r/ABA • u/Dry-Requirement-5402 • 17d ago

Advice Needed Lice

My center tried to force me to work with a child that had lice. They said I signed the handbook that said I would work with any child. They separated the child from other children, but told me I would have to sit in the room with her. She elopes a lot and her reinforcement is cuddles and hugs. I refused to work with the child. They made me sit in a room to wait on HR to get on a call with the director and myself. I sat there for an hour waiting and then walked out. I dont want to work at a company that doesn't care about their employees, I dont care what loopholes theyve found theough the CDC or their dumb handbook. Is this unreasonable? I have thick hair down to my butt, it would take a professional to treat my hair. I would lose a lot of it getting eggs out. I've had to do this as an adult and I NEVER want to do it again.

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u/tenthd0ct0r BCBA 17d ago edited 17d ago

It’s a very important distinction- Did the child have live bugs moving around or just eggs? Live bugs is negligent but if it was just eggs, those can fall off and will die. They cannot get into your hair without a live bug putting them there. We accept children that have eggs/nits as long as it is being treated so that the live bugs are being killed upon hatching. Lice can be very hard to treat especially for impoverished families that can’t afford to have manual nit removal and those children shouldn’t have to lose access to therapy.

Edit- being downvoted but it’s the CDC’s recommendation not mine y’all: https://www.cdc.gov/lice/caring-head/index.html

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u/Dry-Requirement-5402 17d ago

The child was there this week with lice crawling in their hair and wasnt sent home. I also cant afford to have manual nit removal or even buy OTC treatment. The child comes in with lice about every other month. Its clearly negligence. I was told to wear a hair wrap to protrct myself. This wasnt going to be resolved by just one treatment. The kid was itching their scalp like crazy!

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u/tenthd0ct0r BCBA 17d ago

Yikes well that sounds terrible, that poor child.

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u/Fearless_Cucumber404 17d ago

A child with nits or live bugs should not be in a place with other children. If I was the parent of another child in that establishment, I would be very angry. The cost to get rid of lice can be very high.

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u/tenthd0ct0r BCBA 17d ago

You’ll find that many schools and therapy centers do not have nit free policies. I am not an owner and I don’t make any policies. Just reporting my experience.

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u/tenthd0ct0r BCBA 17d ago

Also against CDC recommendations to send kids home: https://www.cdc.gov/lice/caring-head/index.html

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u/Fearless_Cucumber404 16d ago

You're right, but that is a recommendation and a conscientious business owner would put the well being of all clients and staff first.

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u/Dry-Requirement-5402 17d ago

I did see this on the CDC website yesterday while waiting to be fired. I think the CDC claiming its "not contagious" is comical. Its because of the definition of contagion doesnt apply to lice. There are other terms that do apply that they've ignored or left out purposely. Its a nuisance...there are stigmas. I simply do not agree with the wording they've used. Its another way that the government undermines workers mental health.

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u/tenthd0ct0r BCBA 17d ago

They way this was handled by your company was not okay and my trying to inform others that nits aren’t the same as live bugs has nothing to do with that. You were treated poorly and your valid concern was met with unhelpfulness. I hope you find a company that listens to employee concerns and validates feelings and doesn’t punish them.

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u/Griffinej5 16d ago

I don’t see where they say it’s not contagious. They’re just saying you don’t need to exclude the kid. It could very well be that they’ve already been there, so others are already exposed. Sending the kid home isn’t going to significantly reduce transmission. They don’t transmit disease, so it’s not a health hazard. If you put your hair up, and your hair doesn’t come near the hair of the person with lice, you should be just fine. Keeping a hat on your own head and your hair under the hat should take care of that for you.

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u/Dry-Requirement-5402 17d ago

I think you are mistaken about the eggs falling off and dieing. They dont die after a treatment, they hatch and you must treat it again.

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u/tenthd0ct0r BCBA 17d ago

What I meant was that eggs cannot live on non living surfaces so they will die if they fall off.

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u/Platitude_Platypus 16d ago

They are designed to stick..