Why Your ABA Provider Should Know Their Lane

The field of Applied Behavior Analysis is facing a reckoning. States are either cutting access to ABA services because outcomes haven't justified the costs, or they're expanding who we can treat beyond autism - often without ensuring providers have the additional training needed. As a caregiver or consumer, you need to understand what this means for autistic individuals and how to identify providers who actually know what they're doing.

What BCBAs Are Actually Trained to Do

Here's the truth: we're behavior analysts, not autism specialists. We're not developmental therapists, occupational therapists, or speech-language pathologists. We analyze and modify behavior using evidence-based principles. That's our lane, and when we focus there and stay in it, we can be incredibly effective.

Let me show you what this looks like in practice with one of our clients who has fine motor deficits and significant communication barriers. There's a fundamental difference between drilling him on communication specifics versus focusing on the behavior of communication itself.

Staying in Our Lane: A Real Example

Instead of trying to teach specific speech sounds or dictating which communication method he should use, we focus on increasing the behavior of functional communication. We model different modes - signing, communication devices, verbal approximations - and encourage him to express his wants and needs using whatever method works best for him in the moment.

When we speak to him, we simultaneously use signing and a communication device, going back and forth between methods. But here's the key: he gets to choose how he communicates back to us. Our goal is reducing problematic behaviors like aggression, elopement, or property destruction by giving him effective ways to get what he wants and needs.

The Collaboration Piece

We don't pretend to be speech therapists. We defer to and collaborate with his SLP for the specifics on how to develop his language repertoire further. We work with his OT to understand how to support the fine motor skills needed for better signing approximations. We ensure that whatever methods we're using can feasibly transfer to his home by checking whether the technology is acceptable and supportable for his family.

We're working on the behavior of using various communication modes because behavior is our scope and our lane. We're proud of that expertise, and we work every day to improve our craft within those boundaries.

What This Means for Those we Serve

When your ABA provider stays in their lane, several things happen:

You get targeted expertise in behavior change, not watered-down attempts at multiple therapies. You get clear communication about what your provider can and cannot address. Other professionals on your team - OTs, SLPs, developmental pediatricians, special educators - can focus on their areas of expertise without overlap or confusion.

Most importantly, progress is more likely to transfer to real-life settings because we're addressing the underlying behavioral functions, not just surface-level compliance.

Red Flags to Watch For

Be concerned if your ABA provider claims they can address everything, refuses to collaborate with other professionals, or seems to be playing multiple therapeutic roles without additional credentials or training. If they're making claims about "curing" autism or promising outcomes that sound too good to be true, or telling you that other professionals wouldn't have anything to offer you, they've likely stepped outside their scope of practice.

The Bottom Line

Families and individuals with autism deserve providers who know what they do well and stick to it. When BCBAs stay in our lane - behavior analysis - and collaborate appropriately with other professionals, the result is focused, coordinated care needed to thrive.

The regulatory scrutiny our field is facing isn't because people don't understand ABA. It's because too many providers don't understand themselves. Choose providers who do.