There's More to Running an ABA Business than Being a Great BCBA belongs in serious BCBA study because it shapes whether behavior-analytic decisions stay useful once they leave a clean training example and enter clinic sessions and day-to-day service delivery. In There's More to Running an ABA Business than Being a Great BCBA, for this course, the practical stakes show up in better performance, lower drift, and more sustainable team development, not in abstract discussion alone.
Provider: BehaviorLive — via Florida Association of Behavior Analysis
Take This Course →Including ethics, supervision, and topics like this one. New live CEU every Wednesday.
Join Free →The "business" of ABA is booming. It is not uncommon to see a newly certified BCBA hang a shingle to open their own ABA service delivery organization. Private equity has also entered the ABA space as evidenced by acquisitions of small to mid-sized ABA providers by large organizations such as The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD), Action Behavior Centers, and Acorn Behavioral Health. With the growth of the business of ABA comes challenges such as clinician turnover, RBT Training, legal compliance, supervision of trainees who are pursuing their BCBA credential, and potential fraud. The profession has also seen high-profile businesses failures. This session will cover the challenges and complexities of running an ABA business with a focus on the essential business elements needed to keep the doors open. Topics to be covered include managing a business in an ethical manner, how to grow the business, the need for co-developed policies and procedures that align with the accrediting body, and understanding compliance with payers. It will also cover various legal and employment-related issues such as compliance with Department of Labor regulations, wage and hour laws, and the misclassification of RBTs and BCBAs as independent contractors. Finally, time will be allowed for questions from the audience. Disclaimer: This session will not prepare you to become a business owner. However, this session could be used in conjunction with additional training, supervision, and mentorship.
| Certification Body | Credits | Type |
|---|---|---|
| BACB® | 1 | General |
| COA | 1 | — |
| FL MH/PSY | 0 | — |
Melissa Olive, Ph.D., BCBA-D, LBA is the Executive Director of FABA and Professor of Practice and Online Program Director at Simmons University. Missy previously served as the Chief Clinical Officer of Adapt for Life as well as Cultivate Behavioral Health and Education. Cultivate acquired her company, Applied Behavioral Strategies (ABS) that Missy founded and directed ABS from 2010 until its acquisition in 2020. Missy also worked at The Center for Autism and Related Disorders (CARD) in their Austin, TX and Larchmont, NY offices. Prior to working in the ABA space, Missy spent 9 years conducting research and training special education teachers and behavior analysts at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Nevada, Reno. Missy also serves as the Vice President of the Progressive Behavior Analyst Autism Council (PBAAC). Missy previously served as Co-Director of Public Policy for FABA and she served on the CTABA Board of Directors from 2016-2021. She chaired the CTABA Public Policy and Legislative Outreach Committee (PPLO formerly called Legislative Committee) from 2016-2022. She previously served as a Member at Large on the Executive Council for CTABA from 2011-2013. Missy also served on the Executive Board as a Member at Large for the Division of Early Childhood (DEC), a sub-division of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and as President of the Texas Council for Exceptional Children (TX-CEC). Missy currently serves as a Guest Reviewer for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders and the Review Journal on Autism and Developmental Disorders. She also served on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Early Intervention for 8 years, Topics in Early Childhood Special Education for 10 years, and Young Exceptional Children for 12 years. Missy has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters focusing on assessment and treatment of challenging behaviors, communication intervention, feeding disorders, and ethical issues for behavior analysts. She is also the recipient of over $1.6 million in federal and state funding for research and training in the field. Her current interests lie in the areas of assessment and treatment of feeding disorders, assessment and treatment of severe challenging behavior, ethical issues in the delivery of ABA services, clinical compliance of ABA services, and ABA services in school settings. Missy is the guardian of her youngest brother, Mac, who has lived with Missy or in residential services near her since he was 13 years old. She is married to Norm and is also the bonus mom of two amazing women. When not working, you can find Missy and Norm on a boat, out on their bikes, or traveling.
Dig into the research behind this topic — plain-English summaries written for BCBAs.
280 research articles with practitioner takeaways
279 research articles with practitioner takeaways
258 research articles with practitioner takeaways
You earn CEUs from a dozen different places. Upload any certificate — from here, your employer, conferences, wherever — and always know exactly where you stand. Learning, Ethics, Supervision, all handled.
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All behavior-analytic intervention is individualized. The information on this page is for educational purposes and does not constitute clinical advice. Treatment decisions should be informed by the best available published research, individualized assessment, and obtained with the informed consent of the client or their legal guardian. Behavior analysts are responsible for practicing within the boundaries of their competence and adhering to the BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts.