Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) chez Holyoke Public Schools

DISTRICT OVERVIEW

Holyoke Public Schools is a PreK-12 public school district serving nearly 5,100 students, of whom 80 percent are Latino/Latina, in 11 schools. We employ nearly 1,300 people who together educate and support a richly diverse community of learners. We are committed to recruiting and retaining top-quality educators who believe all children can and will learn and who strive daily to make school a joyful place of discovery, support, and belonging.

Holyoke Public Schools’ strategic plan, “Moving Forward Together,” builds on the strengths of our past while serving as a call to action to accelerate student learning by thinking differently about how we teach, how we work together, and how we support students’ well being. 

Our Equity Commitments are pledges we are making to address systemic equity challenges. 

• We intentionally build a community that is anti-racist, inclusive, and culturally responsive.
• We ensure that students, families, and staff get the support they need to be successful.
• We seek out and incorporate the voices of those impacted, with a commitment to include those who have been excluded in the past. 
• We promote access and inclusion for all students, staff, and families.
• We respect, embrace, and honor the diversity of our students, families, staff, and community.
• We reflect on our own behavior to minimize harm to others.
• We create a culture of acceptance and empathy so that everyone feels valued and is able to contribute to our community’s success.

Please visit the Holyoke Public Schools website to learn more about us as well as some of our recent accomplishments. 

Summary: Works directly under the close, ongoing supervision of a BCBA, to assist in ABA implementation and fidelity of implementation, of intervention programs and plans developed by the BCBA, for our autism programs.

Job Responsibilities:

• Prepares data collection systems and assists in maintaining data collection systems for our ABA/Autism classroom programs.
• Assists with student assessment procedures (e. g., curriculum-based, developmental, social skills, assist with functional assessment procedures, observational recording of behavior and environment).
• Models and implements a variety of teaching procedures, such as discrete trial, pivotal response training, naturalistic teaching, stimu­lus control, stimulus fading, discrimination training, use of contingency reinforcement for staff in our ABA/Autism programs
• Assists the BCBA in conducting fidelity checks and inter-observer agreement for ABA/Autism staff implementation of programming and interventions created by the BCBA
• Responsible for accurate documentation and reporting and effective communication with supervisor.
• Conducts preference assessments
• Assists the BCBA with functional assessment procedures
• Assists the BCBA in modeling and training classroom implementation of ABA strategies and programs, created by the BCBA, for ABA/Autism program staff, including: discrete trial training, pivotal response training, antecedent interventions, token economy systems, reinforcement schedules, preference assessments.
• Assists the BCBA in preparing and conducting ABA-based professional development opportunities for district staff throughout the school year.
• Effectively responds to and manages crisis situations which may include physical aggression.
• Ability to use computer technology and knowledge of various software programs (e. g., Excel, Microsoft word) and willingness to learn new software and use of adaptive equipment as ap­propriate.
• Assists in the creation of instructional materials and visuals.
• Meet student and environmental needs as required (e. g., lifting, bending, crawling, squat­ting, reaching, toileting, feeding, self-help skills, assisting with personal hygiene needs, and other duties as appropriate).
• Maintains student dignity and confidentiality
• Become fluent in the understanding of the appropriate assessments such as the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning (ABLLS), Assessment of Functional Living Skills, (AFLS), and Verbal Behav­ior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP)
• Become fluent in the understanding of the Rethink Curriculum
• Independently maintains RBT certification
• Strictly Adheres to a subset of the most currently Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts
• Other tasks as indicated in the most current RBT Task List

Qualifications:

• RBT Certification or evidence of working toward RBT Certification
• Associate’s Degree or higher; OR Completing at least two years, or 48 credit hours of study at an institution of higher education; OR taking and passing a formal assessment measuring one’s knowledge of and ability to assist classroom teachers in reading, writing, and mathematics. (Parapro Assessment and workKeys)
• Training or experience working in an ABA setting preferred
• Restraint and de-escalation training preferred
• Experience working with students with autism and/or diverse student populations, preferred
• Training or experience conducting data collection and/or graphing preferred
• Experience working in an urban setting, preferred
• Ability to read, interpret, and apply student performance data to instructional planning and execution
• Ability to lift a minimum of 40 pounds
• Team player
• Ability to work in a fast paced, sometimes high stress environment
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; excellent teamwork skills
• Bilingual applicants (Spanish) strongly encouraged