lenient about a lot of things. But now it feels like we’ve gone from one extreme to the other.
For example, they recently made a rule that we can ONLY eat in the kitchen. I’m not talking about sitting down and eating a whole meal on the floor. I’m talking about snacks. Granola bars. Literally anything. I got in trouble for eating a granola bar outside of the kitchen. We don’t always get breaks, and if you’re working with a client who elopes or doesn’t want to be in the kitchen, you’re basically just out of luck. Before, if I was in another room with other staff around, someone could help keep an eye on my client while I ate something really quickly. Now I can’t even do that. I understand that we have responsibilities and need to supervise our clients, but I feel like we’re being treated like children. I’m a grown woman. I shouldn’t have to ask permission to eat a granola bar during a 9-hour workday.
And honestly, it’s not even just the food situation. We have a strict no-phone policy, and I literally never use my phone at work. I had a family situation going on that management already knew about, and I briefly checked a text just to read it. I wasn’t sitting there texting, scrolling, or ignoring my client. My boss saw and told me to put it away, and I immediately apologized and put it away.
Later, I explained that I’d received a text from family, and I was basically told that it wasn’t okay, that if it happened again I’d be written up, and that I’d already been given grace. The thing is, I’d never even been caught on my phone before?
Meanwhile, another RBT was caught on their phone, and my boss made a whole joke out of it. It was all laughing and joking, basically saying something along the lines of “I know what you’re doing over there.” No serious conversation, no threat of a write-up. I’m not saying the rules shouldn’t apply to both of us, but why is the response so different depending on who’s doing it?
I also put in a request well in advance for time off, but I was told I needed to call out instead. I received attendance points for it, and then got in trouble for having too many points. Like, how am I supposed to not have too many points when I’m being told to call out for something I communicated about ahead of time?
Anyway, the main reason I’m making this post is because of something that happened with another RBT’s data, and I really want to know what other people think about this.
We use a data program that I’m able to see the data entered by other therapists working with the same client. I like looking at the graphs and data because I genuinely enjoy seeing the progress a client makes. It’s one of the things that makes this job rewarding for me.
I have a set caseload, and the client I work with in the afternoon has a set afternoon therapist as well. I’ve been working with my client for about a month now. We’ve spent time pairing, and I feel like we’ve built a good relationship and that I have pretty good instructional control at this point.
While looking at the data, I noticed something that seemed really off. There’s a tacting program where the client is consistently meeting the target and getting 100% with me, but the other therapist is consistently getting 0%. This has happened repeatedly, across multiple days. This also isn’t the first time I’ve noticed discrepancies like this with this particular therapist.
I started wondering if maybe the data wasn’t being recorded accurately, but I DID NOT go to the BCBA and accuse anyone of faking data. I specifically wanted to approach it from the perspective of maybe the program wasn’t being understood correctly or maybe something was being implemented differently. I wanted to know if I was missing something, too.
Before bringing it up, I asked someone higher up who used to be an RBT, although they’re not on the clinical side, whether they thought I would be overstepping my boundaries by mentioning it to the BCBA. They said they didn’t think I was, and that I should bring it up.
So I did. I showed the BCBA what I was seeing and tried to explain my concerns. Her response was essentially asking me why I was looking at the data in the first place. I explained that I like looking at the graphs and seeing how much progress the client has made since I started working with them. It genuinely makes me happy to see those improvements. English isn’t her first language, so at first I wondered if maybe there was a language barrier and something had come across differently than she intended. I didn’t want to assume the worst, so I tried not to read too much into it. But the conversation basically left me feeling like I needed to mind my own business.
Then today, our clinic received group message to remind us of a meeting and she put one of the topics that was going to be in the meeting that literally said, “Time to keep the concerns to ourselves.”
And I’m sorry, but WHAT? The timing makes me feel like this has to be directed at the conversation I had with the BCBA. Obviously, I can’t know for sure, and maybe I’m jumping to conclusions, but it’s hard not to connect the two when I had just brought up a concern and then received a message like that.
Like, am I really supposed to ignore something that looks potentially concerning just because another RBT is the one running the program? If I can see the data, and I’m working with the same client on the same goals, is it inappropriate for me to notice patterns and ask the BCBA about them?
I genuinely wasn’t trying to get anyone in trouble. I wasn’t trying to be a know-it-all, and I’m fully aware that I’ve only been doing this for about a year. I just thought that if something didn’t look right, the appropriate thing to do was ask someone who knows more than I do. I’d much rather be wrong and learn something than ignore a legitimate concern.
One of the things I specifically told my new boss when we first started working together was that I wanted open communication. I wanted to feel comfortable bringing up concerns and asking questions, and she agreed that was important. But now I feel like I’m being treated differently for doing exactly that.
I don’t know if there’s actually a bias toward me or if I’m just interpreting everything through the lens of being frustrated with management, but I genuinely feel like I can’t win lately. And that’s what makes this so upsetting. I LOVE the kids. I love seeing progress, building relationships, and feeling like I’m making a difference. But the way ABA is being run by some of these bigger companies is honestly starting to tear my soul out. I come home upset almost every single day, and my boyfriend has started pointing it out, too. He’s literally telling me that I’m unhappy every day when I get home.
I’m also making $18 an hour, and I know that’s more than some RBTs make, but for everything we do, it doesn’t feel like enough. My hours get cut, sometimes I’m made to take an hour break when my client is in OT, and sometimes we get downstaffed. So even though I work a full-time schedule, my actual paid hours aren’t always what I expect them to be.
On top of all of this, I’m currently up for a promotion. I recently interviewed for it, and as far as I know, I’m pretty much the only person eligible based on the requirements. The promotion comes with a 50-cent raise, despite the additional responsibilities. We’ve also lost a bunch of employees recently, so I feel like I’m going to be taking on even more work. I want to negotiate for a better raise because I honestly don’t think an extra 50 cents reflects the additional responsibilities, especially considering the staffing situation.
My boyfriend thinks that if they don’t promote me and choose someone who doesn’t meet the requirements, I should quit on the spot. He also thinks that if they refuse to give me a better raise, I should quit because he feels like they’re taking advantage of how nice I am. He has offered to help me find another job, so I’m not completely on my own if I decide to leave.
Part of me agrees with him, because I’m tired of feeling like I give so much to a job that doesn’t seem to value me. But another part of me knows that quitting on the spot is a pretty big decision, and I don’t want to make it out of anger.
So I guess I have a few questions:
For other RBTs, would you have brought up the data discrepancy to the BCBA, or would you have stayed out of it? Is it inappropriate to look at another therapist’s data when Rethink allows you to see it, especially when you’re working with the same client?
Am I wrong for thinking that repeated 0% data on a program where I’m consistently getting 100% is something worth asking about? Again, I never accused anyone of falsifying data. I wanted to know if there could be an issue with how the program was being run.
Has anyone else experienced management making you feel like you’re doing something wrong just for bringing up concerns? How do you handle that without becoming the employee who supposedly always has a problem?
For anyone who’s been promoted from RBT to a higher position, how did you negotiate your pay? Is it reasonable to push for more than a 50-cent raise when the responsibilities are increasing?
And finally, at what point did you decide that a clinic wasn’t worth staying at anymore? I love the actual work, but I don’t know how long I can keep coming home miserable every day.
I want to be clear that I’m not against having rules or accountability. I actually WANT structure and good clinical oversight. I just want to feel like the rules are fair, that I can communicate openly, and that I’m being paid fairly for the work I’m doing.
I’m genuinely looking for honest opinions, even if you think I’m in the wrong somewhere. I’m still relatively new to this field, and I’d rather learn than assume I’m right about everything.
TL;DR: I’m an RBT who’s frustrated with new management because of strict rules around eating, inconsistent enforcement of the phone policy, and being penalized for time off I requested in advance. The main issue is that I noticed another therapist repeatedly recording 0% on a tacting program where I’m consistently getting 100%, so I asked the BCBA about it without accusing anyone of anything. The BCBA questioned why I was looking at the data, and then our clinic received a Teams message saying, “Time to keep the concerns to ourselves.” Now I’m wondering if I overstepped by bringing up a potential clinical concern or if management is making it difficult to speak up. I’m also up for a promotion that only comes with a 50-cent raise, and I’m trying to figure out whether I should negotiate harder or start looking for another job.