Looking Forward: Cultivating Buy-in with Stakeholders
As a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA®), your role extends beyond supporting a client’s progress in the present—you are also responsible for helping shape a meaningful future. While teaching new skills and achieving short-term goals is essential, it’s equally important to plan ahead for what your client will need as they grow. Because every client is unique, so are their long-term goals, support needs, and definitions of success. That’s why future-focused planning—identifying meaningful, age-appropriate skills and services—is a critical part of our work.
However, these efforts can only be successful when stakeholders are on board. Parents and caregivers are often, understandably, focused on immediate progress and daily challenges, making it easy for future planning to take a backseat. Yet as clinicians, we are acutely aware of the hurdles that can emerge in adulthood without adequate preparation. It is our responsibility to initiate these conversations with compassion, build trust, and foster collaboration. So, the key question becomes: How can I cultivate buy-in with stakeholders for meaningful, future-oriented skills?
Dr. Shanna Bahry offers five practical steps to guide BCBAs® in engaging stakeholders and building shared investment in long-term success.
1. Building Rapport & Trust
The first step in Dr. Bahry’s 5-step plan involves building rapport and trust with stakeholders. Aligning yourself with stakeholders and promoting a collaborative, team approach regarding their child helps them feel more involved in their child's goals and progress. They should always be a part of those conversations. When approaching stakeholders with discussions about what their child’s future looks like, the intent is not to upset parents or cause emotional responses. Instead, the hope is that these are eye-opening exercises that will bring about positive change in the following:
The way they think
How they plan for their child’s future
Collaborating with their child’s service providers
It is still important to raise awareness of the challenges faced by adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), regardless of the audience.
Factors that influence adulthood outcomes may contribute to a reduced quality of life (Ayres et al., 2018; van Heijst & Guerts, 2015):
Limited independence
Lack of post-secondary education
Limited employment opportunities
Limited social support
Absence of specialized support services
These outcomes are interconnected; adults with ASD are often left to suffer from a reduced quality of life with little support and services. Making sure stakeholders are educated on these challenges, but supported, as their child ages is extremely important.
2. The Realities of Adult Services
As a child with ASD grows into adulthood, school-based services and insurance coverage suddenly disappear. Where once there were clearly defined systems of support (IEPs, transition teams, related services), adult services tend to be fragmented, underfunded, or entirely unavailable. Waiting lists for adult programs can span years. Eligibility criteria are often restrictive. Out-of-pocket costs for services like job coaching, residential support, and continued therapy are prohibitively expensive for most families. This sad reality experienced by families is often regarded as “falling off a service cliff.”
For many stakeholders, these realities are devastating to confront. That’s why it’s critical for BCBAs® to approach this conversation with empathy, honesty, and clarity. Dr. Bahry emphasizes that this is not a conversation to avoid—it’s a conversation to prepare for. And when done right, it can serve as a catalyst for meaningful change in the way families view early intervention, adaptive skill-building, and long-term goals.
To best explain all of this to parents, Dr. Bahry recommends
Use accessible, everyday language—avoid jargon.
Define what “adult outcomes” mean—parents often picture adulthood abstractly; offer tangible examples when talking about their child’s future.
Balance honesty with support—acknowledge that this can be overwhelming and even painful. Reassure families that planning now can lead to better outcomes later.
Be prepared for emotional responses—respond with validation and compassion, not urgency or pressure.
Use data and examples to support your message—don’t overwhelm families with too many numbers but use examples to help them see your points.
3. Explain the Relevance of Adaptive-Behavior Skills/Independence
Adaptive behaviors are learned skills that enable individuals to function independently and meet the demands of their daily environment. An adaptive behavior may be learning to put clothes on before leaving the bathroom, which may not be required of the child when they are very young. Dressing oneself is essential for personal independence, dignity, and participation in daily activities. Mastery of this skill reduces reliance on caregivers and promotes independence.
To meet the demands of their environments, children must learn a specific set of skills. As environments change, it is important to teach new skills in order to continue to meet the environmental demands.
Examples of adaptive behaviors:
Conceptual skills—problem-solving, decision-making, etc.
Social skills—eye contact, communication, etc.
Practical skills—activities of daily living, occupational skills, etc.
An environment often neglected is the personal environment of the client—as they age and mature, their body changes. Continuing to teach skills that meet the needs of their bodily changes is an important part of fostering independence into adulthood.
Sexuality skills are adaptive behaviors. They are important for developing independence as the client continues to age. This includes
Self-care/hygiene
Dressing
Health/Safety
Social skills
Community
Self-management
Leisure/recreation
While these are not skills overtly related to sexuality, they all have components within them that link back to sexuality.
4. Explain the Need for Long-Term Planning
One of the most critical responsibilities of a BCBA® is to think beyond the present and actively plan for the future. While it’s common to write treatment plans in 6-month or 1-year intervals, this short-term lens can lead to a fragmented approach where each provider focuses only on immediate needs. This often results in “programming with blinders on”—where essential life skills are delayed or overlooked, and long-term goals are treated as another practitioner’s responsibility down the road.
Without long-term planning, we risk missing critical windows for skill development, especially during childhood and adolescence when support services are more accessible and learning is most robust. Many adaptive, vocational, social, and self-advocacy skills require years of practice to generalize across settings and conditions. If we wait too long, the opportunity to teach them meaningfully can pass us by.
Dr. Bahry emphasizes that BCBAs® must take the lead in shifting the mindset of the entire team—from reactive to proactive. This includes
Mapping out a trajectory of skills that build toward meaningful adult outcomes.
Starting with the end in mind—What will independence look like at age 18? 25?
Identifying what the child will need to live, work, and participate in the community.
Evaluating skill gaps now that could lead to dependence or exclusion later.
It’s also important to emphasize to stakeholders that planning for the future doesn’t mean ignoring the present. Instead, it means identifying skills that are both developmentally appropriate now and relevant later. For example, working on turn-taking in early childhood may be a foundation for navigating workplace communication as an adult.
To make long-term planning less overwhelming for families, BCBAs® can
Break it down into phases or skill clusters (e.g., early childhood, adolescence, early adulthood).
Highlight the natural progression of skills (e.g., learning to follow a simple chore → building a routine → managing household responsibilities).
Reassure families that progress is individualized, but the earlier we start, the better the outcomes can be.
By initiating these conversations early and revisiting them regularly, we help ensure that the child’s support plan evolves in alignment with their growth, interests, and goals. Long-term planning isn’t just about preparing for the future—it’s about creating opportunities today that will empower greater independence, self-determination, and quality of life tomorrow.
5. Involve Them in the Goal-Writing/Planning Processes
Again, a team mentality can be the simplest, most effective path to buy-in. Engaging all team members in the goal-writing and planning process is the best way to achieve the team mentality.
Common team members:
Stakeholders/parent(s)
BCBA®/RBT®(s)
Teacher(s)
Speech-language pathologist (SLP)
Occupational therapist (OT)
Physician(s)
Case manager
Social worker
All team members should
Have their voice heard
Be respected
Get a chance to speak
It’s important to use clear language that is easily understood by ALL, regardless of education, profession, background, or experience. As practitioners, we might understand behavior, but the stakeholders know their child best. Family input is extremely valuable; they are an invaluable resource in identifying meaningful goals, and their input can confirm whether a skill is relevant or enjoyable to the child.
Summing It All Up
To set our clients up for a meaningful, independent future, BCBAs® must do more than just teach new skills—we must bring families and/or other stakeholders along with us in that vision. Cultivating buy-in requires empathy, clear communication, and collaboration. Dr. Shanna Bahry’s five steps provide a practical, compassionate framework for helping stakeholders understand the importance of long-term planning and adaptive skill development. By sensitively explaining the realities of adult services, the importance of everyday independence, and the long-term consequences of early intervention, we foster trust, rapport, and shared commitment.
Ultimately, our success as BCBAs® lies not just in the data we collect, but in the partnerships we build. Engaging stakeholders in meaningful conversations and inviting them into the planning process not only leads to stronger therapeutic relationships—it ensures that the goals we set today will truly serve our clients tomorrow. When families feel heard, respected, and informed, they are far more likely to support, advocate for, and reinforce the meaningful skills that help shape a better future.
Interested in learning more about teaching your child or client about sexuality? Check out Sexuality on the Spectrum, a series designed for behavior analysts, educators, and families seeking inclusive, research-backed strategies for teaching sexual health on the spectrum.
