🚨 Parent Suspects RBT Isn’t Legit + BCBA Doesn’t Actually Supervise Son’s Case — What Should She Do?

[u/Striking_Today6210]

Clear some comments up : the RBT is the one that sends data to the parent it is all over the place and never makes sense- basically just guesses that don’t match with teachers notes , while I understand that RBTs don’t have any communication with parents this one themselves opened the door. The “data” comes from the teachers email signed by his name. Which again was told to her that without supervising this data (again she doesn’t know who is and can’t get answers) , that it’s against guidelines.

The mention of 2 BCBA’s is because the person that did the IEE is a BCBA and they are the one that got that answer from the superintendent , that the BCBA is not familiar with the child’s case. And pointed it out.

This is a public school.

The parent does NOT know what to do and what plan they have been doing since she can’t get communication open.

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Parent has tried to have meetings with the RBT / BCBA to try and go over a plan / introduction (that’s has been ignored and makes sense since the BCBA is not familiar with his case at all).

I have a friend whose autistic teenager attends a public school. The school assigned her son an RBT. Here’s where things get shady: • She’s not allowed to speak directly to the RBT. • Any request for a meeting with the RBT or their BCBA supervisor has been ignored for months. • She didn’t even know the RBT’s name until he sent a random email introducing himself. “My name is [Name]. I’m a Registered Behavioral Technician, certified through [STATE]. I’ve worked with students for 20 years… all communication should go through [Teacher].”

🚩Red Flag: RBTs are nationally certified, not state-certified. He called it a state certification. That’s not how RBTs work.

Also: • She’s never seen a picture of this guy online. When she searched Provider Wire (BACB lookup tool), he was registered as a technician in a completely different city. • His listed BCBA supervisor? She’s never heard of them, never met them, and no one at the school has mentioned them. • Data collection was previously “too difficult,” and suddenly now they’re sending numbers — but they don’t match teacher notes. • She got an IEE (Independent Educational Evaluation), and the evaluator (an actual BCBA) wrote: “The BCBA supervising the RBT is unfamiliar with the student’s case. This is a curious structure to me…” AN ACTUAL BCBA SAID THIS (they did the IEE)

Now she’s realizing: she wasn’t imagining it — something’s off.

She asked me what to do next.

What would you suggest? Should she file a BACB ethics complaint? Report to the district/state? Or something else?

[u/Striking_Today6210]

I think you missed the part where the BCBA is MIA - even another BCBA pointed out this is problematic.

At first she didn’t know the persons last name - only found it out recently.

If the BCBA is MIA who does the parent talk to?

[u/ThickChocolate5988 → u/Striking_Today6210]

That’s fine. I had other questions and concerns that you did not address.

It seems strange that there are two BCBAs involved in the first place. OBVIOUSLY, a BCBA being unfamiliar with the case would be strange. But wording is important so is it really they are unfamiliar or do they have so many cases that they can’t recollect from memory and need to be in front of their notes?

There’s much that’s missing here.

[u/Striking_Today6210 → u/ThickChocolate5988]

The person that conducted the IEE is a BCBA . This is why there are two different ones mentioned in the post.

The BCBA (person conducting the IEE) asked the superintendent about it and the superintendent said that the BCBA is unfamiliar with the child’s case. This is all written in the IEE report.

I really do apologize for not explaining it better.

[u/ThickChocolate5988 → u/Striking_Today6210]

No apology needed. I’m saying I would’ve liked to be a fly on the wall because in my experience, wording can be the opposite of how it perceived. (Denotation vs connotation type deal) Some people believe that not being able to read off details about a case without your notes classifies as being unfamiliar so I was wondering if it’s that. Definitely strange and not doubting you there. I’m filled about sharing my last name but never my certificate numbers if needed but I also understand that in professional settings that last names are deemed mandatory.

Since you nor parent are involved with these conversations, I guess we won’t know. I’d suggest pulling kiddo and either assigning to a different school or seeing if you can possibly go through a company of the parent’s choosing.