5 Common Gaps in BCBA Supervision: What Fieldwork Often Misses
- Ashleigh
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
The supervised fieldwork experience is a pivotal step toward becoming a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). The quality of supervision can make a world of difference—either preparing one for a successful career (not to mention helping them pass the big exam) or falling short and leaving them massively underprepared as they enter the field.
While working as a BCBA is a continuous learning journey, a great deal of knowledge and skill development should happen during supervised fieldwork. Yet, aspiring analysts and newly minted BCBAs commonly express how overwhelmed they are with how little they know as they embark on the start of their careers. Everyone's fieldwork experiences are unique. However, there are five areas that we hear time and time again are neglected during fieldwork.
Understanding Insurance and Medical Necessity
The vast majority of BCBAs work within the medical model of ABA. This means they must navigate private health insurance, Medicaid, and Tricare to ensure their learners access vital care. This is a major responsibility, as families depend on these services and expect their clinicians to advocate for their child's best interests.
Many behavior analysts make it through supervised fieldwork without ever learning how insurance works. They don't learn about:
CPT codes
Medical necessity
Accurate and ethical billing practices
Submitting authorization requests
Managing authorization denials and peer reviews
This is all essential knowledge for those pursuing a career as a BCBA working with insurance and Medicaid-funded clients.
Parent Training in ABA
Training and supporting parents and caregivers is another commonly neglected area in the BCBA supervised fieldwork experience. While caregiver collaboration is an essential component of effective ABA, many trainees report receiving minimal practice in leading parent training sessions or coaching families through challenging behaviors.
Parent training isn't only highly beneficial for promoting positive outcomes; it's also often a requirement under insurance guidelines. Failure to support trainees in developing parent training competencies leaves them lost and confused when navigating treatment requirements and impacts the quality of care they can provide to the families they serve.
Effective parent training requires strong interpersonal skills, the ability to break down behavior-analytic concepts into digestible language, and cultural humility.
Supervisors should provide meaningful opportunities to participate in parent training. They should also model how to address caregiver concerns, build buy-in, and individualize training to meet the family’s needs and values.
Supervising RBTs/BTs
The majority of BCBAs operate within a supervisory role, overseeing behavior technicians and registered behavior technicians (RBTs) who deliver direct care. Transitioning from a direct care role to supervising others can be a significant shift.
Many BCBAs feel underprepared for this transition, as they did not develop supervisory competencies during their fieldwork experience.
Trainees, especially those working as BTs/RBTs, often don't receive opportunities to practice providing feedback, modeling strategies, training staff, and addressing performance issues. This is why mid-level supervisor roles can be so valuable. They help clinicians develop supervisory skills with BCBA oversight and guidance. However, even those accruing their hours in other positions, like a behavior technician role, can develop competencies related to supervision.
Regardless of the position a supervisee is working in, supervisors can support them by gradually increasing responsibilities such as:
Assisting in staff training or onboarding
Leading team meetings
Providing feedback to peers under supervision
Practicing behavior skills training (BST)
Observing and discussing common performance challenges
Soft Skills for Behavior Analysts
Don't neglect to support your trainees in developing the soft skills needed to be an effective and respected behavior analyst. Focus on skills beyond the technical ones to include soft skills, like:
Cultural humility
Professional communication
Active listening
Constructive feedback delivery
Empathy and compassion
Conflict resolution
Adaptability and flexibility
Team collaboration
Clinical Decision-Making
While clinical decision-making is often addressed during supervision, it’s frequently taught at a surface level, focusing more on following protocols than truly understanding how to evaluate options, weigh risks and benefits, and make sound, individualized clinical judgments.
Newly certified BCBAs often struggle with:
Knowing when to adjust treatment plans
Navigating ethical dilemmas
Considering the full picture (e.g., integrating multiple factors like client needs, environmental factors, client and caregiver input, and data into decision-making)
Justifying decisions to caregivers, supervisors, or payors
Making decisions in gray areas where there’s no “clear-cut” answer
Explaining the rationale behind their treatment choices
Supervisors should expose trainees to situations that require them to think critically about the progression of care.
Setting the Standard for Quality BCBA Supervision
The BCBA supervised fieldwork experience should focus on more than developing test content outline (TCO) knowledge. This experience is the foundation for ethical, confident, and well-rounded practice. Supervisors should provide a comprehensive fieldwork experience by addressing commonly overlooked areas.
If you’re a supervisor looking to offer a more comprehensive, practical, and supportive supervision experience, check out our BCBA® Fieldwork Supervision Curriculum. It’s designed to guide trainees through essential competencies while building the real-world skills they’ll need on day one. This curriculum addresses these common gaps in supervision and more.
