Why This Matters for Your RBT Career

Autonomy in Action supports RBT professional development by helping technicians move beyond simply implementing procedures toward thinking more intentionally about dignity, communication, choice, self-advocacy, and client participation. RBTs spend significant amounts of time directly supporting learners, which means they are often the first team members to observe preferences, refusals, requests for help, changes of mind, and barriers to meaningful participation. This course helps RBTs recognize those moments, respond within the treatment plan, document them objectively, and communicate effectively with supervisors. By strengthening skills related to assent, supported decision-making, neurodiversity-affirming care, ethical practice, and professional communication, the course helps RBTs provide services that are both behaviorally sound and responsive to the individual receiving support.

About This Course

Autonomy in Action: Building Self-Determination into Routine ABA Teaching explores what autonomy means in autism treatment and how respecting an individual’s autonomy can strengthen assent-based ABA services. The course distinguishes autonomy from independence, choice, consent, and assent, and examines how communication supports, processing time, meaningful options, and opportunities to direct assistance can increase learner participation. RBTs will explore practical ways to embed agency into daily teaching, identify environmental barriers to autonomy, balance self-direction with health and safety needs, and support authentic communication across speech, AAC, gestures, and behavior. The course also connects autonomy-supportive practice to neurodiversity-affirming care, the RBT Ethics Code, objective documentation, caregiver communication, supervisor collaboration, and current research related to self-determination, assent, and supported decision-making.

What You'll Learn

7 Chapters · 14 Lessons

    1. Meet Your Instructor Free preview
    2. Learning Objectives Free preview

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      What It Is

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      Quick Check

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      Supporting Autonomy

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      Autonomy Supports Assent

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      Neurodiversity Affirming Care

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      Let's Do It

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      Quick Check

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      Ethics Connection

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      Survey- Talk It Out