Most ABA training is not really training. It is compliance theater. Staff click through the modules, pass the quizzes, get signed off as competent, and six weeks later they are standing in front of a real client, in a real moment, with no idea what to do. We did not skip the training. We did plenty of it. It just never taught anyone how to do the job.

My guests today are two of the most respected voices in the field on exactly this problem. Dr. Alison Betz is VP of Business Development at ABA Technologies and the current executive director of the OBM Network. Adam Hockman is their senior vice president of Learning Partnerships and Growth, an instructional designer who will happily tell you that ABA Technologies is not a plug-and-play training company. They are presenting a session at the Summit called From Training to Results, and this is the episode to listen to with your notes app open.

Here is what we get into:

• What plug-and-play training really is, and why a 40-hour checkbox bolted onto an already bloated onboarding produces content coverage, not competence.
• Why instructional design is a discipline of its own, and why being brilliant at teaching kids does not automatically make you good at teaching adults.
• The sequencing trap. Why the skills a new technician needs on day one, like pairing and building rapport, tend to show up last in their training.
• Why you do not have to choose between exam pass rates and real readiness. A well-built program can deliver both, often in less time.
• How to actually run the build-versus-buy decision, starting with a number most owners cannot name: what training truly costs you, including the billable hours you lose while people are still in it.
• The measures worth watching. Time to competency, 30, 60, and 90 day turnover, first-session integrity, and the satisfaction surveys behavior analysts tend to wave off.
• One thing you can do before August. Follow a single new hire through onboarding like a researcher, and map exactly where the confusion and the handoffs are.

A few resources from ABA Technologies if you want to go deeper:

Company page: https://www.abatechnologies.com

RBT Cost Calculator, to put a real number on what training is costing you: https://www.abatechnologies.com/corporate/cost-calculator

The ABA Tech Clinical Leaders Community: https://www.abatechnologies.com/corporate/the-aba-tech-clinical-leaders-community

Alison and Adam will be on stage at ABA C.A.R.E.S. for their session, From Training to Results, and they will have a booth right when you walk in, to the left. Adam's advice for getting the most from the Summit: come with two or three real problems you are trying to solve, not just one, and be willing to look underneath them, because training is often the hidden factor behind a turnover or compliance problem.

Register here: https://behaviorlive.com/conferences/abacares2026/registration

We will see you in Boston August 4th through 7th, or live streaming from the other side of the screen.