Pros
Training was extensive and really helpful, especially if you were new to the field. The school-schedule allows for nice breaks, like two weeks off in December, on in April, one in June, and other holidays.
Cons
There is a definite lack of professionalism among some (certainly not all) Classroom Instructors and/or Behavior Specialists and BT's who are friends, putting other BT's or CI's who may have issues in the uncomfortable situation of not being able to voice an issue without fear that their boss may tell their coworker. Favoritism is rampant. When BT's are promoted to CI or BS, they don't seem to realize that they are the managers of the people who they once considered friends and equals. The buildings are also falling apart. The building I worked in had 2 staff bathrooms and 4 for kids (for about 40 staff, maybe 50 kids) and for two weeks in December, half of those were out of order. The ceilings leak constantly. Communication is not great. Some kids can and have been used as "punishment" for BT's who aren't doing well, while others are "rewards", but this isn't always discussed. Schedules change daily, and while some of that is absences, people are taken off of kids they enjoy or out of classrooms they liked without so much as an explanation or a "We just wanted to try something new." Step By Step uses the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis to treat kids which simply put translates into, avoid punishment of unwanted behavior, and heavily reward wanted and appropriate behaviors. This doesn't get applied to the people who work there who are often expected to be superhuman and not become upset when being bit or kicked. It is an bizarre double standard to work in, knowing that you will give a kid candy for not hitting you, but you may be berated or ostracized for daring to offer a different opinion. For example, kids on the spectrum (ok, most kids) are not the best at washing their hands or things like personal hygiene, which means that if one was sick, the whole building was sick. Parents were required to keep their kid home if they had a fever or were throwing up. However, if staff were sick, they would often face disciplinary action for missing work, even though their presence could make more coworkers or kids sick. When bathrooms were out of order, this meant, many kids would be absent, but the staff would be there, completely miserable and once the kids came back, they'd be right back out because the staff had all been ill in their absence. I saw this happen to BT's, CI's, and BS's. Moral is constantly low and HR is more concerned with getting new BT's and keeping the ones they have. Raises do not happen past the BT3 level and I saw several people max it out in a few months. There is no retirement or tuition reimbursement plan, which doesn't make many people want to stay.
