Behavior Analyst Practicum Student

What a practicum at AB Spectrum involves

A behavior analyst practicum at AB Spectrum is supervised fieldwork in a working clinic, not a classroom exercise. You would spend your hours with children, technicians, and supervising BCBAs in the same studio-style spaces we use for Reggio ABA. The goal is to help you meet fieldwork requirements while doing work that actually serves families in the St. Louis area.

What you should expect from the weeks

Your time will include implementing and observing programs, taking and reviewing data, participating in supervision, and gradually taking on the kind of clinical thinking a future BCBA needs — always under supervision, and always inside the plan the supervising analyst has approved. You should not expect to be left to invent programs on your own, and you should not expect to only watch from a distance. The practicum is a mix of doing, reflecting, and being coached.

Reggio ABA is child-led and takes place in studio-style environments inspired by the Reggio Emilia philosophy. If you have only seen more traditional discrete-trial settings, you will need time to learn how motivation, the environment, and the written plan work together here. That learning is part of the practicum, and it is one reason people choose a site that already practices this model.

Supervision and professional standards

Supervision follows the requirements of your fieldwork and of our clinic. Your supervising BCBA is responsible for the care the children receive and for the quality of your fieldwork. You are responsible for showing up prepared, for being honest about what you do not yet know, and for treating families and colleagues with care. If something in supervision is unclear, ask early. Fieldwork hours only help you if the work inside them is done well.

This is not a job posting that can list every university’s requirements. You will need to confirm that our supervision structure matches what your program and the Behavior Analyst Certification Board require for your situation. Bring those requirements to the conversation when you apply so we can be specific with you.

Clinics and how to apply

Practicum placements, when available, are based at one of our five clinics: St. Louis at 2338 Lemay Ferry Road, Chesterfield at 14733 Clayton Road, Florissant at 11753 W. Florissant Avenue, St. Peters at 1421 Triad Center Drive, or Wright City at 312 Warren Avenue. The posting will name the site if a particular clinic is hiring or taking a student.

Applications are submitted through the process described on this posting; our team uses Rippling, as already noted on our job pages. Read the qualifications and any scheduling expectations before you apply. You can also review our careers page and the BCBA role to see what this fieldwork is meant to prepare you for.

If you are looking for a technician role rather than fieldwork toward certification, see our behavior technician page. If you are a family looking for care, please use schedule a meeting instead of this application.

How to decide whether this practicum is a fit

A good practicum match is as much about logistics as it is about philosophy. You will need hours, supervision, and a site you can reach reliably. You will also need a setting that uses the kind of clinical work you want to learn. If you want to practice in a Reggio ABA clinic, with child-led sessions in studio-style spaces and BCBA supervision on the floor, this is that setting. If you want a very different model, it is better to say so now than to force a fit.

You should also be honest about your current skills. Some practicum students arrive with substantial technician experience. Others arrive with strong academic preparation and less time in a clinic. Both can work if supervision is structured. What does not work is pretending to be further along than you are, or waiting until a mid-term evaluation to mention that a requirement from your program is not being met.

Bring a copy of your fieldwork checklist, your available hours, and any constraint we should know about — a second job, a class schedule, a clinic you cannot reach. We would rather design a realistic plan than agree to a slate of hours that looks fine on a form and fails in the second month.

What we will expect from you in return

We will expect professional conduct with families and colleagues, punctuality, and careful handling of clinical information. You will see children and hear details that are not yours to share outside the team. You will also be a guest in a working clinic: the child’s plan and the family’s experience come first, even when you need a particular kind of hour for a task list.

You should expect feedback that is specific. If your implementation is loose, we will say so. If your notes are unclear, we will say so. The point of a practicum is to become a safer, more skillful clinician, not to collect hours that no one has really supervised. If that standard feels like the kind of training you want, we welcome your application.

If you finish this page and still have process questions, include them when you apply so we can answer them directly. If you are not looking for fieldwork and wanted a paid technician role instead, use the behavior technician posting that matches the clinic you can reach.