u/Snoo_56518

⚠️Trigger Warning: Crime involving a child

Hi, I’m a crime junkie who hopes to one day work in a crime division and use ABA to better understand behavior from a forensic lens. I’ve been thinking about the case involving Tanner Lynn Horner and Athena Strand. From what’s publicly known, he was a delivery driver who kidnapped, assaulted, and killed a 7 year old girl during a Fed Ex delivery. It’s disturbing on every level.

What stood out to me is that he claimed to have Autism Spectrum Disorder and blamed a change in his Fed Ex route for causing meltdown and “snapping.”

That made me pause and ask:

Where do we draw the line between behavioral challenges and accountability?

Do we look at age? Experience? Whether someone had access to ABA or any support at all? Medication? Environment?

As practitioners, we work on rigidity, transitions, tolerance for no, and emotional regulation every day. We sit with families and build these skills from the ground up.

But here’s the part I’m struggling with:

If we don’t address these challenges early, what are we actually risking long term?

Not saying ABA prevents crime. But are we underestimating how important it is to teach flexibility, coping, and regulation in a way that truly generalizes beyond sessions? At the same time, I want to be clear. ASD does not create violent offenders. A diagnosis can explain certain behaviors, but it does not excuse harm, especially at this level.

So now I’m stuck thinking about both sides.

Early intervention matters. Accountability matters.

And somewhere in the middle is a conversation we probably are not having enough.

Would love to hear thoughts, especially from anyone interested in forensic ABA or behavior in criminal contexts.

Are you satisfied with your FR-2 reinforcement? Lol a little ABA humor.

When you receive your pay, does it actually maintain your behavior? And when I say maintain your behavior, I mean does it reduce stress so you can show up at 100% and provide quality care? Or are you starting to notice a decrease in responding (silent quitting) because the paycheck is not reinforcing enough?

Right now, the pay is not functioning as a strong reinforcer. It feels like completing a full token board, being promised a four minute break, and only getting 30 seconds before being sent right back to work. If the pay is not strong enough to maintain consistent responding, how can we expect quality care? You have people working full time and still struggling to meet basic needs.

How do you expect someone to perform at a high level when the reinforcement is not even supporting a livable wage? Life happens, bills happen, burnout happens. It’s like earning tokens but not knowing if the reinforcer will actually be delivered. Insurance companies increase rates, services are billed, but are those reinforcers actually reaching the people doing the work? Did salaries really change, or did they go up a few dollars over years?

At what point does working for $20 an hour stop being reinforcing? Even with a strong motivation to work, behavior will not maintain if the reinforcement is not meaningful. RBT paychecks are not reinforcing, and that is the problem. I have seen some of the best leave this field because the pay was not enough to live. People are working for two or three agencies just to survive, chasing hours instead of stability.

RBTs are like hamsters in a wheel willing to “go” if need be. ( my neurodivergent mind, don’t shoot me down)