A Day in the Life of a Behavior Technician
A lot of people often do not know what goes on in the day-to-day life of a behavior technician. Whether that be the parents whose children receive services or an eager individual ready to enter the field. Let me help you out with this, as I was also curious about the daily life of a behavior technician when I entered the field! Some of the many things that behavior technicians help kiddos with throughout our daily sessions include effective morning routines (i.e. brushing teeth, combing hair), communication skills, social skills, and many more!
Morning Sessions
For some of us our days can begin fairly early, with some session beginning as early as 7 AM! Depending on how far your technician has to drive that means we are up and ready for the day at a pretty early time. Morning sessions can often happen for younger kiddos who are not quite in school yet, or for before school sessions, either way the first session of the morning is a great start to the day. Some of the stuff that we work on that is specific to morning sessions can include creating an effective morning routine for kiddos!
After a morning session most behavior technicians have a few hours off before they start to see kids after school. This means that some of us get about a two hour lunch break to do whatever needs to be done for the day. A lot of tech’s are also going to school while working (Yay for continuing education!) so this is a great time to study and finish up coursework. Another great use of this time is to make token boards for kids or create other fun materials!
Evening Sessions
After this break most tech’s continue to work from the afternoon to the evening, generally between 3-730 PM. Most of these kiddos are just getting out of school. Time for fun after school sessions! This means tech’s are often helping kids get their snacks and making sure they are ready to work and have fun! This is also a great time for the behavior technician and the kids to work in the community, and often times the technician can help implement programs at school functions and sports practices. By the time evening sessions happen tech’s often help with dinnertime routines and homework.
After all of the sessions for the day are over a behavior technician can expect to be home around 8 PM. Even though some of the days might be long and include a lot of driving, it is worth it when you get to spend the day helping enrich the lives of the kiddos around you!
