Ep. 67: The Role of a BCBA on RTI & MTSS Teams in Schools

Being a BCBA in a public school means more than behavior plans—it’s about collaboration, data, and supporting teachers on RTI and MTSS teams. In this episode, we share tips for building relationships, starting with Tier 1 strategies, and making sure your role feels valuable (not overwhelming!) to your general education colleagues.

🔑 Key Takeaways
• Start simple: Review Tier 1 supports before jumping to FBAs or complex plans.
• Bring tools: Have ready-to-use data sheets and low-prep interventions for teachers.
• Collaborate first: Ask teachers what’s already working and build from there.
• Show, don’t tell: Bring visual examples like token boards or contracts to spark ideas.
• Build trust: Celebrate teacher wins and keep follow-ups short, consistent, and encouraging.

📦 Resources & Links
• Free Tier 1 Interventions Checklist → https://abainschool.com/tier1
• Related Episodes: Ep. 58 Bridging the Gap → https://abainschool.com/ep58 and Ep. 14 Life as a School Based BCBA guest → https://abainschool.com/ep14

🤝 Join Us
💬 Share how you support RTI/MTSS teams in the Misfit Behaviors Facebook Group → https://abainschool.com/misfits
🌟 Subscribe: Don’t miss future episodes with practical BCBA strategies → https://www.youtube.com/@themisfitbehaviorists
📢 Share this episode with your RTI team, BCBA colleagues, or administrators to spark collaboration and support!

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• Caitlin | Beltran’s Behavior Basics
• Sami | B.A.S.S.

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Transcript

Ep. 67: The Role of a BCBA on RTI & MTSS Teams in Schools 

[00:00:00] Intro: Welcome to the Misfit Behaviorist Podcast. Join your hosts, Audra Jensen and Caitlin Beltran here to bring you evidence-based strategies with a student-centered focus. Let's get started.

[00:00:12] Caitlin: Welcome back to Misfit Behaviorist podcast. I'm Caitlin and joined by Audra. Tonight we are talking about being a BCBA in a school setting, and specifically serving on your RTI response to intervention or MTSS multi-tiered system of supports, whatever your district is calling it nowadays on that committee and really serving as the role of not just BCBA, working in potentially self-contained classrooms or working with primarily autistic learners, but being that behavior specialist as a support role to your general education teachers. Audra, is this something you have had the opportunity to do in district?

[00:00:51] Audra: Yeah, there's been a number of different collaboration roles that I've served in and it's varied a lot from teams who know what I do, how I can be of service, and also those who have no idea what the role is, going into a district that never had the role before and they've just meandered around, and so having to do a lot of education of how I can be of service. And then there've been some times where you're not wanted, you know, and they've already got it all worked out.

[00:01:21] Caitlin: And so you're like, am I supposed to be here?

[00:01:24] Audra: Do you really want my service? And just being able to form bonds with people and to show them the value that you can bring, and then the whole point is you are hoping to alleviate stress in their lives. I think once they get the feeling that we're actually there to help, then that's the goal.

[00:01:42] Caitlin: Right. And so I know for me, like when I first started in the public school setting, I was very comfortable working with special education teachers. I was very comfortable working with the students, but that this role specifically for me was new and different. And so it was overwhelming, like you said, being the person on that committee where everyone would turn to when someone started talking about a behavioral student or somebody with needs greater than just academics. Not to say that we can't have input and academic concerns too, but we were the point person for those other kind of conversations. And I think over time I grew to understand like why our role really does matter and hopefully we're seeing more of this happen in public schools because it is important to bring that kind of function based mindset to the team. And I think sometimes nowadays I'm seen as more than just the behavior idea person, someone who also brings us back to the idea of like data collection, like we have a lot of strengths in that area, and even if it is a more general education, academic struggle, we can still bring a lot of tools and insight to the data collection process of that kind of intervention.

[00:02:47] So a couple tips I have developed just from working on these committees. Tip number one, make sure we're really reviewing those tier one strategies with teachers and our committees before moving on to those tier two or three strategies. So what I mean by this is if you have a teacher coming in and they're referring a student because they're not getting work done, or opting out of routines and things like that, refusing to transition, are we doing a kind of little lighty audit of the classroom routine before we're moving into a very complicated behavior plan? Because for me, when I first started, my mindset goes right toward that plan and maybe like an FBA and data and things like that, really just kind of doing an overview, with the teacher in a collaborative way, sharing tier one strategies like are we using predictable routines? Are we using visual schedules? What kind of praise are we using? And maybe observing the classroom and working with that teacher a little bit first before just putting all your attention on that student and seeing if they need a more complicated plan than that.

[00:03:48] Audra: I think that's a really good place to start. There have been a couple districts that started me being the first one in there, this is kind of the biggest thing, is they thought initially that every little behavior then went directly to this person that the district has now hired. And then so having to come up with a system that kind of flows behaviors through a system, the tier one, the tier two, the tier three, because you can't, I mean literally you can't, even if you're no the most amazing BCBA that's ever lived, you cannot address every behavior that comes up in every classroom.

[00:04:19] So, yeah, starting with those early behavior strategies that every teacher knows about and should be using to prevent the constant call that you're gonna get for every little behavior and expecting you to come in with the magic wand.

[00:04:31] Caitlin: I feel like I hear it a lot when districts first start employing BCBAs and it's like, before you were here, our teachers knew how to do all this, but now that you're here, wait, pick up the phone, let's pull them. And it is, it can be awkward because you don't obviously want it to go in a condescending way that seems like, are you even using praise? You know, do you even have schedules up on the wall? Things like that. So making it really collaborative. Course, we're gonna talk more about forging relationships and things like that, but really kind of opening it up to like an honest. Open review of like, oh, I noticed this student when I was there seemed to really like this praise you were giving them. Like, is that something we can build in more frequently? Just as simple as that. Again, just making sure you've overturned every stone in that kind of tier one easy to fix bucket before we move on.

[00:05:15] And along with that, I would say tip number two is come with some of those data tools we were talking about. That's where our strength is, come with those ready to go. So bringing those like simple no prep tracking tools for whether it's just like a quick probe for a skill the teacher could check off daily or like a frequency count of like how many times did that behavior occur per day so that when we're asking these teachers to come back with more information, we're helping them in that process. Also really giving them the whole foundation. I can't actively go in the classroom every day and check it off myself probably, but I can do a lot of the leg work and a lot of the foundational work to take that off their plate at least and just framing it with that data driven mindset of , this isn't just my idea that you think like that, I think we should track the data, but I know we're part of this committee that's looking for data, it's gonna strengthen our findings, and I have three or four sheets that you can look from and pick one. I find that to be helpful sometimes because then again, you're doing a lot of the legwork for the teachers and you're also giving them some choice in the matter as well.

[00:06:18] Audra: Yeah, and I would add, a lot of teachers that I've worked in gen ed, they already have some system that they've started, even if they're just jotting down notes, if they have a behavior issue, they're almost always doing something. I like to take whatever they're doing and just try to figure out a way to keep having them do the same way or something so that the bridge for them doing a different kind of data or something is really easy for them to transition to and they can feel validated that this is useful information that I've been collecting. So I always like to ask them what they've been doing, how they've been doing, how they feel it's going, and then mold my data expectation on them of where they are. We do this with students, we figure out where they're at, and then you build from there.

[00:06:56] Caitlin: That's such a great point. Leading into my tip number three, similar to how we can bring a little toolbox of data tool. Similarly just bringing that kind of menu of intervention ideas. So not saying that there's a one size fits all, but some of those big themes we're always gonna be used are positive reinforcement, expectations, working toward goals, things like that. So can I bring a sample token board, a sample check-in, checkout, behavior contract, and if I'm on a committee for say, third, fourth, and fifth graders, there's only going to be so many under this sun that I can individualize it for this learner later on, but there's only so many possible ideas that I could even bring to give that teacher an idea of different kind of interventions that we could do and keeping them really low effort as much as possible. But again, if I can show a teacher what it looks like rather than just explain it, I find that helps really move us along quicker.

[00:07:52] Audra: It's having that example in front of them because I'm a visual learner myself, and so you can tell me something, but until I see it actually done myself, I don't really get it. And so I think a lot of our teachers are that way, too.

[00:08:04] Caitlin: Yeah, and then we're able to role play it too, which is huge because a lot of the times, again, just time being so precious, I can't be in every classroom at once, but I can show you in our time together here, and then you can transfer on having seen that actual example. And I always offer too to make one just for this learner. If I have a token board, I might say do they have a favorite movie? Do they have a favorite show? I can make Spider-Man tokens, I can make a big web to stick them on. And I find that teachers and students really like that as well. But coming with those examples, I think, and just having a menu of that is really helpful.

[00:08:36] So we touched on this a couple times already, but tip number four, just making sure we're really building those relationships, not just with students, but with our teachers too. I mean, there are colleagues, we're working side by side with them. I think just approaching the whole meeting and the whole idea as a collaboration rather than a consultation. I'm not just giving you these ideas and then walking away. I'd start with a lot of questions, like you said, I wanna make them feel valued for giving me the insight, even if they're, you know, I've had teachers come and say, I don't even know what to do. I don't even know what I could say that's helpful. Just telling me anything that you've seen. It's super helpful and I really wanna make them a part of the solution too, because we know that if I sit there and say, well, based on what you said, I wrote a plan. Here you go. See you never, um, this is not gonna work, right? So we want their feedback, their insight. We want them to feel like we're doing this together. So there's buy-in. And then we also wanna just share their success too. Even if you can pop in the next week and say like, I know we're not there yet, but huge progress from last week. Or even if there's no progress from the student yet, because that happens. You can still be complimenting that teacher's efforts and saying she is doing a phenomenal job using this chart. We're not seeing the results yet, but at least that way the teacher feels valued because I know at the end of the day, sometimes as educators, we just put the pressure on ourselves. And if you have a student that's struggling, sharing that in a way that you don't want it to feel like it's a showcase of your abilities. So anytime that I can point out strengths of the teacher and sing their praises for how hard they're working is really helpful.

[00:10:08] Audra: I love that. And I would add to keep things as simple as possible and get more complicated as time goes on. You may go into a classroom or an observation or something and you see, 50 things that need to be changed, still just keep it really simple. Start as simple as possible, and then as you build a relationship and they feel validated, they feel like they're getting the support, you can add more things. If you go in and say, Hey, here are the 50 things that you need to change to help this behavior change. Right? You're gonna get pushback, you're not gonna build that relationship. So I think that's really important.

[00:10:39] Caitlin: One thing at a time. Absolutely. And related to that, I think would be the final tip of just keeping our follow up simple, but consistent. Using that quick check-in maybe the next day, the next two days to see if anything's changing and then start to troubleshoot those barriers. Because if we're waiting for that next meeting on the calendar, it might be like, oh, I tried it once and it didn't work out, so I didn't really know what to do, and that's really not their fault if I wasn't there to check in and support them along the way. Celebrating any small win to keep that momentum going and just providing encouragement sometimes. I know for me, if I'm struggling with a student or a parent or some type of problem, just someone saying, it looks like you've done a really good job so far, that can really turn your day around. So I think just again, looking at strength across the teacher and the student and celebrating those wins, not just course correcting over and over because that's no way to build a relationship.

[00:11:33] So if you are a BCBA in a public school setting, working on an RTI team or a district team helping provide consult collaboration to gen education teachers, definitely hop in our Facebook group and share. I'd love to hear what's working for you. I'm gonna link a free guide to tier one interventions that comes with a checklist you can bring to meetings. I've used this both as I will observe classrooms and kind of check off myself and then use it as like a reflection or give it to the teacher and say, Hey, this could have some ideas that might help just get your wheels turning.

[00:12:06] We'll see you in the Facebook group and we'll see you next time.

[00:12:08] Intro: Thanks for listening to the Misfit Behaviorists, and be sure to tune in next week for more tips and tricks. Don't forget to subscribe so you don't miss an episode.