So applied behavior analysis taking a science has been around for decades. They discover why people do things, how people respond to reinforcement, how they respond to their environment to improve lives and improve our relationships with other people. The work that behavior analysts will do is set short-term increments, short-term goals such that they can then contact those larger, later reinforcers.
So we just find ways of creating treatment plans to manipulate the environment to promote learning. My job basically is providing therapy to individuals with developmental disabilities. I can look at the science of behavior and apply it to physical health changes. So traditional psychology is a lot of talk therapy. It's based on cognitions on what we like to think of as private events.
We focus more on the outwardly observable objective aspects. So if we're treating depression, it would be seeing the actual changes in behavior like what positive things is that person engaging what have they done how is their sleep and that's that's where we can start to bridge that gap of the private events versus the outwardly observable it's just making everything measurable based on behaviors There are four levels of Applied Behavior Analytics. The entry level is the RBT, or Registered Behavior Technician, and works one-on-one with clients and requires a high school education or a GED.
You will usually be paid upwards of $35,000. thousand a year. The next level is the BCA BA or board-certified assistant behavior analyst and works alongside a BCBA supervisor. This position requires a bachelor's degree in behavior analysis education or psychology.
and typically pays $40,000 to $75,000 a year. If you choose to further your education, you can become a BCBA or Board Certified Behavior Analyst. As a BCBA, you will create tailored treatment plans for your client's needs. This will require a master's degree or higher and will typically pay around $75,000 to $100,000 a year.
If you want to become a BCBA-D or Doctoral Level Board Certified Behavior Analyst, you will need 10 years of experience as a BCBA. as well as a PhD. BCBA D's typically earn a hundred thousand dollars or more a year. In order to open your own clinic you must be a BCBA or a BCBA D. When you teach a skill to a child and you spend a long time trying to teach it to them and then there's that. One moment where you can see it clicks and then they can implement that skill in their life and you know that you've made their day easier.
My favorite part is when I'll see the kids come in and I've been working with them for a little bit and we've implemented a couple different changes and then the kiddo comes in and... He almost can't even sit down before he starts telling me all the cool things that he's done. Just seeing the kids get really excited about those health behavior changes because it's something that I love to see but also the parents love to see it too. I mean it's so important to the individual and the family like seeing that like I get I finally have my kid can say I love you. So when we're looking at what are the different worlds, what are the different professions that behavior analysts can be getting into to make an impact, it's really limitless in terms of making meaningful change in the community.
When it comes to ABA, behaviors are seemingly infinite, so it's just a matter of applying our science to those. So if I were to go to a factory floor, I can use the science of behavior and the science of behavior change to set up different contingencies. to make sure that those workers are doing everything that they need to do to keep themselves safe. There are new things like treating depression, gambling addiction, but also seeing how we can promote things like social acceptance, like reducing racism, like decreasing poverty, decreasing addiction, things like that.
Because they're all centered around behaviors and finding how it's just rarely applicable in everyday life.