The BCBA Residency™
A case-based curriculum for clinical judgment
21 self-contained chapters on how experienced behavior analysts reason through assessment, goal priorities, and treatment decisions. For student analysts, new BCBAs, and the supervisors and faculty who train them.
Why it exists
Most ABA training teaches concepts. This teaches judgment.
Graduate coursework covers what the principles are. It rarely shows how an experienced clinician actually thinks through treatment planning, decides what comes first, or handles the decisions where two competent BCBAs would disagree.
The Residency is built around those decisions, worked through as real clinical cases rather than as templates to copy.
Inside every chapter
Ready to teach, as a complete unit
Each chapter stands on its own, so it can be assigned in a course, a practicum seminar, a supervision meeting, or an in-service.
Case manuscript
The case written as a clinical narrative, not a scenario, with the reasoning behind each decision made visible.
Slides
A presentation for classroom or in-service delivery, ready to teach as-is or adapt.
Discussion guide
Questions and prompts for running the case in supervision or a seminar.
Examination
A chapter exam that checks reasoning, not just recall of terms.
What the chapters cover
The decisions the task list doesn't answer
Every chapter follows the same clinical-reasoning process, so learners build a repeatable way of thinking rather than a collection of one-off answers.
- Assessment reasoning
- Goal prioritization
- Treatment selection
- The ethics of scope
- Data interpretation
- Decisions without a right answer
The standard it's built against
Could a competent BCBA who has never met your client reconstruct your reasoning from what you wrote?
Not whether they can read it. Not whether it's compliant. Whether they can tell why you chose that goal over the other four, why now, and what would have to be true for you to change course.
That question is the whole curriculum.
Who it's for
Built for the people who make, and teach, clinical decisions
Student analysts
Practice the reasoning behind treatment decisions before you're the one signing the plan.
New BCBAs
A structured way to close the gap between coursework and the realities of independent practice.
Supervisors & faculty
Finished units for a graduate sequence, practicum, supervision curriculum, or staff in-service, with no prep built from scratch.
For faculty and program directors
Review the chapters at no cost
Chapters are available for review for programs considering them for a graduate sequence, practicum, or supervision curriculum.
1. Tell me what you teach
Your program and the course or area you're considering the Residency for.
2. Receive the relevant chapters
I'll send the chapters that match that area, with their slides, discussion guides, and exams.
3. Decide on fit
If they work for your program, we'll talk about terms. No obligation either way.
The Residency Notes
One clinical-reasoning question, worked through properly
Occasional notes, roughly monthly. Not a newsletter, not a funnel, and nothing is for sale.
For clinics & RBT trainers
Staff-development materials and a 41-topic bilingual caregiver education collection, licensed to organizations.
Books for the families you serve
Plain-language books and guidebooks in English and Spanish that families can use with or without services.
Author
Ricardo de la Peña, M.A., BCBA, LBA
Ricardo is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and a Licensed Behavior Analyst in Texas with over ten years of experience in treatment planning, supervision, and caregiver training. The Residency is written from that practice, not adapted from coursework.
Please don't send client names, clinical records, or health information. The BCBA Residency is independently developed and is not sponsored, approved, or endorsed by the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB).