If you ask people in ABA what they are talking about right now, the answers are surprisingly consistent. It is not new therapy models or abstract theory. It is the day to day reality of doing the work and trying to keep it sustainable.
You hear it in clinics. You hear it in supervision meetings. And you hear it very clearly at events like the Autism Conference. By the time the 20th Annual Autism Conference came around, many of these conversations had become more open and more honest.
Alongside discussions about applied behavior analysis therapy, professionals are talking about workload, staffing, billing pressure, and the systems that sit quietly in the background but shape every part of the work. Topics like autism billing software practice management are no longer technical side notes. They are part of how people think about whether their practice can actually keep going the way it is.
Here are the five challenges that keep coming up, no matter the role or setting.
Challenge 1: Growing applied behavior analysis therapy without losing what makes it work
The demand for applied behavior analysis therapy continues to grow. That part is not new. What feels different now is the strain that growth puts on quality.
According to data from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board, there were more than 74,000 certified behavior analysts worldwide by the end of 2024. The field is expanding quickly, but that growth is uneven. Many regions still struggle to staff consistently, and many organizations are growing faster than their supervision and training structures can comfortably support.
As teams expand, small gaps start to appear. Supervision schedules get tighter. New staff need more support. Consistency across locations becomes harder to maintain. People are not questioning the value of growth, but they are asking a very real question. How do we grow without cutting corners we did not intend to cut?
Challenge 2: The constant operational noise no one trains you for
Most ABA professionals will tell you that the hardest part of the day is not the session itself. It is everything that surrounds it.
Schedules change. Notes need to be written. Authorizations have to be checked. Billing questions come in at the worst possible time. None of these things are dramatic on their own, but together they create a steady background noise that never really turns off.
If you have ever finished a full day of sessions and then realized you still have an hour of administrative cleanup ahead of you, you already understand this challenge. It is not about being disorganized. It is about systems that ask people to hold too much in their heads at once.
This operational weight is one of the most common frustrations people talk about quietly, and now more openly, across the ABA community.
Challenge 3: Billing pressure that makes everything else feel fragile
Billing has always been part of ABA, but in 2026 it feels heavier.
Authorization rules change. Payer requirements vary. Denials happen even when teams do everything right. This is why conversations around autism billing software practice management are becoming more common. Not because people want new tools, but because they want fewer surprises.
When billing becomes unpredictable, it affects more than finances. It influences hiring decisions, training plans, and how confident leaders feel about the months ahead. Many professionals describe it as walking on uneven ground. You can keep moving, but you are never fully steady.
Challenge 4: Making decisions without a clear picture of what is happening
As organizations grow, visibility becomes harder to maintain.
Many leaders are trying to manage teams across locations, settings, and schedules using information that arrives too late to be useful. By the time an issue shows up in a report, it has often already affected staff or clients.
This comes up often in conversations regarding ABA software. People are not asking for more metrics. They are asking for fewer blind spots. They want to know what is happening now, not what happened weeks ago.
Without that clarity, decisions feel reactive, and teams feel like they are constantly catching up.
Challenge 5: Burnout that builds slowly and quietly
Burnout in ABA rarely announces itself. It accumulates.
A 2023 practitioner survey found that administrative responsibilities were among the top contributors to work related stress for ABA professionals. Documentation, coordination, and non clinical tasks add up over time, especially when layered on top of emotionally demanding clinical work.
Many therapists and supervisors do not leave because they stop caring. They leave because the work starts to feel unsustainable. More people in the field are acknowledging that burnout is not a personal failure. It is often a signal that the environment needs to change.
Why these conversations feel unavoidable in 2026
None of these challenges are brand new. What has changed is the scale.
Applied behavior analysis therapy has expanded rapidly, and many organizations are now operating with structures that were designed for a much smaller version of themselves. What once felt manageable now feels delicate.
That is why discussions tied to ABA practice management feel different this year. There is less patience for surface level fixes and more interest in stability. People are not looking for perfection. They are looking for systems and processes that allow good work to continue without constant strain.
We will be at the 20th Annual Autism Conference 2026
We will be attending the 20th Annual Autism Conference 2026, and if you are planning to be there in New York City with us, you are welcome to stop by and say hello at Booth 701.
Some of the most useful conversations happen outside formal sessions. Whether you want to compare notes, share what you are seeing in your own organization, or simply talk through these challenges with someone who understands them, we would be glad to connect.
Curious what support can look like when it actually fits the work
If you are thinking about how to reduce operational friction and bring more steadiness into day to day work, you can explore our all in one ABA platform.
It is designed around how teams actually operate, with the goal of helping professionals spend less time managing complexity and more time doing the work they care about.
See the platform in action or book a conversation.