Social Skills Assistant

Social Skills Assistant

Pod Support & Open Play

Role

Social Skills Assistant — Pod Support & Open Play

Compensation

$18 – $21/hr

Employment Type

Full-time and Part-time positions available

Reports To

Program Supervisor or BCBA

Location

Indio + The Sensory Spot (CA)

Service Setting

Clinic-based with open play and camp responsibilities

Credential

High school diploma preferred · No prior certification required

Why This Role Exists

The first person a family meets at KEBM isn't a therapist — it's the Social Skills Assistant. The one setting up the room, running open play, greeting a child by name on their second visit. We created this role because we refuse to treat entry-level as throwaway. The SSA is the first rung on a 14-step clinical pipeline we actually expect you to climb, and the first human connection a family has with our care.

About Us

We're a five-clinic ABA therapy company with four locations across Southern California and one in Georgia, founded in 2016 by a BCBA with 25+ years in the field. Our team of 68+ professionals delivers evidence-based therapy through our proprietary S.O.C.I.A.L. P.O.D.S. methodology — and our Sensory Spot locations prove that therapy can actually feel like play.

We serve every client who walks through our doors — insurance-funded, private pay, open play, and camp families alike. We're women-founded, minority-owned, and we don't sacrifice clinical quality for profit. If you want to work somewhere that's serious about outcomes and serious about its people, you're in the right place.

How S.O.C.I.A.L. P.O.D.S. Work

S.O.C.I.A.L. P.O.D.S. is our proprietary group ABA therapy methodology — a pod-based model where social skills, behavior intervention, and individualized goals are delivered inside a structured group dynamic. Here's how it works on the ground:

• Each pod has 3 to 6 clients with varied diagnoses — autism, ADHD, ADD, Down syndrome, developmental delays — grouped by age, skill level, and goal alignment.
• The facilitator-to-client ratio is 1:3 inside the pod.
• A supervisor is always on-site, and clinical support is always available in your pod. Your on-site supervisor is a Program Supervisor, BCaBA, or BCBA, and they move between pods providing real-time coaching, oversight, and support for challenging behaviors. You are never figuring it out alone.
• We use a push-in / pull-out model: group work happens inside the pod, and 1:1 intensive instruction pulls out when a client needs dedicated skill-building or behavior support.
• BCBAs and Program Supervisors move between pods providing real-time coaching, clinical oversight, and support for challenging behaviors.

Why this matters:

If you've worked anywhere that assigns a new RBT a difficult case and leaves them to figure it out — that's not what happens here. The pod is the support structure, built in.

Who We Serve

KEBM serves every client who walks through our doors — no tiers, no priority treatment, no "real clients vs. drop-ins." That means:

• Insurance-funded ABA clients (Medi-Cal, Medicare, commercial insurance)
• Private pay therapy clients
• Open play participants at our Sensory Spot locations
• Camp participants — spring break, winter break, summer, and any seasonal KEBM camp
• Consultation clients in adult residential and group home settings (Program Supervisor Master's level only)

A camp kid gets the same quality of care as an insurance client. An open play family gets the same respect as a full-time ABA family. If that feels natural to you, you're going to fit here. If the idea of treating any of those clients as less-than bothers you, this isn't the place.

The Role — What You'll Actually Do

As a Social Skills Assistant, you are the first face families meet and the energy behind every pod, open play session, and seasonal camp at KEBM. You support our clinical team during group sessions, run our Sensory Spot open play and camp programming (spring, winter, and summer breaks), and make sure the environment is set up for success — before, during, and after each session. This is the entry door to our 14-step clinical pipeline.

In this role, you'll:

• Support pod facilitators during group sessions — prepare materials, manage transitions, deliver reinforcement, and help keep the group dynamic moving.
• Run open play and camp programming — spring break, winter break, summer, and any seasonal KEBM camp. This is real social skills work delivered in a playful format.
• Build rapport with every client who walks through the door — insurance-funded, private pay, open play drop-in, or camp family. Same energy, same respect, same quality of care.
• Keep the space ready — sensory room setup, materials prep, supply tracking, and cleanup. A well-run clinic is a clinical intervention in itself.
• Collect baseline observations and data — under supervisor direction, contribute what you see during open play and group sessions. The clinical team relies on it.
• Learn the field on the job — you'll shadow RBTs, Lead RBTs, and Program Supervisors, and you'll have a clear path to begin RBT certification if you want it.

In your first 90 days, success looks like:

Running open play and pod support sessions with confidence, known by name to returning families, and — if you want it — actively preparing for the RBT certification exam with KEBM's support.

Who You Are

You might be perfect for this if:

• You're naturally good with kids — patient when things move slowly, playful when they call for it, calm when someone escalates. This is the skill that matters most.
• You want a career in ABA, not just a job — because this role is the launching pad for a 14-step pipeline. The people who thrive here treat the SSA role as chapter one, not the whole book.
• You believe every client deserves the same quality of care — open play kid, camp drop-in, or insurance family. If you'd treat any of those clients as less-than, this isn't the place for you.
• You can move — physically and mentally. Setup, cleanup, active pod support, quick transitions. It's not desk work, and it's not meant to be.

Bonus points if you have:

• Previous experience working with children — camp counselor, preschool, tutoring, youth programs
• Psychology, education, or behavioral science coursework in progress
• Bilingual (Spanish)
• Any direct experience with neurodiverse individuals

What You Get

Compensation

$18 – $21/hr — published transparently on this posting.

We don't play the "competitive compensation" game, and we don't bait candidates with the top of the band and pay the bottom. Where you land in the range depends on credential level, experience, and market — and we'll tell you exactly why during the offer conversation.

Benefits — Full-Time

Medical, dental, and vision • Paid time off • Paid holidays • 401(k) eligibility after qualifying period • CEU reimbursement for certification maintenance • Supervision hours for BCaBA/BCBA pathway candidates at no cost • Professional liability coverage • Ongoing S.O.C.I.A.L. P.O.D.S. methodology training

Benefits — Part-Time

Paid sick time (per state law) • CEU reimbursement for certification maintenance • Supervision hours for BCaBA/BCBA pathway candidates at no cost •