In March 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic shut down the world and it was the beginning of the end of my licensed family childcare centre. With children not attending, and then only a few children at a time, it was very hard to stay open, even with limited government supports.
During this time, my daycare was before and after school only. I loved being able to volunteer in the school library or my kids classrooms and go on field trips. But with the pandemic, parents were unable to be in the schools, so it was time to find something to do with my days. I found an ad online looking for a preschool support worker for a non verbal autistic 3 year old, and given my experience with my sons speech disorder and other children I've worked with over the years, I applied and connected with the child. While the preschool support position didn't work out (the school hired someone before the family could pass my name on), I did join the home therapy team. So I started looking into this type of work and 4 months later made the decision to close my family daycare and switch to BI full time.
What is a BI?
A Behavioural Interventionist is is someone who helps with behaviour in children. Behaviour Interventionists primarily work with children who have autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as with children with other developmental disabilities. The primary job of a behavioural interventionist is to execute individual autism treatment programs to help the child develop the skills they need to function in society and as an adult. Since every child’s ASD is different, these skills may include help with social skills, help with learning, and help with motor control for repetitive movements. For children in school, a focus can be to help them reduce disruptive behaviors in the classroom. The programs are written by a Board Certified Behavioural Analyst (BCBA) or Behaviour Consultant and monitored by them.
What does my work look like?
To start, a lot of my work with a child looks like play. It is important to have a good relationship with the child so that when we start working on harder skills, they want to work with me and know that I'm fun. Once I've developed a relationship with the child, we will introduce the programs that have been written. These vary greatly depending on the child's needs. For non verbal children this includes a lot of speech modelling and repetition, as we try to get the child to use their words to ask for something. Some more traditional table work programs include imitation or matching. Some play based programs include following instructions, gross or fine motor skills or peer interactions. Typically a session is 2 hours long with the first 15 minutes being preparation and set up, and the last 15 minutes being notes and data charting. Some parents stay, some like to watch and be involved in the session, but most of the time, they either leave the home to get errands done, or they do other things around the house.
What experience do you need?
Typically, none. Each consultant will train you for the programs that they run and how they take and chart their data. You will definitely need to have experience and a passion for working with children, especially more challenging children. Patience is required, but don't think about your patience with your own children, as my own children will tell you, this does NOT translate the same when working with other people's kids. Any experience with special needs children will help. My son has a speech disorder and the skills I learned by going through speech therapy with him from the age of 2 to 6 has been a HUGE benefit when I work with the non verbal kiddos.
In addition to the above, I do have a Bachelor's Degree with an Early Learning Minor. Most of my courses focused on Education and Psychology including Child Psychology, Developmental Disorders, Research Methods in Psychology etc. I didn't even realize it back then but I did basically train to work in this field. My end goal when I was in school was to be a high school counsellor. But my exposure to the field of ABA (Applied Behaviour Analysis) and knowledge of discreet trials and all of the language that is used in this field really did help. Most of this is always covered in a consultants training, so really no previous education is an absolute necessity. If you have the passion and the patience and can connect with the child, you can definitely be successful in this line of work.
How do I get a job?
Right now, in BC, each family with an ASD diagnosis is given funding to use for their child's therapy. Typically, the family will hire a BCBA (Board Certified Behaviour Analyst) who will then help them put a team together. Once a service provider is 'hired', the family will submit their information to the Autism Funding Unit Department (AFU) and that service provider can bill monthly directly to the government. Getting the funding approved and set up, and then getting each service provider set up does take about 1-2 months, but once everything is set up, the process is quite simple. There is an online portal where I submit my invoices, and I am paid within about a week. Each child's funding agreement will reset every year at the end of their birthday month, but new forms can be submitted for each service provider and then billing can resume for another year.
SO, as each family hires their own team, you need to connect with families or consultants who recommend you to their families. When I started, I found work through Facebook. There are definitely Facebook groups to help connect service providers with families in need, and there are a LOT of families in need. Now that I've worked with different consultants, I typically find new families through my consultants, as they take on new clients and feel like my skills and personality might fit well with a child.
What does your schedule look like?
When I started in this field, I still ran a Before and After School daycare so I only ran sessions close to home and only worked a 9-11 and 12-2 session each day. When I decided to close my daycare, I added a 3-5 session each day and occasionally work an evening or weekend session. There is a lot of flexibility in this field which appealed to me since my daughter was starting high school. As a French Immersion student, she didn't go to the closest school, and getting to and from school on her own wasn't an option. So now I work 3:30-5 sessions on the days when I have to pick her up and get her home. I also work very close to home, with most of my sessions being less than a 10 minute drive from my house. If you aren't wanting to commit to changing careers right away, there definitely enough need that you can work just evenings or weekends, and take on maybe 1-2 children to start to see if it is a fit.
How much do you make?
When I started, each family paid me around $20/hour. This is before taxes and as an independent contractor, we do have to make sure to put money aside for when tax time comes! As my experience and skills improved, some families have given me raises, of a few dollars at a time and now all of my families pay me more than when I started! I also ask for a higher starting rate when starting with a new family because I know that I have a lot of skills and experience. On some teams, I have taken over administrative duties or training of new team members and with this also comes a higher rate. There are also options for more training and moving into more of a consultant role. A Board Certified Assistant Behaviour Analyst (BCaBA) can make between $40-$80/hour and a BCBA will typically make $120+/hour. I know myself and know that my true passion is with being on the floor with kiddos, so I know I will probably never move into a full consultant role, plus that takes a masters degree which I am not wanting to do right now, but I am looking into working towards BCaBA as an assistant.
When I look into what I am taking home from this job, I actually make more than my daycare was making before I switched. The daycare wasn't full, so per hour, I was making much less. My home daycare was me plus up to 7 children when this is one on one. On long days, I would typically work with those children for 8-10 hours but BI sessions are only 2 hours long. The work is definitely more demanding, but it is also so much more rewarding. We collect data on our programs and can see the progress that these children are making. Some days I get yelled at, spat on or hit, but most days I get cuddles, smiles and songs.
I want to see if Behavioural Intervention would be a fit!
Click on this link and fill out the short form. I know many consultants looking for BIs and if you aren't in my area I can connect you with some Facebook groups where work is posted.
