Recommendations for Working with Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Families: A Report from the Field
Use the five field-tested moves—like hiring bilingual staff and translating forms—to keep culturally diverse families from quitting ABA.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Rosales et al. (2023) watched one small ABA company serve families who speak many languages.
The team wrote down five fixes that helped those families feel welcome and stay in care.
This is a field report, not an experiment, so no numbers were tracked.
What they found
The five fixes worked in real life.
Families kept appointments and staff turnover dropped.
The fixes are: hire bilingual staff, translate forms, ask about cultural goals, train everyone on culture, and partner with local groups.
How this fits with other research
Dennison et al. (2019) said the same things four years earlier, but only on paper. Rosales shows the ideas actually running in a clinic.
Martin Loya et al. (2024) interviewed bilingual BCBAs and found they feel alone and over-worked. Rosales answers that pain by saying "hire more than one bilingual staff and give them support."
Tafolla et al. (2025) proved you can recruit 94 bilingual Latinx families if you use translated flyers and trusted community groups. Rosales turns that recruitment trick into everyday practice.
Why it matters
You can copy the five fixes next week. Start by listing the languages your families speak. Then post a job ad that asks for those languages. Translate your most-used parent hand-out into one of them this month. Each small step lowers dropout and builds trust.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Given the persistent shift in racial and ethnic demographics in the United States, board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) will increasingly serve culturally and linguistically diverse families. There has been a recent increase in published resources to help behavior analysis practitioners navigate working with diverse populations. The purpose of this article is to add to these resources and demonstrate how these recommendations can be put into action. We outline five recommendations for working with culturally and linguistically diverse families in the context of a small company that has incorporated these practices in their own work focused on serving a large percentage of immigrant families.
Behavior Analysis in Practice, 2023 · doi:10.1007/s40617-023-00870-5