Ethical Considerations when Providing ABA Treatment

When working through the scenarios answer the following questions for each scenario:
1. Is there an ethical concern in the scenario?
2. If so, what is the concern/problem?
3. If you witnessed this what would you do?
4. If you were the person in the scenario what would you do differently?
Scenario #1:
Dr. Smith is 53 years old, is a BCBA and a psychologist. He has been supervising staff for an ASD
Treatment Clinic for the past 24 years. Due to his extensive experience in the field, and his
heavy work load, Dr. Smith has been unable to attend any conferences or workshops for the
past 8 years, and stopped reading journals about 6 years ago. He believes this is fine because
nothing in the field changes and the old way of doing things worked then and is fine now.
Scenario #2:
Robert is an RBT and a father of a child with Autism and severe behavior issues. His current
client, Sally, is the same age as his son and has very similar behaviors. When working, Robert
often talks to Maggie’s mom about his son and how he handles behaviors at home. One day,
Robert has a really rough morning with his son, then he goes into work. He has difficulty
working with Sally, feeling bad about the morning’s episode. He decides to just play with Sally
and pushes through the session.
Scenario #3:
Jen is a BCBA working with Harry, a 5 year old with autism. His mom, Sarah, is a single mom
who works two jobs. Jen has been working with the family for the past two years. One day,
Sarah gets called into work early and asks Jen if she can sit with Josh for two hours. Sophia
offers to pay Jen, since the service would be non-billable, unless Jen just wants to bill for it and
Sarah would sign off on her time sheet.