the gvbsc mindset

When deciding on an ABA provider, our GVBSC team encourages caregivers to ask: does receiving ABA increase a child's access to childhood, or unintentionally shrink it?

The GVBSC team proposes that rich natural environments provide enormous numbers of naturally occurring antecedents, consequences, variations, problems, motivations, social interactions, risks, and opportunities for generalization—and that a skilled behavior analyst should be able to use those conditions rather than needing to eliminate them.

When therapy unintentionally shrinks childhood

For many children receiving intensive ABA services, treatment can unintentionally shrink the world in which childhood occurs. Hours that might otherwise include wandering outside, climbing, digging, building, getting dirty, encountering animals, inventing games, negotiating with peers, taking manageable risks, becoming bored, solving unexpected problems, and simply following curiosity can instead be spent in environments designed to maximize predictability, instructional control, and measurable learning trials. Those structured environments can make teaching efficient, and they are sometimes appropriate, but efficiency of instruction is not the only developmental outcome that matters, especially in early childhood.

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Our Mission

Grand Valley Behavior is a team of passionate and skilled Board-Certified Behavior Analysts and Registered Behavior Technicians, using trauma assumed Applied Behavior Analysis. GVBSC emphasizes outdoor and naturalistic environment teaching, and partners with families, clients, and therapy teams across the Western Slope to support confident and capable children and caregivers.

GVBSC professionals are able to serve clients, ages 1 - 21, of all abilities; however, our staff are certified in Professional Crisis Management and Skills Based Treatment, 2 of the most current, evidence-based, trauma informed practices for working with individuals with severe challenging behaviors.

Our Philosophy

At GVBSC, we work as a team to empower caregivers and clients to achieve the skills they need to access a meaningful and fulfilling life. We create treatment plans based on our clients' unique strengths, needs, hopes and dreams and prioritize the client and their family’s perspective when determining what goals will be most meaningful and result in the best outcomes.

At GVBSC, to maintain an environment where vulnerability is valued as a critical component of learning and empowerment, we operate with kindness, compassion, integrity, and respect for the perspectives each team member and client bring to our community.

What sets us apart

At GVBSC, we prioritize our clients' overall growth and well-being. What does that mean?

At GVBSC, we:

Teach by expanding access to quality, meaningful interactions across rich, natural environments rather than restricting access.
Provide relationship, assent, and consent-based ABA that trauma assumed.
Employ staff certified in Skills Based Treatment, including Level 6 trainers, and Professional Crisis Management, including PCM instructors, to ensure appropriate responding to challenging behaviors.
Provide services in multiple settings to support changes in behavior and community access and understanding.
Ensure BCBAs operate within their scope of practice.
Uses natural reinforcers and contingencies.
Respects and encourages neurodiversity.
Places a greater emphasis on skill building.
Recommends hours based on individual need, using a dosage chart.
Families and caregivers are respected as collaborative partners in their child's treatment.

In the know

Red Flags To Consider When Choosing an ABA Program:

Services are provided in limited environments, such as in an individual room, for extended periods of time.
There are restrictions on an individual’s ability to leave the room and high levels of contrived reinforcement, punishment and repetition are used to change behavior.
The RBTs are not trained to respond to maladaptive behavior, and all clients receive a 40-hour recommendation.
Telehealth BCBA's supervise RBTs without appropriate in-person support (Piggybacking on other client's BCBAs is not a healthy approach).
The RBT onsite training is less than 1 week long, separate from the 40-hour course requirement (remember the RBT is an entry level position that only requires a high school diploma. It is up to the organization to take the position serious and ensure quality ongoing training and supervision).
An RBT will be regularly in your home without consistent BCBA oversite.
The programming works to fit neurodiverse individuals into societal standards rather than accepting neurodiversity. Will your child be trained to sit and comply in a school classroom or supported in learning skills that will enrich their life?
Do they use developmentally inappropriate practice (a compliance-based program targeting a 2 or 3-year-old's ability to sit and attend to a non-preferred book or puzzle regardless of interest; a 4-year-old working on following a routine that outlines what all of the moment of their day from 9 to 5 should look like).

QUICK TIPS

Ask questions about the program, RBTs, BCBAs and supervision.
Remember that AI can make any website and program look great; and, you don't always know where reviews come from - friends and family or actual clients? - so do your homework and talk to real people.
Avoid going purely off physician referral. Physicians are great at recognizing the need for a referral but, often, don't know the ins and outs of different ABA programs.
It's okay to walk away from an open spot - faster access to services isn't always better. The quality of services you want for your child matters.

Our Settings

We have 3 center-based locations, 2 in downtown Grand Junction and 1 in the Redlands. However, we provide services in multiple settings: home, community, and in our centers. GVBSC prioritizes outdoor learning and recognizes the value added to our clients' learning when we do not restrict their ability to learn in nature. Our center settings are designed to support both individual and social skills and to enhance development across developmental domains (communication, cognitive, social, emotional, motor, and adaptive),

Click here to check out more of our setting:

See our settings

Cultural responsivity and diversity statement

“The world in which you were born is just one model of reality. Other cultures are not failed attempts at being you; they are unique manifestations of the human spirit.”

– Wade Davis

At GVBSC, we recognize and have a deep respect for and understanding that every client, family, GVBSC team member, and collaborator comes to us with their own distinct values, traditions, experiences, background, hopes and dreams.

We demonstrate this respect through our commitment to and recognition of the many dimensions of diversity, and through our support of racial, linguistic, neurological, physical, gender, ethnicity, age and overall cultural diversity in our organization and in our services.

The GVBSC team is proud to represent all aforementioned dimensions of diversity.

Question of the month - OCTOBER

Ask a BCBA! Click on the arrows below to view the question of the month, the response from a BCBA, and an important disclaimer.

Hi GVBSC BCBA,

My child has significant challenging behaviors, and I'm being asked to trust an RBT to work with them—sometimes without me present. I know RBTs have certification requirements, but how do I know whether the person working with my child has actually been prepared for my child and will continue to receive good supervision?

What should parents expect from the RBT and BCBA, and are there red flags we should watch for?

Sincerely,

Trusting the Person Behind the Credential

Dear Trusting the Person Behind the Credential,

This is an incredibly reasonable question.

When you leave your child with someone—particularly a child who may have limited communication, significant support needs, or behaviors that can create safety concerns—you are being asked to place a tremendous amount of trust in that person and in the organization responsible for preparing and supervising them.

Seeing the letters RBT after someone's name tells you something important but it doesn't tell you everything.

First, What Is an RBT? A Registered Behavior Technician, or RBT, is a paraprofessional who provides behavior-analytic services under the direction and close supervision of a qualified supervisor.

RBTs often provide much of the direct, day-to-day ABA intervention. They may play with your child, teach communication and adaptive skills, collect data, support challenging situations, practice goals in the community, and develop a very meaningful relationship with your child.

They are incredibly important members of an ABA team but an RBT is not an independent practitioner.

The BCBA is responsible for assessing behavior and skills, developing and modifying treatment, making clinical decisions, ensuring interventions are appropriate, training staff to implement those interventions, consistently monitoring implementation and treatment effectiveness, and providing appropriate supervision.

In other words: the RBT shouldn't be expected to figure everything out alone, and families shouldn't be expected to simply hope they were trained well.

Doesn't RBT Certification Guarantee Training?

It guarantees a minimum foundation of understanding. As of 2026, individuals pursuing RBT certification must complete at least 40 hours of training meeting BACB requirements, complete an initial competency assessment, and meet the other requirements for certification.

However, think about what 40 hours means. Forty hours can introduce someone to the foundations of ABA, but it cannot ensure a brand-new technician understands child development or what it feels like to support a child who is having a meltdown. Forty hours cannot possibly prepare a new technician to work with every child, every preferred form of communication, every behavior function, every developmental profile, every safety concern, every treatment protocol, or every complicated situation they may encounter.

That's why the question should NEVER only be, “Is this person an RBT?”

Families can and should also ask:

· “What has the organization done to prepare this RBT to work safely and effectively with

my child?”

· “How long is the organization’s onboarding training for RBTs?”

· “Does the onboarding training for an RBT only include the 40-hour coursework or does it

also include additional hands on training?”

· “What does supervision look like for the RBT?”

· “Is RBT supervision remote only?” “Is supervision consistent and high quality?”

· “Is the RBT certified in any form of crisis management? Are they able to respond to

challenging behaviors independently or do they require a BCBA?”

Training Shouldn't End When Someone Gets Their RBT

Good ABA organizations should have systems for ongoing training and competency development.

This may include:

Modeling procedures
Role-playing before using procedures independently
Direct observation
Practice with feedback
Demonstrating competency rather than simply attending a training
Coaching during actual sessions
Reviewing data and documentation
Training when treatment procedures change
Additional preparation for significant challenging behavior or safety procedures
Ongoing professional development

An RBT should be able to say: “I'm not sure. Let me ask my BCBA.”

In fact, we want them to. Recognizing when something falls outside your training or role isn't a weakness. It's part of practicing responsibly and a reason to be considered if your child’s BCBA is rarely present, if present at all.

What Should BCBA Supervision Actually Look Like?

This is where families may not realize how important the BCBA's role is.

The BACB establishes minimum ongoing supervision requirements for RBTs. However, good clinical supervision should be more than accumulating enough supervision minutes to satisfy a requirement.

A BCBA should actually know what is happening in treatment.

That means observing the RBT working with the child, reviewing data, providing feedback, evaluating whether procedures are being implemented correctly, troubleshooting problems, modeling strategies when necessary, and determining whether the treatment plan itself needs to change.

Supervision often sounds like:

“Try it this way. Let me show you.”

“Does that make sense or would you like me to show you some more?”

“What do you think their behavior is communicating right now?”

“That worked differently than we expected. Let's look at the data.”

“I don't think this procedure is working as intended. We need to modify it.”

“You handled that really well. Here's what you did that was effective.”

“Tell me what you are focused on right now and why?”

“What was the function of the behavior? Are you comfortable trying to respond or would you like me to model first?”

The BCBA isn't simply supervising the RBT. The BCBA is overseeing the child's clinical care.

What Are Some Green Flags?

Parents should feel comfortable asking questions about how an ABA organization prepares and supervises its staff. Some things we would be happy to hear include:

· “We train way beyond the minimum requirements.”

· “RBTs demonstrate competency before implementing or joining clients independently.”

· “The BCBA observes treatment regularly and is available in person if needed.”

· “We provide ongoing coaching and feedback.”

· “We provide crisis management training before staff work with significant

challenging behavior.”

· “The RBT can always contact their supervisor when something unexpected happens.”

· “We monitor treatment integrity, not just client data.”

· “If an RBT isn't ready for something, we don't expect them to do it independently yet.”

Another important green flag? The organization is comfortable with you asking these questions and has readily available answers.

And What Are the Red Flags?

No single concern automatically means a provider is delivering poor care. But some situations deserve additional questions.

Pay attention if:

· RBTs seem unable to explain who supervises them or what they are working with

confidence and clarity.

· The BCBA is rarely seen or seems unfamiliar with your child. If an RBT has been in your

house for over 3 months and the BCBA has never joined them, it’s a red flag.

· An RBT appears unsure how to implement important parts of the treatment plan but

continues anyway.

· The organization puts RBTs who have had their certification for less than 1 year in Lead

RBT positions.

· An unfamiliar protocol is put into treatment and RBTs are expected to implement them

without sufficient teaching, modeling, practice, or feedback.

· A brand-new technician is immediately expected to independently manage severe or

dangerous behavior without adequate preparation.

· RBTs appear to be making major treatment decisions themselves rather than contacting

the BCBA.

· An RBT is expected to work in a home environment without having spent time in the home

with the BCBA teaching them to implement treatment.

· Caregivers repeatedly raise concerns without meaningful BCBA follow-up.

· Supervision appears focused primarily on paperwork rather than observing and improving

actual clinical care.

· Staff are discouraged from asking questions or admitting they don't know something.

· The organization cannot clearly explain how it determines that a technician is competent

before assigning them to work independently.

· When asked if the RBT competency exam required any demonstration of skills in real-time

with clients, the RBT says ‘no.’ There has been a big push in many states to remove the

uncertified Behavior Technician position, which is great! That said, many organizations

have been reported to be signing off on RBT competency exams without ensuring they

can demonstrate the skills. The RBT competency exam requires a certain # of skills be

demonstrated with a client. If a supervising BCBA is comfortable signing off on formal

documentation without completing the actual requirements, it’s a red flag and an

ethics violation.

· One of the biggest red flags is an organization that becomes defensive when a caregiver

asks: “How was this person prepared to work with my child?”

That's a fair question.

What About Children With Significant Challenging Behavior?

The level of preparation should correspond to the complexity and risk involved. Knowing the definition of reinforcement is not the same thing as being prepared to support a child who engages in severe aggression, self-injury, elopement, or other dangerous behavior.

An RBT working in those situations may need additional competency-based training in the child's behavior plan, functional communication procedures, antecedent strategies, de-escalation, safety procedures, crisis protocols, and exactly when to seek assistance, and the BCBA needs to determine whether that particular RBT is ready to implement those procedures.

Certification should never be treated as a substitute for individual competency.

What Does This Look Like at GVBSC?

At Grand Valley Behavior, we take the distinction between meeting a minimum requirement and being ready to work independently with a child very seriously.

Our technicians complete extensive onboarding and ABA-specific training, including modeling, practice, feedback, shadowing, and competency checks. We don't assume that completing a course means someone can perform a skill correctly with a child. Our typical onboarding training for an RBT ranges from 2-4 weeks, depending on the experience they have. Typically, even experienced, RBTs require training for 2 weeks.

We want to see them demonstrate it.

Training also continues after someone begins working with clients through BCBA supervision, direct observation, performance feedback, competency monitoring, clinical meetings, and additional training when new skills or procedures are needed.

Readiness isn't permanent.

A technician may be highly competent with one client or procedure and still need training before implementing something new. That's normal.

Competence isn't knowing everything. It includes knowing when you need support.

A Question Families Are Allowed to Ask

If you're considering an ABA provider, try asking: “Can you walk me through what happens between the day you hire a new technician and the day that person works independently with my child?” or “Can you please tell me about or show me your onboarding training for a new RBT?”

Then listen carefully to the answer.

· Ask about training.

· Ask about competency.

· Ask who observes them.

· Ask how often the BCBA is involved.

· Ask what happens when the RBT doesn't know what to do.

· Ask what additional preparation is required if your child engages in significant

challenging behavior.

A quality provider should be able to answer those questions clearly, because ultimately, you aren't simply trusting an RBT. You're trusting the entire clinical system surrounding that RBT.

A great RBT deserves excellent training, accessible supervision, useful feedback, and a BCBA who remains actively involved.

Your child deserves that too.

Sincerely,
GVBSC BCBA

Disclaimer:

The information provided in response to community questions reflects general, evidence-based strategies that may be helpful when implemented correctly. However, these strategies are not intended to replace individualized Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services or other professional recommendations. Without a comprehensive understanding of the individual’s unique history, environment, and needs, these suggestions may not fully address the challenges presented.

In ABA services, effective teaching typically involves modeling, role-play, and feedback—not just verbal or written explanations. Families may require more direct support from a BCBA to ensure strategies are applied safely and effectively.

Question of the month - SEPTEMBER

Ask a BCBA! Click on the arrows below to view the question of the month, the response from a BCBA, and an important disclaimer.

Hi GVBSC BCBA,

My child’s ABA team tells me they do great during ABA. They follow directions, participate in activities, and rarely have challenging behaviors. But when we get home, it can feel like everything falls apart. We see meltdowns, refusal, frustration, and behaviors they apparently aren’t showing during therapy. If they can do so well at ABA, why aren’t we seeing the same thing at home?

Sincerely,
Why Is Home So Different?

Dear Why Is Home So Different?,

This is a great question—and the first thing we want families to know is that behavior being different across environments is information, not evidence that anyone is doing something wrong.

Behavior doesn't happen in a vacuum. It is influenced by what is happening around a person: the environment, expectations, people present, communication demands, available supports, reinforcement history, fatigue, predictability, sensory experiences, and many other variables.

So rather than asking: “Why can my child behave at therapy but not at home?”

A BCBA might ask: “What is different between these environments, and what can that difference teach us?”

Being Able to Do Something Isn't the Same as Being Able to Do It Everywhere

One of the most important concepts in ABA is generalization. A child might learn to ask for a break with their RBT but not yet use that skill when Grandma takes them shopping.

They might tolerate waiting for a preferred toy in the clinic but struggle when their sibling has the tablet at home.

They might transition successfully between two familiar clinic activities but have difficulty leaving the playground.

Learning a skill in one environment doesn't automatically mean a child can use it with different people, in different places, or under different circumstances. That's why meaningful ABA cannot stop at “they can do it in the clinic.”

We want skills to work where children actually live their lives.

But There's Another Possibility We Should Pay Attention To

Sometimes dramatically different behavior across environments can tell us something else.

A child appearing extremely compliant or showing very little challenging behavior during therapy does not automatically mean they are comfortable, engaged, or successfully learning.

We also want to know: What is making the behavior different?

For example, is the child:

Genuinely comfortable and successfully using new skills?
Receiving more predictable support at therapy?
Experiencing fewer difficult situations there?
Getting their needs met more quickly?
Receiving one-to-one adult attention that isn't possible at home?
Encountering different expectations?
Holding it together during therapy and releasing accumulated stress once they reach a more familiar environment?
Learning that certain forms of communication aren't effective with adults in one setting?
Participating because they want to—or because they have learned that participation is the only way to access preferred activities?

Those possibilities mean very different things clinically.

Low rates of challenging behavior alone don't tell us which explanation is correct.

“But They Do It for Their Therapist…”

Families sometimes hear:

“Well, they do it for me,” a statement isn't particularly helpful by itself.

If a child can successfully complete something with an RBT but cannot do it with their caregiver, our job isn't to conclude that the caregiver simply needs to be firmer or more consistent. Our job is to figure out why. Maybe the RBT has spent months carefully building the skill. Maybe therapy provides more reinforcement, prompting, predictability, or individual attention. Maybe home has siblings, dinner cooking, homework, pets, fatigue, noise, and three other things happening at once. Maybe the skill hasn't been systematically generalized. Or maybe we're asking the child to demonstrate a skill under conditions they aren't ready to navigate independently yet.

That is exactly the kind of information a BCBA should be interested in.

Home Is Also Different Because It's Home

ABA sessions are often designed environments. Home isn't. At home, parents are making dinner, helping siblings, answering the phone, getting everyone out the door, managing bedtime, finding missing shoes, and trying to remember whether anyone fed the dog.

Real life is messy.

A strategy that only works when one adult can provide continuous one-to-one attention isn't necessarily a functional strategy for a family. Part of effective ABA is figuring out how skills and supports fit into the family's actual routines, rather than expecting the family to turn their home into an ABA clinic.

What Does This Look Like at GVBSC?

At Grand Valley Behavior, we don't want success to exist only inside our walls.

If a child is thriving with us but struggling significantly somewhere else, we want to know about it.

That may mean:

Looking at what is different across environments
Observing the child in naturally occurring routines
Collaborating closely with caregivers
Teaching skills across different people, activities, and settings
Practicing communication when the child actually needs to communicate
Adjusting antecedents and environmental supports
Helping caregivers understand what behavior may be communicating
Teaching caregivers strategies that are realistic for everyday life
Asking whether our intervention is producing meaningful change outside of therapy

Sometimes we need to change what we're teaching.

Sometimes we need to change how we're teaching it.

And sometimes the adults—including us—need to change the environment.

What Should Parents Look For?

Instead of only asking, “Is my child behaving better during therapy?”, consider asking:

Is my child's life getting better?
Are they communicating their wants and needs more effectively?
Are everyday routines becoming easier?
Can they ask for help, space, or a break?
Are they becoming more independent?
Can they use new skills with different people?
Are they participating in more family and community activities?
Do the adults around them understand their behavior better?
Are challenging situations becoming more manageable—not because the child has simply learned to suppress their response, but because they have better skills and better support?

Those outcomes tell us much more about whether intervention is actually working.

So Why Does My Child Fall Apart at Home?

There isn't one universal answer. And that's the point. A meaningful ABA program shouldn't simply tell you, “They don't do that here.”

Why don't they do it here? Why is it happening there? What's different? What skill or support might be missing? And what can we change to help?

Because the ultimate goal isn't to create a child who looks successful during ABA.

It's to help build skills, environments, and support systems that allow that child to be successful in their actual life.

Sincerely,
GVBSC BCBA

Disclaimer:

Over Standardized: When the Measure Becomes the Mission

What happens when systems designed to help humans become better at producing standardized outcomes than supporting actual human growth?

Over-Standardized challenges our growing obsession with benchmarks, protocols, productivity, compliance, and measurable outcomes across education, ABA, and beyond. Standards matter. Accountability matters. But when following the system becomes more important than whether the system is actually working, it may be time to question the system.

Translation Services

At GVBSC, we strongly believe that language should not be a barrier to accessing high-quality services. To support our clients and families who speak languages other than English, GVBSC uses Southeast Spanish for translation services at no cost to our clients. If you would like to take advantage of this no cost translation service, please contact Allison Goryl, GVBSC’s office administrator, at 970-317-7175. Additionally, GVBSC uses CentralReach, a leading software and services platform, which includes documentation, resources, and customer support to assist Spanish speaking users. CentralReach has a client portal, which allows parents or caregivers to login to their own CentralReach account to access personalized data sheets, session notes, appointments and more. Finally, GVBSC also staffs multiple bilingual Registered Behavior Technicians who can implement treatment in Spanish for families whose primary language is Spanish.

Videos and Use of Closed Captioning

GVBSC is committed to ensuring our video consent is accessible to everyone. As such, all of our videos are hosted through CentralReach, Relias, and Zoom, with built-in closed captioning features included. For more information on enabling the closed captioning features, please contact the GVBSC office administrator, Allison Goryl.

Accessibility:

GVBSC makes every reasonable accommodation for clients that may have a documented disability to access services. These accommodations may include specialized equipment, technology, and the physical set up of the organization’s physical locations. Our clinic spaces are handicap-accessible and provide easy access for a wide range of physical disabilities. If you require additional accommodation, please contact your supervisor or our office administrator.

Grand Valley Behavior: services and consulting

Grand Valley Behavior: services and consulting

the gvbsc mindset

Our Mission

Our Philosophy

What sets us apart

In the know

QUICK TIPS

Our Settings

Cultural responsivity and diversity statement

Question of the month - OCTOBER

Question of the month - SEPTEMBER

Being Able to Do Something Isn't the Same as Being Able to Do It Everywhere

But There's Another Possibility We Should Pay Attention To

“But They Do It for Their Therapist…”

Home Is Also Different Because It's Home

What Does This Look Like at GVBSC?

What Should Parents Look For?

So Why Does My Child Fall Apart at Home?

Over Standardized: When the Measure Becomes the Mission

Grand Valley Behavior: services and consulting

Grand Valley Behavior: services and consulting

the gvbsc mindset

Our Mission

Our Philosophy

What sets us apart

In the know

QUICK TIPS

Our Settings

Cultural responsivity and diversity statement

Question of the month - OCTOBER

Question of the month - SEPTEMBER

Being Able to Do Something Isn't the Same as Being Able to Do It Everywhere

But There's Another Possibility We Should Pay Attention To

“But They Do It for Their Therapist…”

Home Is Also Different Because It's Home

What Does This Look Like at GVBSC?

What Should Parents Look For?

So Why Does My Child Fall Apart at Home?

Over Standardized: When the Measure Becomes the Mission

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