Becki and the long road to RBT

I began my role as an ABA therapist with Skybound Therapies in May 2015, working with children and adolescents’ with autism and related conditions in West Wales. I began to work towards my Registered Behaviour Technician qualification, completing 40 hours of theory training and was due to have my competency assessment observation session on the 7th October.

However, on the 5 th October 2015, while driving to work I was involved in a road traffic accident. I had broken my elbow, broken my humorous, dislocated my hip and broken my hip joint and pelvis. I suffered nerve damage in my right leg and foot, and had a subarachnoid brain hemorrhage.

After 4 operations in total, I recovered in hospital for almost three months and spent a further 8 months recovering at home from mobility restrictions.  During my recovery, being unable to work was one of the toughest restrictions to deal with. I missed the children and my colleagues that I worked with every day.  I felt as though my progression in the field had come to a halt and doubted whether I would be able to return to my job.

In order to make the most of the time I was spending at home and to improve my knowledge of ABA, I began to complete online training courses in different areas, including TalkTools Level 1 and all of the ABA courses by Relias!  I was able to return to work for very minimal hours in the latter half of 2016, and have since built up my stamina and fitness to be able to work full time with many different clients.

The motivation to be mobile and safe enough to provide our clients with ABA therapy has improved my recovery mentally as well as physically. Having worked so hard to return to the position I was previously in, I have gone on to pass my competency observation assessment session and I’m now so happy to say that I have passed the Registered Behaviour Technician exam!

Becki Lutwyche
Finally a Registered Behaviour Technician