RBT Training That Works: Build a System for Your ABA Practice

Let’s be real—Registered Behavior Therapists (RBTs) are the heartbeat of your ABA practice. They’re in the trenches daily: running sessions, collecting data, supporting families, and making your treatment plans come to life. That’s why solid RBT training isn’t just a box to check—it’s your secret weapon.

According to the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), RBT applicants can complete the training in various ways—through in-house programs, online training companies, or university coursework—as long as it meets BACB standards and is overseen by a qualified certificant.

While practices aren’t required to provide the RBT training themselves, many choose to. Why? Because it allows for better alignment with their clinical model, faster onboarding, and more consistent quality across the team.

Whether you’re delivering the training in-house or guiding staff through an external course, the goal is the same: integrate training into your practice in a way that actually works.

But between BACB requirements and the reality of onboarding new team members, training can start to feel chaotic. Here’s how to cut through the noise and create an RBT training process that actually works—for your staff and your practice.

You probably know the basics, but it never hurts to revisit the essentials.

RBTs must complete certification exams and 40-hour training courses to fulfill the criteria set by the BACB. Numerous training courses are available online, including free options, that meet this criteria. 

The BACB offers guidelines to help aid practices in establishing their own training curriculum. This allows for the precise administration of training material to applicants and allows for the incorporation of processes that may already be in place at your practice.

1. Content

First, the 40-hour training must cover specific content. This content can be found in the curriculum outline on the BACB’s website and should be delivered within the competency of RBT service delivery. Content should include various topics such as data collection, graphing, behavior assessments, service delivery, ethics, and interventions. 

2. Qualified Trainers

RBT Training must be designed and overseen by Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) who have completed the 8-hour supervision training. Many of these courses are offered online by places like the Autism Partnership Foundation or Relias Academy.

3. Duration

Applicants must complete at least 40 hours of training in no fewer than 5 days and no more than 180 days. Each section has a minimum training duration, and all sections together total 38 hours. The BACB allows for two extra hours to be added to any section to meet the 40-hour requirement.

4. Delivery

Training may be structured in person or online format. It must include components of behavior skills training as the main teaching strategy, which primarily focuses on instruction of material, modeling, practice, and supervisor feedback. 

5. Documentation

Another integral part of the RBT training process is the documentation process. Practices are required to give applicants a specific 40-hour training certificate to upload to the BACB website for the exam application process. RBT trainers are additionally required to keep documentation of the training for 7 years.  

RBT training isn’t one-size-fits-all. What works at one clinic might flop at another. It most often involves effective onboarding processes, hands-on experiences with clients alongside other practitioners and across many types of settings, progress tracking, and workflows that allow for the entire process to be structured in a way that allows for everything to flow together smoothly. Here are some tips to help you best streamline RBT training into your practice!

An effective onboarding process is a key component for any practice bringing on RBTs. A detailed plan or timeline should be constructed for incoming employees to keep things orderly and structured.  There are several easy-to-follow templates available online to help practices develop an onboarding plan, as well as ABA software made to pull essential components, like scheduling and curriculum, together in one place.

Hands-on supervision practice is another key component to help streamline effective RBT training. This requires RBTs to work directly with another RBT, or a supervising BCBA, in the community with clients. Hands-on supervision allows for real-time practice of ABA skills in naturalistic or contrived settings, as well as feedback to help shape expertise in the area. 

Tracking progress in RBT training is required to evaluate applicants’ skill acquisition and onboarding timeline. Whether you are tracking the progress of completion of training modules, the RBT application process, or real-time data collection within training sessions, use ABA software like ABA Matrix—or even something as simple as Google Sheets—to monitor where each RBT is in the process. It’s the best way to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.

Finally, it’s essential that all these pieces are incorporated together. An effective onboarding process, as we first discussed, in combination with hands-on supervision and progress-tracking components, helps make up a structured workflow to ensure that your practice’s RBT training process utilizes your time appropriately.  If executed properly, RBT training using online platforms and resources, such as courses for clinical operations, enables your practice’s clinical workflow to run smoothly and ensures optimal output, ultimately leading to more experienced RBTs. 

RBT training isn’t just about compliance—it’s about outcomes. When your RBTs are well-trained, your clients see better results, your BCBAs are less overwhelmed, and your whole team runs smoother.

Investing in the training process now saves you time, energy, and turnover headaches later. And hey—better-trained RBTs mean better care for the kids and families who count on you. That’s what it’s all about, right? Need more info on official requirements? Head over to BACB’s website.