Supervision Experience

I am currently working on my supervised fieldwork as a full-time RBT. Thus far, my experience with supervision has been nothing short of positive. Prior to starting my supervision, I was led to believe that good supervision is few and far between. One BCBA at the company I work at is providing supervision to myself and another grad student. My supervisor has balanced one-on-one supervision and group supervision very well. I believe that having a co-grad student has brought a great dynamic to my supervision and provided more learning opportunities.

According to Sellers et al. (2016), there are five conditions that lead to good supervision. Listed below are the five conditions, and my personal experience:

Establish an effective supervisor-supervisee relationship

Prior to beginning supervision, my supervisor and I had a positive relationship as RBT and BCBA. I believe this made our transition to supervisor and supervisee even easier. These relationships were built on mutual respect and expectations from one another.

Establish a plan for structured supervision content and competence evaluation

We have established a plan for structured supervision by outlining an agenda each month. This consists of meeting topics and assignments. This is an organized way to know what is expected of us each month, and never leaves us wondering what to do if we have a sudden free block of time.

Evaluate the effects of supervision

Consistently evaluating the effects of supervision is good practice, because it gives insight on how much the student is improving and in what areas there is more support needed. We do weekly meetings to evaluate understanding of topics. Our BCBA's also do monthly observation forms where we are graded on certain performance criteria. This provides an objective way to give positive and constructive feedback to RBT's.

My supervisor has also assigned us a formal evaluation to complete on the supervision she has provided thus far. This was a series of open-ended questions so she can better learn how to serve her supervisees. Oftentimes, supervisors ask questions such as:

"Has your supervision been good so far?"

This is a yes or no question that many supervisees will subconsciously say "yes" to. Very little thought is given to close-ended questions, which is why a formal feedback questionnaire is a great way to communicate needs between a supervisor and supervisee.

Incorporate ethics and professional development into supervision

Learning and adopting behavior analytic skills is a great start to becoming a clinician. However, professional development and ethics are also half of your job description as a BCBA. We work in an outpatient clinic that has many layers of administration professionals. My BCBA has been adamant on giving us the knowledge we need to pick up on ethical dilemmas that can impact our job and our clients. We have learned how to approach these situations to protect ourselves and our clients. We also have learned about the ethics code and how to apply it to our clients, such as ethical behavioral interventions.

Continuing the professional relationship post-certification

Of course I am not yet a certified BCBA, but our professional relationship post-certification has already been discussed. I am very fortunate for the supervision experience I have had, and I hope I can continue working closely with my supervisor!

• What are your thoughts on your peer's supervisory experiences? Is further reflection needed?
• Do you have any additional strategies for enhancing the supervision process?
• Ask at least one thoughtful follow-up question.