Essential Fieldwork Activities to Develop Well-Rounded BCBAs
- Ashleigh
- Sep 17
- 4 min read
As a BCBA fieldwork supervisor, you know that fieldwork is about more than just logging hours. It's a formative experience that shapes future behavior analysts. To be a well-rounded BCBA, trainees need to do more than just memorize the task list. They need to build clinical judgment, problem-solving skills, and professional confidence.
The challenge supervisors face? Creating meaningful activities that truly prepare their trainees for the field while balancing the countless other responsibilities they hold.
If you’re looking for ideas to guide unrestricted fieldwork, here are five essential areas to focus on. Each should be revisited across different clients, settings, and tools to give trainees the broad experience they need.
BCBA Fieldwork Activities Must Be Related to Actual Clients
Before we dive in, let's take a moment for a quick reminder. All fieldwork activities, including restricted and unrestricted hours, must relate to an actual client's programming. Mock responsibilities, like having your trainee write a treatment plan for a fictional client or analyze fake data, cannot be counted. You can learn more about the 2025 BACB handbook updates here.
Related: Understanding BCBA Fieldwork Hours
Conducting ABA Assessments
Trainees should gain experience administering a wide range of skill-based assessments and functional behavior assessments (FBAs). This should be a key aspect of a trainee's fieldwork development. This exposure helps them develop skills in identifying and prioritizing needs.
Assign trainees tasks related to assessments, such as:
Administer skill-based assessments, like the MOTAS, ABLLS-R, and VB-MAPP.
Conduct Functional Behavior Assessments (FBAs) to identify environmental variables maintaining behavior.
Score and interpret assessment results to inform treatment planning.
Write assessment reports summarizing findings, recommendations, and individualized goals.
Review and update assessment protocols based on client progress or changing needs.
Treatment Planning
Trainees should not complete their fieldwork hours without having the ability to develop meaningful, individualized treatment plans. This skill draws on multiple areas of competency, including assessment interpretation, goal writing, and client-centered planning.
Assign trainees tasks related to treatment planning, such as:
Develop measurable, socially significant goals based on assessment data.
Create individualized treatment plans that summarize background information, outline goals and interventions, clarify discharge criteria, etc.
Develop individualized session outlines.
Collaborate with other professionals to ensure alignment in goals and interventions.
Identify priority skills and prerequisite teaching targets.
Adapt treatment plans as client needs change or progress occurs.
Integrate family or caregiver goals to ensure treatment is meaningful across environments.
Justify treatment decisions using evidence-based practices and data analysis.
Data Analysis & Clinical Decision-Making
Trainees need hands-on experience analyzing client data and using it to make informed clinical decisions. They should learn what it takes to ensure treatment is effective, progress is measurable, and interventions are tailored to each client’s needs.
Assign trainees tasks related to data analysis and decision-making, such as:
Graph and interpret session data to identify trends. Encourage trainees to practice both manual graphing and using digital data collection solutions. While digital data collection tools, like Office Puzzle, streamline graphing and reporting, it’s important for behavior analysts to develop core skills in interpreting data manually, too.
Evaluate treatment progress and determine whether goals are being met.
Modify protocols as the learner makes progress.
Identify variables impacting progress and problem-solve barriers.
Make data-driven recommendations for adjusting teaching strategies and interventions.
Parent Training
One of the most common areas BCBAs report feeling underprepared for is caregiver training. Supervisors should ensure their trainees have ample opportunities to develop parent training competencies.
Assign trainees tasks related to parent and caregiver training, such as:
Participate in caregiver sessions to learn strategies for supporting and training parents.
Conduct role-play exercises to practice explaining interventions, prompting strategies, and communicating ABA principles in jargon-free language. Note: Non-client-specific role-playing is not allowed.
Lead supervised caregiver training sessions with real clients, gradually increasing independence as competence grows.
Run behavior skills training (BST) with parents and caregivers.
Provide feedback to caregivers to encourage accurate use of behavior-analytic strategies.
Document caregiver training sessions and note progress, challenges, and recommendations.
Adapt training strategies to accommodate different learning styles, cultural backgrounds, and family routines.
'
Supervision/Staff Management
It’s common for trainees in direct care roles to get “stuck” providing 1:1 therapy (accruing restricted hours), with few opportunities to develop key supervisory competencies. Personnel management is often overlooked because BTs/RBTs rarely have exposure to overseeing or mentoring others. This gap can limit a trainee’s growth and their readiness to function in a supervisory role.
Assign trainees tasks related to supervision and personnel management, such as:
Observe and provide feedback to RBTs or paraprofessionals.
Train direct care staff on behavior-analytic procedures.
Track treatment fidelity across sessions and provide feedback.
Participate in team meetings to learn how to problem solve, resolve conflicts, and collaborate with other clinicians.
Document supervision activities and reflect on lessons learned to improve future interactions.
By incorporating these experiences into fieldwork, trainees gain early exposure to the leadership and organizational skills required of behavior analysts, preparing them to supervise confidently in real-world settings.
Support Your Trainees with Structured Supervision
The importance of the BCBA fieldwork experience can't be overstated. So much rides on a BCBA's ability to create meaningful activities for their trainee. But designing and organizing these meaningful activities is often time-consuming, especially for overworked BCBAs who are also managing a full caseload and endless responsibilities. That's why a ready-made, easily customizable solution can make all the difference.
The BCBA® Fieldwork Supervision Curriculum offers pre-created assignments, structured activities, and step-by-step guidance to help supervisors provide a comprehensive, high-quality fieldwork experience. With this curriculum, you can focus less on reinventing the wheel and more on shaping future behavior analysts who are truly prepared for the field.
Partnership & Transparency Disclaimer
The content we share on ABA Resource Center is reader-supported. This means that if you click on certain links and make a purchase, we may earn a small referral fee. Rest assured, we only recommend tools, resources, and services that we genuinely believe add value to the ABA field.
