Monthly Archives: June 2026

Working with Parents as a BCBA

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By Sam Blanco, PhD, LBA, BCBA-D

I’ve been working with families with autism for over 25 years, and have witnessed firsthand the major shifts in provision of ABA services. We’re living in a time where far more families have access to services, but as the services have become more available the human connection seems to have gotten lost.

I’d like to take a little time to consider how you can approach your work as a BCBA given the very real barriers in place to building strong connections with parents and caregivers. Whether you’re working in a center where parents drop their kids off for services, working to provide in-person parent training once every week through in-home services, or trying to build a rapport via telehealth, there are strategies you can put in place to address the challenges discussed above.

  • Start off with a clear explanation of expectations. You need buy-in from the parents and caregivers to engage with parent sessions. Discuss with them their role in the provision of services. And ask them about why they sought out ABA services in the first place.  It can be useful to create your own simple parent contract that you go over and sign together about everyone’s expectations and roles.
  • Understand your parents. What are their priorities? Their values? Their concerns? An open dialogue should be occurring in which parents can share concerns about potential interventions as well as ideas they may have. Some ideas for structuring this might include, introductory parent surveys about their expectations and wishes for surveys, having parents write a mission statement about their overall goal for services, or sitting down to align on priorities for all the skills they may want to focus on.
  • Identify where you and the parents align. You need to ensure you and the parents are on the same page about expectations across the board, as well as treatment priorities. By now, you’re probably seeing that all of this is about communication communication communication. When you’re discussing an intervention, you should be checking for alignment on the goal itself, prompting, the timing of interventions, settings for interventions, and reinforcers. Be detailed!
  • Lead your team with intention. Think beyond insurance requirements and IEPs. Considering the values and priorities of the parents, what do you need to focus on for each session. Be clear about the goal of each session. It’s not simply a parent training session or supervision session. There should be one or more goals you can clearly define and understand how you intend to achieve those goals in each session.
  • Check in. Once you have established expectations and alignment, check in on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) about expectations, priorities, values, and concerns.

About the Author

Sam has been working with children with autism for 25 years. She loves working with new BCBAs and students pursuing their BCBAs. She is the Chief Clinical Officer at BK Behavior.

Introducing: Socially Savvy Second Edition!

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By James T. Ellis, PhD, BCBA-D and Christine Almeida, MSEd, EdS, BCBA

Image by Chessie Almeida

Hi! Hello! Welcome to the Socially Savvy Second Edition!

Almost 20 years ago, we (Christine and Jim) decided to develop a social-skills assessment, which eventually became Socially Savvy. At the time, we were working together as BCBAs with 3- to 5-year-olds in a public preschool program. Thanks to Christine’s creativity and “let’s just do it” attitude, and Jim’s methodical, sometimes perfectionist approach, the project took about five years. Actually, closer to eight—but who’s counting?

With the support and guidance of Julie Azuma and the incredible team at Different Roads to Learning, it all came together. Socially Savvy has always been something we are incredibly proud of.

When we finally finished, we had poured so much time and thought into every detail that our immediate reaction was, “That’s it. Let’s never write anything again.” And yet, here we are—with the second edition of Socially Savvy just published.

So what could have possibly compelled us to take this on again?

Even after completing the first edition, we both found ourselves constantly noticing new ideas—teaching methods, activities, games—and quietly collecting them. We agreed we wouldn’t revisit such a large project unless we truly had meaningful new material. Over time, that material grew: new games (check), a more efficient way of grouping children (check), updated recommendations for books and practical tips for teachers (check).

But none of those alone would have been enough to bring us back to the drawing board.

What truly motivated us was the evolution of the field—particularly its growing embrace of neurodiversity. That shift prompted us to take a deeper, more critical look at our original work. Had it held up? What needed to change?

We felt strongly that Socially Savvy needed to more clearly reflect a neurodiversity-affirming perspective—not just in the language we use when working with autistic individuals, but also in what we target and how we approach teaching. This meant going through the manual line by line—updating approaches, incorporating new strategies, and removing practices that no longer align with feedback from autistic individuals and the broader community. Our goal was for our work to be a partnership, with autistic voices helping to lead the way. We hope this second edition reflects that commitment.

We recently asked a colleague what she was most looking forward to in the new edition—admittedly a big ask, since she hasn’t seen it yet. She generously shared:

“I am really looking forward to the release of the second edition of Socially Savvy. It sounds like this update truly aligns with the direction the field has been moving—especially the emphasis on neurodiversity-affirming supports and more naturalistic, engaging teaching strategies. Tools like visual supports and interactive games can make a big difference in generalization and motivation, particularly in group-based social skills work.”

We’re proud of this second edition, and we hope it delivers on expectations like these. More than anything, we’re excited to hear from you. So many of you have shared feedback and encouragement over the years, and we truly value it. We look forward to hearing your thoughts once again.

About the Authors

James T. Ellis, Ph.D., BCBA-D
James (Jim) Ellis earned his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from West Virginia University and is a licensed psychologist and board-certified behavior analyst. For over 30 years, Dr. Ellis has provided services for children with autism spectrum disorders and their families. In 2008, he helped found the Step by Step School for Children with Autism in Guyana, South America and in 2012, he founded Step by Step Behavioral Solutions, through which he provided consultation and therapeutic support to individuals with autism spectrum disorders and their families. Currently, Dr. Ellis works in a public school, supervising a group of behavior analysts and overseeing programming for autistic students. Dr. Ellis has written articles for professional journals and presented at local, regional, national, and international levels on topics including play intervention, providing effective consultative services, and supporting children’s social skills development.

Christine Almeida, Ms.Ed., Ed.S., BCBA
Christine Almeida earned her M.S.Ed. in Special Education and Ed.S in Behavioral Education from Simmons College in Boston. Ms. Almeida is a practicing board-certified behavior analyst in the Boston area who has worked in both private and public schools. She currently provides oversight of services for young children with autism spectrum disorders for a public school. Ms. Almeida has presented workshops at the local, regional, and national levels on the subjects of educational assessment, play intervention, and social skills.