Part I: The Standard (Chapters 1-3)
Establishing the fundamental protocol. We examine why outcomes are misleading teachers, and how to verify that a decision is Visible, Evidence-Linked, and Revisable before putting it into play.
Two Clinicians, One Client
How identical assessment data produces two defensible plans—and why the difference isn't ABA knowledge.
The Differential
Jonah is seven, and the school district's referral arrives with the diagnosis of the problem already attached.
Priorities, Postponement, and Necessity
How shrinking hours re-rank a plan, why the hierarchy is a frame for arguments, and what necessity asks of a goal.
Part II: The Instruments (Chapters 4-7)
Re-evaluating our primary tools. Not how to run them, but the judgment calls hidden in how we configure data, select assessment batteries, write targets, and structure treatment documentation.
What the Data Deserve
Data collection is behavior, and behavior is maintained by its consequences—the functional assessment of your own measurement system.
Assessment as Hypothesis Work
Wren is eleven, fluent, and has not been to school in nineteen days. The refusals began in September as slow mornings.
Function Ambiguity
Every funder's FBA template, clinic report shell, and BIP framework contains a line that looks administrative but hides key decisions.
The Record
The deposition takes place eighteen months after the session. A competent BCBA is deposed about a caseload note.
Part III: The Presentations (Chapters 8-14)
Tackling real clinical challenges. Each chapter runs the book's instruments through a specific case presentation at full clinical depth.
The Learner Whose Mands Stalled
Liam's vocal progress plateaus for six weeks. Deciding between prompt modifications or AAC transition.
Leaving Well
Thinning, fading, and transition plans: how to design successful discharge criteria when a client makes significant progress.
The Client Who Explains Everything
Marcus is twelve, and his verbal behavior is the best hour of his BCBA's week—but does it align with his functional needs?
Priya: Treat, Coordinate, Refer
Priya is fifteen. The referral says "aggression and meltdowns," but the intake tells a story that nobody has assembled.
The Feeding Table
Willa is six, her family eats in shifts, and a feeding regression halts program progress.
The Family That Stopped Going Places
Malik is ten, and the referral is written in incident language: "meltdowns in community settings."
Seventeen
DeShawn is seventeen years and two months old. Preparing for the transition runway before childhood services end.
Part IV: The Terrain (Chapters 15-21)
Widening out to the systems, institutions, and arguments that surround every case. Ending with a mock confrontation against a senior clinician.
The Payer in the Room
How to protect clients, safety protocols, and parent-mediated ABA when hours are unilaterally slashed.
The Building You Don't Run
Navigating public school consults, two houses, and teachers who refuse token systems.
The Building You Run
An exit interview with Bree, who was the best technician in the building, and why she gave notice.
The Push
A behavior analyst's reckoning with critiques that did not originate within the field's own boundaries.
The Autopsy
The plan that survived two authorizations without moving, and why it failed.
The Second Baseline
Teaching clinical decision-making, supervision standards, and structured classroom instruction.
Rounds
Epilogue: Facing a mock confrontation with a senior supervisor who rejects your plan.