Parent and Caregiver Training
It can be incredibly intimidating to lead a parent or caregiver training session when you’re fresh out of grad school and have limited experience to your name. Even as an experienced BCBA, I still occasionally struggle with feelings of doubt. Often times you may find yourself wondering if you’re qualified to be giving advice to seasoned parents and caregivers.
You are.
You worked your butt off in grad school to learn the ins-and-outs of ABA, and those four letters following your name are proof that you are fully qualified to be giving guidance and advice to those who are not familiar with ABA. You have dedicated the time, collected all those indirect hours, and are so incredibly knowledgeable in your field.
You are in your client’s life to help shape not only their own behavior, but the behavior of their caregivers.
Where do I begin?
Begin your caregiver training sessions with high-quality preparation.
Draft your service note before you've even started the meeting. Outline in your service note draft what you intends on a dressing during the meeting. This may include recent successes, important changes to treatment programming, and any questions you have for caregivers.
Having an outline of what you want to discuss will help you not forget any important details in the moment.
You will also need to prepare any materials that will be used during the training session. This may include printing informational handouts or gathering sample stimuli to model and roleplay scenarios with caregivers.
Review the treatment plan you wrote for your client, specifically the parent training goals. The parent training goals are what you'll use to help guide your parent training sessions.
You should be making progress on these goals at least once a month, if not more often, in preparation for the next authorization period. Insurance will ask you about what you've done to help prepare parents and caregivers for continuing care with your client. By recording progress on these goals each time you meet with parents and caregivers, you'll be prepared with notes and data to show insurance and show accountability for the goals you put in place at the beginning of services.
How do I pair with parents?
Just like with our clients, you as the BCBA need to pair with your clients’ caregivers.
Set aside the first few minutes of your parent training session to pair or re-pair with caregivers. Ask them how their week has been, what your client has been up to since you've last met, and any other questions relevant to the caregiver's life.
Don’t forget to rave all about the awesome progress your client (their child!) has made since the last time you met. Even if your client recently has been struggling with their therapy programming, try to find at least one positive thing to tell their caregivers about before you jump into the bulk of your meeting.
Show the parents and caregivers of your client that you care not only about the client themselves, but about their family and support system. Get to know each caregiver in your client's life to help build a relationship between all individuals involved in caregiver training sessions.
Building the relationship from the beginning will help you later down the road when you have to have difficult conversations with those same parents and caregivers.
What if I don’t know the answers to their questions?
You will never meet a BCBA who knows everything.
It can be easy to stress over the answers to every single question your caregivers will throw at you, and you may even find yourself on the receiving end of some disapproving looks by caregivers if you can’t fix the issue immediately.
But it is better to acknowledge what you don’t know than trying to come up with an answer that you’re not sure is the correct response. You risk potentially causing damage to your relationship with parents and caregivers if you give a made-up answer in an attempt to appear as if you have the answer to everything. If you’re in a tough situation and don’t know how to proceed, admit just that. You’re human, after all. And it’s important for parents to remember that!
A few responses you can give in this situation may include:
“While I don’t have an immediate answer, let me look into it and get back to you by Friday.”
“Hmmm that’s a great question, but I’m not sure I have the answer. I work with another BCBA who specializes in that topic, let me reach out to them and see if they can help answer this question.”
“That’s a really good question. I don’t know off the top of my head, but let me gather some resources for you later this afternoon that might help.”
A good response in a situation like this should include:
Acknowledgement that you do not have the answer
A commitment to take action and resolve the issue
Just remember, if you make a commitment to research more about the problem and get back with caregivers, do it!
Need Help Running Your Training Sessions?
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