Simplifying Supervision and Documentation with Angie Pickering

Guest:

Angie Pickering is the founder of Tracker!, a tool designed to simplify supervision and documentation for ABA professionals. Angie's experience with supervision led her to create Tracker, aiming to streamline the documentation process and support both trainees and supervisors in meeting compliance requirements effectively.

Key Takeaways:

• Supervision Requirements:
  • Minimum of 20 hours and maximum of 130 hours per month.
  • At least four contacts per month, with one observation with a client.
  • 5% of total hours must be supervised.
  • 50% of supervised hours must be one-on-one, no more than 50% in group settings, and group settings cannot exceed 10 people.
  • Minimum of 60% of hours must be unrestricted.
• Concentrated Supervision:
  • Requires six contacts per month.
  • 10% of total hours must be supervised.

Compliance and Best Practices:

• Tracker's built-in compliance monitor helps ensure all requirements are met.
• Daily documentation is important to avoid drift.
• UDS, monthly, and final verification forms should be stored securely for seven years.

Unrestricted vs. Restricted Hours:

• Unrestricted hours include activities that BCBAs would do, such as assessments and designing interventions.
• Restricted hours are more direct client implementation of plans.
• Importance of accruing unrestricted hours throughout the supervision period to be well-prepared for the BCBA role.

Advocacy and Communication:

• Trainees should feel empowered to communicate their needs and ensure they're getting comprehensive supervision.
• Organizations benefit from investing in their trainees and creating intentional supervision experiences.

Tips for Trainees and Supervisors:

• Trainees should ask about supervision structures during job interviews.
• Supervisors should be clear on what counts as restricted and unrestricted hours.
• Regularly reviewing and auditing activities can help maintain compliance and focus on necessary skills.

Favorite Part of Supervising:

• Angie enjoys seeing trainees gain confidence and become well-prepared for their BCBA roles.

Advice to New Supervisor Angie:

• Enjoy the journey, practice good self-care, and embrace the learning process.

Connect with Tracker:

• Website: fieldworktracker.com
• Instagram: studynotesaba_Tracker
• Email: Angie@fieldworktracker.com

Thank you for listening to In the Field, the ABA Podcast. Visit sidekicklearning.net for more resources and continuing education opportunities. Please consider subscribing and sharing the podcast to help empower more professionals in the ABA community. Join us next week for more insights on fostering quality supervision in ABA.

Disclaimer:

BCBA®, BACB® [or any other BACB® trademark used] is/are registered to the Behavior Analytic Certification Board® BACB®. This website and products are not in any way sponsored by the BACB®.

All information and products are for educational purposes only.

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hi, everyone. In this episode, I am joined by Angie Pickering of tracker, which is a unique documentation system platform for field work experience. So in this episode, we are really talking about a lot of the myths and misconceptions of those field work requirements. We're breaking down what some of those requirements are. And really just diving into what each of those pieces mean. 

Since we're really talking about these requirements. I do want to add a really clear disclaimer that we are not representatives of the BACB, we're simply sharing our understanding of those requirements as they're currently documented and shared. But it is really important to go straight to the source, straight to the BACB to really understand these things that we were talking about and to check that understanding for yourself and make sure that that's consistent with the current requirements [00:01:00] and with what the board is saying. 

But nonetheless, this is something that I feel like there are so many questions about so much confusion. 

And so our goal in this episode is to just distill a little bit of that down and hopefully put things into a little bit easier to understand language and a more discussion-based format. Welcome to In the Field, the ABA podcast. I'm your host, Allyson Wharam, creator of Sidekick, an online interactive curriculum and learning portal for behavior analysts. We specialize in providing a fieldwork supervision curriculum and continuing education for ABA professionals. In this podcast, we're going to deep dive into the world of ABA, focusing on quality supervision as the foundation of our field.

We're here for behavior analysts, business leaders, and trainees who are passionate about maximizing outcomes for their clients and improving the quality of their services with new and innovative practices. We're going to explore [00:02:00] effective strategies and practices that not only enhance the quality of supervision, but also save time all while investing in the people who make up our field, our clients, our trainees, and your everyday behavior analysts.

So whether you're driving to your next in home session or taking a break from your busy schedule, let's dive right in.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Welcome. Welcome, everyone. I am here with Angie Pickering from Tracker, and I am so excited to talk to her today about all things documentation and supervision. Angie, why don't you tell us a little bit about yourself and what led you to 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: begin Tracker? Thanks so much Allyson for having me. I'm really excited to have this conversation together.

I own Tracker and I have a very, uh, unique experience in supervision in the sense that [00:03:00] my supervision experience was kind of all over the place. I really wanted somebody to hold my hand and teach me the ropes. And I found that I really just had to teach myself the ropes. So I've kind of gone into this space because I want supervision and especially the documentation part of supervision to be a breeze.

I want you to feel like you could use tracker to document your hours and it's like your BFF is there holding your hand saying, don't worry about it. I can help you out and any questions that you have, I'm here to kind of answer it.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: I love that. And I think my, my experience was very similar. I think most trainees experience the same thing. And I would venture to say that some supervisors also feel the same way because the requirements are always changing.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: requirements are always

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: We have the handbook, which is great, but in practice, if you don't have something to give you that, that feedback loop of, oh, you're missing this piece [00:04:00] or make sure you do this, it can feel really overwhelming, even if you think you're, you're doing everything to know, did I do this right?

Am I documenting this the right way? Am I, meeting this requirement. So I really think there's a huge need here on, on both sides, honestly.

 Definitely. Well, and I think that we find that in the handbook, you can go through and read all of those pages, but a lot of it feels so jargon heavy that you leave yourself questioning, the ambiguity and do you actually understand what you're comprehending?

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: And the key thing with Tracker is it should be so easy to use. And if you have any questions about what does experience type mean? What does, the date of the experience mean versus the date of supervision. Like we have these little question bubbles that you can click at any time to answer all of your questions.

And they're just, there doesn't have to be this fear. Do I have the information? Correct. We kind of just like want to have your back and. [00:05:00] you being confident that, yeah, I do have this information correct. I have documented my hours correctly. I am accruing my hours correctly. Yeah.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: I know we've talked about this before in conversation,

a supervisor, it's easy to have that monthly verification form in front of you, you sign it, you don't double check if it's not all happening in the flow of work.

And then as a trainee, that leaves them without that feedback. And then again, those requirements are always changing. And so I think what's so different about Tracker is that it is in the flow of everything that you're doing. It's not something else that you have to pull up. It is a part of that system, which is so nice.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Yeah, and I think that it's also, it's like it protects the trainee and feeling really confident that they understand the requirements, but it also protects the supervisor because at their fingertips, every single one of those experience logs that the trainee is putting in, it's going right into their supervisor's portal so their supervisor can see [00:06:00] throughout the month, which hours are being logged exactly how is that being documented?

You know, what's the summary of the supervision? What's the summary of the experience? Was the start and stop time correct. Was the setting correct? Supervisor can double check all of that. And so, when that monthly verification form comes up, nobody has the question of, is there accuracy here? Because it can be checked throughout the month in real time.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah. I think as a supervisor, that's so valuable. And I know when I have a new trainee or anyone on our team has a new trainee, that first month you are spending so much time on going over what the requirements are. Here's the structure of how we're going to meet. Here's what you document and how you document it.

And so that ability

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: that ability

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: go in and comb through and see all of those things, of course, you can do that in another format. You know, we've used spreadsheets and all sorts of things like that in the past, but that ability to like flag specific entries and [00:07:00] give feedback on that is so valuable within that learning context.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Yeah. And I, my experience, and I don't know what yours was in documenting your own hours, but I have like three different systems because I was triple, triple, triple checking that my math was correct, that I had the correct number of supervision contacts. And again, like my hope is just that you can have one.

Easy system. And you can clear all that brain space and not have to stress and strain that like it's correctly done. And the other I think glaring thing that I have seen with trainees is they get to the end and they're ready to do some study prep and they start studying for their exam and they're going through the task list and they're like, oh my gosh, I didn't have experience.

in this specific subtopic in the task list. And so what we've built into Tracker [00:08:00] is encouraging you to document everything that you're doing within the task list. And then you can have this visual that you can watch throughout your entire supervision experience that's going to allow you to grow and accrue mastery in each subtopic within the task list.

So when you get to study prep, you're like, a lot more prepared. And it's also helping the supervisor know oh gosh, I'm not training within section D enough or within section C enough. And I need to ensure that next month I'm providing them more experience within those topics because I haven't touched on it as their supervisor.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, absolutely. Of course, supervising directly. We live in this world where we're documenting and doing all of that, but really on the curriculum side of things, that's our whole goal is that people aren't getting to the end of their hours and realizing I didn't address this whole section and even going beyond the task list as well to say here are the other competencies that I [00:09:00] need or the applied practice.

It's so important. I know trainees never believe me when I say this, but 2000 hours goes so quickly. And if you've ever supervised anyone through those 2000 hours, much less the 1500 hours that it used to be.

 It's easy to get to the end of it and realize that you didn't address huge areas that you should have and so having that structure and that, I love that visual that you all have for that.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Well, and I think that it's, like trainees that are using sidekick throughout their supervision experience, it's just a North star for them to have somebody holding their hand.

And I hope that more and more organizations start using a curriculum in order to have somebody holding their hand. Because I find that oftentimes it's, I'm just kind of winging it. And, I think if anything, the task list grid is a good reminder to that trainee who doesn't have a supervisor that's using a curriculum.

[00:10:00] Wow. I think that we might need something to help steer our ship a little bit more, to ensure that we're hitting all of these topics.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: And we're going to dive in in just a minute to just unpacking all of those documentation requirements, but

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: requirements, but

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: the fact that these two things go together, there's the compliance side of things of am I doing all of the things that I have to do

per the board? Am I getting the contacts?

Am I documenting the right percentage of? restricted versus unrestricted hours. Am I meeting the minimum number of or percent of supervision? But then there's also the content side of those hours and you have to have both with supervision. It's not just, am I meeting these requirements, but also what does that look like and documenting that also, like what is the content of what you're doing during this time?

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: during this time? And I think that more often than not, that second piece is what's getting missed. And then we [00:11:00] see a trainee get into study prep and maybe they really struggle to pass their exam because they didn't learn everything that they needed to learn within their supervision.

Or maybe they pass their exam on the first go and then they get into the actual job and they're so unprepared. And they're feeling like, oh my gosh, burnout is really high for me. I'm feeling so overwhelmed. And so if we really think of kind of both of our tools as an antecedent intervention. It's really just going to prepare. trainees in such a more productive way to accurately document their hours and really seeing that permanent product of, okay, how am I learning within the task list? And then, hey, supervisor, I think I'm needing, you know, more of a streamlined approach or more of a curriculum within supervision in order to ensure that I, I'm actually gaining all of these experiences.

And then I'm [00:12:00] competent within all of these experiences.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: absolutely. Yeah, they, you have to have, you can't have one without the other for sure. So,

you know, as I mentioned, we're going to talk about

unpacking those different requirements. Like we mentioned at the beginning, we have the handbook, which provides this kind of guidepost for us as supervisors and trainees, but it can be a little bit difficult to wade through all of it, figure out what all of the different terminology means.

And there are always changes and updates, so it's so important to get the information directly from the BACB to read the handbook to make sure that you're reading the newsletters. Sometimes the information comes out there, but we're going to just distill a little bit of what those requirements are. So in terms of the documentation, I know this is built into Tracker.

What are the big kind of compliance aspects that you make sure are being met each month per those BACB requirements?

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: [00:13:00] So the key thing is when you log into our platform, the first page that you're gonna land on is your log experience hours, and that's kind of our term for every single form of experience that you're going to be tracking.

And on that page, you have a compliance monitor that is stagnant and there every single month. And the key thing that you're going to want to watch for is that everything is going to be turning to a green color to show that you've been meeting specific compliance recommendations in order to be able to sign that monthly form at the end.

And I'd love to talk about, what's the distinction between supervised and concentrated because there are subtle differences. And I find having that constant visual there will just help teach the trainee, but I think it'd be great for us to kind of talk about it as

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, let's break that down. What is that [00:14:00] distinction there? What do you need to do differently for independent hours versus concentrated hours and what does that look

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Yeah, yeah. What does that look like? So, um, when you're in Tracker, you would just be selecting your experience type for the month. So you're either going to do supervised.

Which means that you're on the track to be doing probably the most common form of supervision, which is your 2, 000 hours. And concentrated is what I kind of deem as the accelerated, fast paced version. But, in order for you to select that, you have to know that your supervisor can offer you the additional supervision to meet the requirements.

So we'll go through the 2, 000 hours, the supervised option first, and then we'll talk about the 1, 500 hours. So for 2, 000 hours, so for your most common type of supervision, the minimum hours that you're going to need. per supervision [00:15:00] experience, which is per month, which would be 20 hours. So you need at least 20 hours total for the month.

If you have 19, if you have 15, your hours do not count. So you would not be able to sign that monthly verification form. The maximum hours that you can have in that month is 130, 130 total hours. You could have 150, But you can only count 130 of those hours. Total contacts, meaning how many times are you and your supervisor coming in contact?

So you need at least four. And in those contacts, they need to be at least 15 minutes. At least one of those contacts needs to be an observation with a client. And the overall, supervision [00:16:00] percentage of the total hours needs to be 5%. So going back to that minimum of 20 hours and maximum of 130, wherever you fall within, that range, you need at least 5 percent to be supervised by your supervisor. And this is where things get a little bit dicey. At least 50 percent of those hours need to be one on one with the supervisor. And no more than 50 percent can be in a group setting. And here's another tricky one. A group setting cannot be more than 10 people. That are also accruing supervision

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Mhm.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: and so you and your supervisor need to modulate if you're having supervision with a cohort of other people that are working in your clinic, let's say, [00:17:00] or a cohort of other people that are also doing remote supervision. No more than 50 percent of that 5 percent can be with a group. And here's the last very important one. A minimum of 60 percent of those hours needs to be unrestricted. And unrestricted hours, I feel like it's probably the area that I get the most questions on of, well, what are these unrestricted hours?

It's 

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: too. 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: this like, uh, elusive, Oh my gosh, what does this mean? Shorthand, many people say, well, restricted hours are with a client. And unrestricted hours are not with a client. And every supervisor gets to determine themselves really what is A and what is B. So what is restricted, what is unrestricted.

We give you kind of an overview [00:18:00] of, unrestricted would be all the activities that a certified BCBA would be doing. This can be paperwork, assessments, and then there's things that it can't be. So it can't be administrative tasks, non behavior analytic tasks, crisis management training.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Mhm.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: And I really always just want to encourage the trainee to know that their supervisor needs to define for them what the unrestricted activities are. And then going back to the handbook, if there's kind of questions, around that kind of nuanced area. But really, at the end of the day, it's the supervisor saying, Yes, I will allow you to count that as unrestricted, versus, No, I will not allow you to count that as unrestricted.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: I think for supervisors to be really clear on that is really important because if you ask the BACB.

What counts as [00:19:00] unrestricted hours? They're going to say, ask your supervisor, essentially. It's in the handbook, but 

yeah, ask your supervisor. And so your supervisor has to be really clear on that.

One of my favorite things to do with trainees as they're starting out, but also just in general is to look through their day to day and go through and do kind of an audit of their job. What have you do counts as unrestricted hours? What counts as restricted hours? What doesn't count at all. So

your lunch break where you're just sitting there eating your lunch, even though you're at the clinic, that is not either or if you're doing lunch duty and you're in a school, if you're not teaching it in some aspect.

But I think, yeah, the restrictive versus unrestricted, I think it's hard to, because previously it was indirect versus direct, which was a lot clearer of you're with a client or you're not with a client. And in this case, it's. It's a little more nuanced. For example, if you're interviewing a client for an FBA, you're still with a [00:20:00] client, but you're doing an assessment.

So really that's an unrestricted hour. So it's thinking more 

of the assessment design. Like you said, the things that a BCBA would do

versus just implementing. If it's just, you're delivering the plan, like it's written, then that's restricted hours. And I think it's important for people to understand.

Why we have this requirement it's really easy, especially if you're an RBT to kind of go through and just get their restricted hours. So, how do you think about that or how do you conceptualize unrestricted hours and their importance? 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: I mean, I think that the more unrestricted hours that you are allotted as a trainee, that is only going to prepare you more for this role.

Once you are certified as a BCBA. And I love the idea of just kind of doing that audit of your day. I do something very similar. It's a good experience, I [00:21:00] think, to kind of like whip out some scatterplots and see across, you know, multiple days, what am I doing and how does it categorize from one to the other?

But the more that we have supervisors that are allowing trainees to implement assessments, let's say. And hopefully those supervisors are going to be using a very solid BST framework in order for those trainees to have that experience. The more they're going to be allowed to sit in the driver's seat and really be practicing these skills that a BCBA would be utilizing.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yes. Yeah, one of the most common misconceptions I see is that it has to be an exact, 60, 40, like you have to have 60 percent unrestricted. You have to have 40 percent exactly restricted, but really, like you said, the more unrestricted hours, the better. And that's not to negate the importance of experience working directly with a 

learner, but for your [00:22:00] fieldwork hours, you could, in theory, get 100 percent of your hours as unrestricted.

And that's okay. Per the board, it's that 60 percent minimum. And I think that confuses people.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Oh, 100%. I feel like I didn't maybe mention this at the beginning when we were talking about introductions, but I also teach at a university.

I teach a capstone leadership class in supervision to graduate students and I see this so frequently is that graduate students work their way through their coursework and they're still functioning as an RBT. And we want to see that trainees are not RBTs. They are in this kind of gray in the middle area of, as an RBT, they've accrued those restricted hours, but in these unrestricted hours, they're really learning what it's like to be a BCBA.

And yeah, I've had trainees that I had one that 90 percent of her hours were [00:23:00] unrestricted. And so I think the really important part there is it's a minimum of 60 percent unrestricted activities.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yes. Yeah. The other common misconception I see is,

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: I see is,

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: everything else that you talked about, you need four contacts, you need 5 percent supervised, you need the one observation, and it has to be between 20 and 130 hours that you accrue.

But then we have this restricted versus unrestricted, and that's different because it's not per supervisory period.

So everything else that you talked about is per supervisory period, whereas. This is across your total hours So it it can be confusing to of what am I tracking per month essentially versus over this whole amount of time

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: this whole amount of time. Yeah, 100 percent if you utilize Tracker and you go to our dashboard, we have a lovely little pie graph that allows you to see in real time, [00:24:00] where am I in that unrestricted versus restricted and you'll see throughout each, supervisory period, those numbers will adjust, but really what you're looking for in the end game is that a minimum of 60 percent of my hours were unrestricted. And you could easily fall into the split of 60 40. You might be 60 right on the dot, but at the end you could be, 30. You could be 80 20. Whatever other variation, but that, that minimum number is 60%.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, and I have seen people accrue all of their restricted hours in that RBT role, and then just try to load unrestricted hours at the end. While you can technically do that, I don't necessarily recommend it because you,

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: it because

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: you want to be accruing those. Like you said, as soon as possible, you want to be getting that unrestricted experience and not just operating as an RBT and not again to discount that [00:25:00] experience, but it's a different experience than 

being in that BCBA role. 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Being in that ECBA role. Totally. And I think a really big area that I encourage my students, to be asking once they're starting coursework. So I teach the first course in a series and I teach the last course.

So I teach a foundational course in applied behavior analysis. And those students, I say, whenever you're getting your job, your very first job to start accruing these hours, ask in your interview. How am I going to be practicing different than an RBT? What is my experience going to look like that's different than this RBT role that I have been participating in, let's say for a year, two years, whatever that duration looked like for you.

Because I think it's really important that the organization and the supervisor has a really clear lens of how the trainee is going to function differently. Yeah,

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: organizations, it's so important as [00:26:00] they're investing in their trainees and building them up that they are,

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: them up that they are

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: benefits the organization to create this culture where you are giving these

opportunities that you're growing and kind of pushing that trainee outside of just that technician role so that once they are certified, first off, that they can pass the exam.

Like you said, you don't want to have someone get to the end of their supervision hours. And I think that's one of the most interesting things about the very low pass rates in our field is that it's not just at the end of the coursework, but it's also at the end of supervision. So people have had this experience and it, you know, again, not to discount the difficulty of the test and things like that, but really all of that can and should be considered preparation for that certification exam.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: 100%. And I think that that's not talked about enough that you're not just going to be taking your last three to six months to prepare [00:27:00] yourself, but this entire time that you are accruing experience hours, you are preparing yourself And I think we all know this.

We're in a field where we're analyzing data all the time in order to see what's our next right move. And so that's a huge reason why I think tracker is so beneficial to trainees. Because you can have these answers in real time of where you need to be focusing more. Maybe you want to be hitting those max 130 hours per month, but you can see, oh gosh, I'm only ever getting 80 hours a month, and I have clients that are canceling all the time.

And then that's a great area that you can be talking to your supervisor about, of saying, you know, in supervision, I want to be maximizing my hours every month. How can I be doing that?

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yes. Yeah. And again you bring up a great point of that,

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: great point of

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: not just the compliance aspect, not just am I counting these hours, but what is the content of these hours? Yeah. How is that leading me to this [00:28:00] ultimate goal that I have of being a competent practitioner? You're not gonna know everything by the time that you're done with your hours, that's okay.

There's zero expectation. You don't know everything when you've been A, B, C, B, A for 20 

years, but you also wanna make sure that you're not coming out of your hours and needing to spend six months cramming because you weren't able to accrue these skills along the way. And then also, once you're certified, I do think that is.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: I do think

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: A major contributor to burnout in our field is being put into these positions without having that really solid foundation from fieldwork 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: from fieldwork supervision.

Well, and I think that it's, um, It's the trainee that oftentimes realizes, Oh gosh, I'm not getting what I'm needing in this experience. And having a documentation system like Tracker allows them to be empowered to go to their supervisor to say, You know, in [00:29:00] supervision, we're only focusing on, section A within the task list.

I really would like to be able to use a supervision curriculum like Sidekick. Or, um, what else can you be doing to offer me a more comprehensive supervision experience? And I think that trainees oftentimes don't know that, like, they can, they can speak up and ask for that.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yes, yeah, I am seeing more and more of that of trainees. I know when I was getting my hours, and I think so many are in this position, there are financial constraints to seeking outside supervision, and so a lot of times we are, as trainees,

you're kind of stuck, for lack of a better word, but you're not stuck, because you can advocate for yourself, you can advocate for your clients and the care that they're getting and your future clients and your future supervisors acknowledging that this is something that ripples beyond this immediate [00:30:00] relationship.

And I 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: we need a relationship.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: again, organizations and supervisors, it's so easy for fieldwork to fall into the background because it's one of many functions of a lot of organizations. If their whole purpose is not fieldwork supervision, which is usually not the case, they have all of these competing contingencies. It's not that supervisors don't care or that organizations don't care. They absolutely 

do. It is just extremely time intensive and resource intensive and difficult to create these really intentional experiences. And so. It is beneficial when you have a trainee who is able to speak up and advocate, and then also tools that 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: and then also tools that help 

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: it so that all of the work isn't on the supervisor to create a documentation system and manually check every little thing, 

um, you know, without little flags and things to alert you.

So, 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: to alert you. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think that, hey, we just want to increase our [00:31:00] efficiency and also ensure that people are prepared.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: absolutely.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: I know that we, started talking a little bit after we kind of went through, what is the super supervised criteria.

But there's also another option, which is the concentrated supervised field work. And concentrated, I think I said this earlier, is just really the accelerated version. But you have to ensure that your supervisor is able to support you, within that supervisee period. So you could have a mixed supervision experience where one month you did supervised and the next month you did concentrated.

You can kind of toggle back and forth. But you just have to ensure that your supervisor is able to provide you, additional supervision. So the minimum and those maximum hours per month remain the same. So the minimum is the 20 hours, and the maximum is the 130. Just like for the [00:32:00] supervised. The next difference, though, is the total contacts per month.

 So for supervised we had four, but for concentrated you need to have six. So you need two additional in order to meet that criteria. You still need the minimum of one of them to be with a client. But the really big difference is the percentage of supervision. So you need to have double the amount of supervision.

So you have to have 10 percent of your total hours to be supervised. So wherever you fall within that range of 20 hours to 130 hours, 10 percent of your hours have to be supervised. And then all the rest remains the same. So 50 percent have to be individual. No more than 50 percent have to be in a group setting.

And then the minimum restricted hours is still that 60%.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, so really, just to reiterate what you're saying, the [00:33:00] biggest difference between the two is the percentage of time that you are receiving supervision. So 10 percent instead of

5%. And then you have six contacts instead of four contacts.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: of four contacts.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: But everything else is the same.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: else is the same.

Yeah. And I think that, I get a lot of questions of like, oh gosh, it's so confusing to do one or the other, but it's really just those two key features that are the difference. And. I also encourage supervisors, if you're going to offer both, ensure that that's in your contract. And really just make sure that the communication between the trainee and the supervisor is really clear of what type of supervision is being offered.

I've seen trainees that think they're going to be offered concentrated, but all their supervisor is able to is that traditional supervised route. And that can feel kind of disappointing for the trainee. So it's really important up front [00:34:00] that everybody knows what type of supervision will be

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, I think that's a great suggestion to make sure that because it really ultimately

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: it really ultimately

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: how many hours that you need to accrue

you have that multiplier or that is so either you're, if you're just doing concentrated. It's 1500 total hours. If you're just doing independent, it's 2000 total hours.

But then we have this kind of funky multiplier that you can apply if you're doing a mix of both, where one month is weighted more or less. But yeah, it's really important to be clear. And even for independent supervision, what are those four contacts going to look like? Is it just you coming to client sessions when I'm already there?

Or are we meeting in the office? Or You know, what is that client context going to look like? Again, is it just you popping into session or are we planning this ahead of time? So the more that you can be really intentional again, I know we mentioned that like audit at the beginning of hours, but things like sitting down with [00:35:00] your

trainee and just mapping out like here is our structure of meetings we are meeting every Monday at this time. The more consistency in the Less that you can leave things up to chance, the better, because

these are requirements.

You have to meet these things. And so, you don't want to be getting to the end of the month and realizing, Oh, we don't have our observation, or we need to cram four contacts into this one week. That is going to be really stressful for everyone.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: really stressful for everyone. Totally. And I the thing that Tracker kind of reminds you of, of that required component, It's like if you try to submit a logged form and you didn't document the setting or you didn't document how restricted hours versus unrestricted hours, like the system itself will show you Oh, you forgot to track this component.

It's a required component. So your documentation at the end, you can feel confident that you've selected all of the required [00:36:00] components. If you've submitted a log and. On your dashboard, you will be seeing, okay, have I met all of the standards for the month in order to have my form signed at the end of the

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah. I know another area of confusion is often what do we document when? So we've talked about all of these things, the contacts, what you're doing per month. And so when are we documenting those things and what other things do we document across 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Are you meaning like, the start and stop times, the date of the experience, things

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: So that, and then also just bigger picture. So how often are you putting your entries into tracker or whatever system you have. You know, because there are layers of documentation here. So what other things then do you need to make sure you do?

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: do you Yeah. I mean, best practice, and this should also be detailed in that supervision contract, is that you should be tracking your hours every single day.

 Because we all know that there's going to be some [00:37:00] drift that occurs if only on Fridays you track all of your hours for the last 40 hours in the week. So I think it's definitely best practice, using those last 15 minutes of your day and track your hours. The other thing that you're going to have to keep track of is your fieldwork forms. So those monthly verification forms, we have an upload spot, within Tracker for you to store those documents. You can also store any competency assessments through all of these task list topics that you're going through any other documents. That are permanent products of what you are learning and supervision, you can store all of that into Tracker.

And then on our dashboard, we have it kind of divided per supervisee period, so per month, how many forms that you've uploaded, and then what are those forms. And so you could download them back to yourself, but you can kind of use this as a drive to store everything supervision related. And then the other piece that [00:38:00] I find.

in those monthly forms, and you've kind of talked about this a little bit. Things change from time to time for the board. The board's gonna give a new updated form for every now and then. And so we encourage you, instead of just providing you a form, that you are immediately taken to the BACB's website every month, and you're taking the most current form from them, and that's what you are uploading.

So you can feel confident that you're using the most current version.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, that is so important. And there is, it's a little bit small, but there is a date on the bottom left of that monthly verification form or final verification form. And so you just want to make sure you're using the most recent one. And like you said, going straight to the source straight to the BACB, because that's where you're going to find the most updated version.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: most information.

And the same thing goes with, hooray, you're at the end and you're ready for that final verification form. Maybe you have to submit multiple. You have, an individual supervisor [00:39:00] here and then multiple supervisors through another experience you had. A tracker will take you directly to the BACB's website in order to collect those forms.

We also have like a task analysis when you're going to upload your form to ensure that you've correctly filled out your form. So we're just triple checking, hey, do you have all your signatures correct? All the like common errors that we see, we encourage you to kind of triple check.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, that's so important. to that point too, I know we've talked about the contract at the beginning of ours, but as trainees begin, they need to create that account with the BACB because that is something they're going to document all the time. You need to know your supervisor's certification number, and BACB number, because all of that is going to be in your documentation.

And so making sure that that's all squared away from the very beginning is so important.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: very beginning is so important. Yeah. Actually, when you invite your [00:40:00] supervisor to Tracker, So, you add them as a supervisor that you're tracking hours under, then you're given the option to invite them now. You invite them, it sends them an email, and once they sign up for their, their own individual account in order to see your hours, we verify all of that.

So, what is their, BACB number, uh, when did they take their eight hour supervision 

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yes. 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: able to provide supervision? That's a big, big one that gets, overlooked. And I have a couple horror stories of people, accruing all of their hours and then finding out that their supervisor didn't take that eight hour course.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yes. In which case your hours don't count. And as a supervisor, you know,

again, it's helpful, not just for trainees, but for supervisors to have these checks for themselves of, yeah, I need this before I get started. And so the more that that can be built in to just the day to day of what we do, because this is something extra.

that supervisors [00:41:00] are tasked to do. 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Yeah, completely. And I, I think that. If the supervisor is reminded up front of, okay, I have to ensure that I have all of these ducks in a row, it just, again, it protects everybody. It protects everybody.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, absolutely. So just to recap, that daily documentation is in your unique documentation system. And that's really, as we've been talking about tracker or whatever form of documentation you use, that's what you're doing in your day to day to record every single activity. This is the start time, the end time, whether it's restricted or unrestricted, all of that.

And that's outlined in the handbook itself. So we're doing that daily. And then we have the monthly verification form, which comes from the board and that monthly verification form has to be signed. I don't know if we mentioned this, but it has to be signed within the, before the end of that next supervisory period.

So if you're,

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: So if 

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: you get your hours in [00:42:00] January, you need to finish it and complete your form by February 28th. So making sure 

that that is signed each month. And then we have our final verification form, which is very similar to that monthly verification form.

It is just that summary of all of your hours, and that's what you're going to submit to the board at the end, and during that you can have a mix of those, concentrated or independent hours and all of that is documented along the 

way 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: along the way.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: the monthly verification forms and unique documentation systems.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: documentation system. Yeah. And I think something that's always really surprising to people when they get to the end, is you're not turning in those monthly forms. You're turning in the final verification forms. But, this is the big caveat, is you have to ensure that you store those records for seven years.

So the monthly forms as well as all of these daily logs, that you have a doc, a record of it. So tracker, [00:43:00] again, it just kind of turns into that supervision drive for you to be able to securely store those forms. If you were ever to be audited, all of your information is there. It's a headache that you just don't have to worry

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Absolutely. Yeah. If you're supervising through an organization to make sure even if you're leaving that that organization, or if you're getting your supervision hours. You don't want to leave things in a Google Drive that you don't have access to making sure that you have those copies, but yeah, I always say it's a little anticlimactic to get to the 

end of your hours.

You have done 2, 000 hours, documented all of these things, and then you just submit this one piece of paper, but you do need to make sure you have everything in the event of an audit. You need to be able to back up those hours, but in terms of the actual submission, it can feel a little bit like a little anticlimactic, 

essentially. 

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Well, and I think that a lot of people feel like, Am I missing something here? Why don't you want all of this documentation that I have? And, I [00:44:00] think, Yeah, it can feel a little disappointing, But, In the off chance that you get audited, You'll know where it's 

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, yeah, keeping track of all of it. Um, so I want to end as we're wrapping up, I have a couple of questions for you. The first one is what is your favorite part about supervising?

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: about supervising? My favorite part about supervising is watching a trainee really become confident in their ability due to having high quality supervision. So when they really know the expectations for documentation or best practice for supervision.

 I see this often in my capstone class where, trainees are like, Oh, I'm reminding my supervisor that we have to do BST for all of these task list topics. And I need to have these competency assessments. And once people know that that's, that's what's considered truly best practice, I [00:45:00] feel so excited for who they will then become as a certified

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: It's so reinforcing to see that both during that supervision process. And then also, once your trainees become certified, seeing them operating as a BCBA, supervising other people, it's, it is.

I just always say it's the best job ever to be able to see them also develop that confidence in addition to those competencies.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Totally. A fun story about that is my first paying user to sign up for Tracker was actually one of my former 

trainees, new trainee. And it was just this very full circle moment of, you know, my former trainee, Brunel, knowing what expectation is for documentation and her really having that clear expectation for her now new 

trainee.

It's 

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah. That's awesome. And then, what would you tell new [00:46:00] supervisor Angie, if you could go back in time, what would you say to yourself?

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: would you say to yourself? Such a good question. I would really say enjoy the journey. You mentioned that those 2, 000 hours can go so fast. And I think that, that sometimes getting so overwhelmed with, the actual role of being a BCBA and then supervising on top of that, and then parent training on top of that can just become a lot.

And that idea of learning how to have really good self care, and enjoy the road, it is for sure the advice that I would

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: Yeah, there's almost this pressure to have everything figured out. You're the supervisor now, but you're still learning and that's okay and embrace it. So yeah, I love that. So if listeners want to find out more about Tracker, [00:47:00] find out more about you and connect with you, where can they find

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: connect with you, where can they find you?

 You will find us at fieldworktracker. com. Um, and then you can find us on Instagram, we'll be, uh, study notes ABA underscore Tracker. And you're always welcome to email me, Angie at fieldworktracker. com. And, I would love to provide you support in your documentation for supervision and connect with anybody.

allyson-wharam--she-her-_1_03-20-2024_132602: So it was so great to connect with you, and talk to you today. Thanks for being here.

angie-pickering-_1_03-20-2024_102601: Thanks for being here. Absolutely. Thanks for having me, Allison.

Thank you so much for listening to In the Field, the ABA podcast. Don't forget to visit our website at www. sidekicklearning. net for more resources, our comprehensive fieldwork supervision curriculum, and continuing education opportunities. If you enjoyed today's episode, [00:48:00] please consider subscribing to our podcast and sharing it with your colleagues and friends in the ABA community.

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