How Do BCBAs Decide Which Behaviors to Work On First?

BCBAs prioritize target behaviors in a fixed order: safety first, then behaviors blocking learning or independence, based on a Functional Behavior Assessment, not a parent's list of top concerns. That single hierarchy explains almost every "why aren't we working on X" question families bring to Blue Jay ABA.

Here's how that decision actually gets made, and how it plays out for the families we support across North Carolina and Colorado.

How BCBAs Decide Which Behaviors to Target First

Every treatment plan follows a rough order of priority, even when it is not written out as a numbered list. Understanding that order helps parents make sense of why one behavior gets attention before another.

Safety Comes Before Everything Else

Behaviors that put a child or someone nearby at risk always move to the front of the line. Self-injury, aggression, elopement, and behaviors around dangerous objects get addressed first, regardless of what else is on a family's wish list.

This is not a preference. It reflects a basic ethical standard in our field: a child cannot build new skills while they are unsafe.

Behaviors That Block Learning or Independence Come Next

After safety, we look at behaviors that stand in the way of everything else. A child who cannot tolerate sitting near a peer will struggle to build social skills. A child who cannot request help will struggle with almost every academic and daily living goal on the plan.

We call these interfering behaviors. Clearing them tends to unlock progress across several goals at once, rather than just one.

The Assessment That Drives Every Priority List

None of this prioritization happens by guesswork. It comes from a structured process that looks at a child's behavior from multiple angles before a single goal is written down.

What a Functional Behavior Assessment Uncovers

A Functional Behavior Assessment, or FBA, asks what a behavior is doing for a child, not just what it looks like. We look at what happens right before the behavior and right after it, across settings and over time.

The IRIS Center at Vanderbilt University breaks this down into a few core functions: escaping a demand, gaining attention, accessing a preferred item, or meeting a sensory need. Nearly every behavior we prioritize traces back to one of these.

Our own guide to functional behavior assessments walks through what that process looks like in a real session.

Why Skipping This Step Backfires

I have seen programs built entirely around what looked most disruptive rather than what the data actually showed. Targeting a behavior without understanding its function usually reduces one behavior only to have a new one appear in its place, because the underlying need was never addressed.

A well-run initial ABA assessment exists specifically to prevent that mistake from happening on day one.

Whose Input Shapes the Priority List

A treatment plan is never built by a clinician working alone in a room. Several voices shape which behaviors rise to the top, and each one adds something a BCBA cannot see without them.

Caregiver Priorities and Daily Life

Parents see behavior in contexts we never will: bedtime, the grocery store, a sibling's birthday party. That information genuinely changes what gets prioritized.

Our parent assessment process exists to capture exactly that kind of detail before a treatment plan is finalized, so the goals we set actually matter to the family living with them every day.

The Child's Own Voice, When They Can Give It

Children communicate their own priorities constantly, whether through words, gestures, or simple avoidance. A child who consistently resists a specific goal is telling us something worth listening to.

Modern practice treats that signal as clinical information rather than an obstacle. Ignoring it tends to produce compliance without real learning, which rarely holds up outside the therapy room.

How Priorities Shift as Therapy Continues

A priority list from month one almost never looks the same by month six. That is not instability. It is the plan doing exactly what it is supposed to do.

Data Reviews Change the Plan

We track progress on every goal continuously, not just at a formal review. When a behavior improves faster than expected, or a new one increases in frequency, the priority list gets adjusted right away rather than waiting months.

Our guide to tracking your child's progress explains what that data actually looks like from a parent's side of the table.

One Goal Often Leads to the Next

Skills build on each other in ways that are not always obvious at the start. Teaching a child to request a break, for instance, often reduces aggression that was never directly targeted, because the aggression was serving the same function the new skill now serves better.

This is one reason a good BCBA resists the urge to target every behavior on a parent's list at once. A shorter list, sequenced correctly, usually moves faster than a long one addressed all at the same time.

How We Approach This at Blue Jay ABA

This prioritization process looks the same in principle wherever we work, but the day-to-day details shift depending on where a family lives and what services fit their routine.

In North Carolina, we work with families in Durham and across our full North Carolina service area. In Colorado, we support families in Aurora and throughout our Colorado locations.

Every plan starts with a comprehensive ABA assessment and, when needed, a full autism evaluation. From there, we deliver home-based ABA, school-based ABA therapy, and telehealth ABA, depending on where a specific target behavior actually shows up.

Our ABA parent training makes sure the priority list we build in a clinical review matches what a family is actually managing at home. 

Turning a Long List Into a Working Plan

How a BCBA decides which behaviors to target first is not guesswork, and it is not simply a matter of addressing whatever feels most urgent in the moment. It is a structured process built on safety, function, caregiver input, and ongoing data.

Every reputable BCBA can walk you through exactly why your child's plan is sequenced the way it is. If you are wondering why a specific behavior is or is not on your child's current plan, that is a fair and useful question to bring to your next review.

If you would like to talk through your own child's priorities with a BCBA, contact Blue Jay ABA.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why isn't my top concern the first thing being targeted?

Your top concern may not be the behavior standing in the way of the most progress. A BCBA prioritizes based on safety and function first, then works quickly toward the goals that matter most to your family once the groundwork is in place.

How many behaviors does a treatment plan usually target at once?

Most plans focus on a handful of goals at a time rather than an exhaustive list. Concentrating effort tends to produce faster, more durable progress than spreading attention across everything a family would eventually like to address.

Can I ask for a specific behavior to be prioritized?

Yes. Your input is a required part of the assessment process, not an afterthought. If a behavior matters intensely to your family's daily life, say so directly, and your BCBA will explain how it fits into the broader plan.

Does the priority list ever go back to an old goal?

Often. Goals that were deprioritized because something more urgent came up are usually still on the radar, and they get revisited once the higher-priority behavior is under control.

Sources

• Behavior Analyst Certification Board. (2020). Ethics code for behavior analysts. https://www.bacb.com/ethics-information/ethics-codes/
• Council of Autism Service Providers [CASP]. (2024). Applied behavior analysis practice guidelines for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder: Guidance for healthcare funders, regulatory bodies, service providers, and consumers [Clinical practice guidelines]. https://www.casproviders.org/asd-guidelines
• IRIS Center, Vanderbilt University Peabody College. Functional behavioral assessment (elementary): Identifying the reasons for student behavior. https://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/module/fba-elem/
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2024). Treatment and intervention for autism spectrum disorder. https://www.cdc.gov/autism/treatment/index.html
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2025). Data and statistics on autism spectrum disorder. https://www.cdc.gov/autism/data-research/index.html