Thank you so much for taking the time to explain this. Your perspective is very helpful, especially the difference between the clinical and school-based roles. As a BCBA, I have already experienced situations where there is limited collaboration from school staff when trying to support a student’s behavior plan. I had thought that working directly within the public school system might make collaboration and implementation somewhat easier, so your experience has given me a much more realistic perspective. Your point about the BCBA often functioning more as a consultant, supporting teachers, paraprofessionals, and RBTs without always having the authority to ensure recommendations are implemented, was especially valuable for me to hear. I am still very interested in school-based ABA, particularly the opportunity to collaborate with educational teams and participate in FBAs and student support planning. Your advice has been extremely helpful as I consider this transition. Thank you again for sharing your experience.

Thank you for sharing this. I’m currently working with a student in a general education classroom, and I’ve been finding it challenging to help the school team consistently implement timely breaks, reinforcement, and other function-based supports. I’m very interested in learning more about the FAIR Plan model because it sounds like a practical way to translate behavior-analytic recommendations into strategies that teachers can realistically use in the classroom. I would love to hear how others have incorporated FAIR Plans into school-based practice.

Thank you, Timothy. In my experience, one of the biggest barriers has been obtaining consistent collaboration and implementation from school staff, especially when I am supporting the student from outside the school system. Sometimes classroom responses unintentionally strengthen the very behaviors we are trying to reduce. For example, when task refusal or escalation results in the assignment being removed, significantly delayed, or the student being allowed to avoid the activity without an appropriate return-to-task plan, escape-maintained behavior may be negatively reinforced. I have also encountered difficulty with reinforcement being delivered too late, limited access to appropriate breaks, or different staff members responding to the same behavior in different ways. As an outside BCBA, I can provide function-based recommendations and training, but I have limited control over what is implemented throughout the school day. That is one reason I’m interested in FAIR—it seems like it may provide a simpler, school-friendly structure for helping teachers understand not only what to do, but why timing, accommodations, and consistent responses matter.