Applied Behavior Analysts, PLLC

Applied Behavior Analysts did not begin in an office, with investors, or with a polished business plan. It began in my kitchen with a handful of stay-at-home moms. I had been given an opportunity, and I wanted to use it to serve the community that helped make that opportunity possible.

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This did not begin as a remote BCBA fieldwork opportunity. It did not begin with insurance-funded care or private-pay services. It began with me volunteering my time in my own community.

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I would not have had the opportunity to become a BCBA without the families and community members who trusted me, welcomed me into their lives, and allowed me to learn through meaningful work. I knew I had not reached that point by myself. When I found myself in a position to give something back, I believed I had a responsibility to do so.

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At first, the goal was simply to help families who needed support but had nowhere else to turn. Some did not have a qualifying diagnosis for their loved one. Some could not access insurance-funded services because of high co-pays. Some had been sitting on waitlists for months or even years. All that time their loved ones were suffering, caregivers were suffering, and I was tired of it.

 

Others were excluded because of their age, income, location, or the limited availability of providers in their area. I did not believe a family should have to meet a narrow set of requirements before someone was willing to listen and help.

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As I continued working with families, I became increasingly aware of another serious problem in our field. Graduate students were struggling to obtain meaningful fieldwork, particularly unrestricted experience that would prepare them for the actual responsibilities of becoming behavior analysts. Many were completing assignments disconnected from real people, receiving limited feedback, or spending most of their time in roles that did not teach them how to assess complex situations, work collaboratively with caregivers, or make responsible clinical decisions.

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I began to see how these two problems could be addressed together.

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Families needed access to behavior science, and future behavior analysts needed opportunities to learn how to use it responsibly. Trainees could receive meaningful, predominantly unrestricted fieldwork by helping us serve families under close BCBA supervision. Their supervision fees could then fund those services so that families would never be charged.

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That idea became the model behind Applied Behavior Analysts, PLLC.

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What began in my kitchen with one person volunteering his time has grown into a nationwide remote supervision program with approximately 75 trainees and eight BCBA supervisors. Together, we provide behavior-analytic support to nearly 100 families across three time zones, at no cost to the families we serve.

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Our trainees do not spend their fieldwork completing artificial assignments with no connection to the people they hope to serve. They listen to caregivers, study real behavioral concerns, analyze environmental variables, conduct research connected to actual cases, develop practical recommendations, create meaningful resources, review their own performance, and learn how to communicate behavior science in ways that families can understand and use.

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They also learn that serving a family requires more than knowing technical terminology. It requires humility, judgment, accountability, compassion, and a willingness to listen before offering an answer.

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I did not build Applied Behavior Analysts simply to help candidates accumulate hours or pass an exam. I built it to prepare thoughtful, ethical, capable behavior analysts who understand the responsibility that comes with being invited into another person’s life.

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Every trainee who joins this program becomes part of the mission that started in my kitchen. Their participation helps provide families with support they might otherwise never receive, while preparing the next generation of behavior analysts through work that is real, demanding, and deeply meaningful.

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This company was not built around billing codes, insurance requirements, or the ability to pay. It was built around service.

It began as my way of giving back to the community that gave so much to me. As we have grown, that purpose has never changed.