I once worked at a school where two new children, both recently diagnosed with autism, were placed in a preschool classroom. Both children were not yet talking and had significant problem behaviors. This was in February. The special education director told me that there was no money to hire paraprofessionals for those students until the next school year in September. “Can you give the teacher some strategies to use for a few months?” Nope, can’t do it.
Often people will make unreasonable requests of BCBAs that wouldn’t be asked of other professions. No hospital administrator would ask a surgeon to work without nurses, sterilized equipment, or an operating room because the surgeon needs those things to be safe and effective.
The same is not true for BCBAs. Frequently, people will make unreasonable requests where you are unlikely to be successful. As I have discussed before, don’t do it. When it doesn’t work, no one will remember that you said beforehand that it wasn’t a good idea and that other resources were needed.
The key is not to be afraid to say no even if there is huge pressure from everyone, even your boss. Don’t start behavior change programs that you know aren’t going to be successful due to inadequate resources. There is a lot to learn about negotiation, but the most important thing to know is to not be afraid to walk away from any deal that doesn’t make sense.
Those two children where I turned down the case got services sooner than September. I recently met one of them doing very well in an adult program. Saying “no” was much better than pretending like they were getting real services.