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The differences between behavior support specialists and support specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 6-12 months to become a behavior support specialist, becoming a support specialist takes usually requires 1-2 years. Additionally, a support specialist has an average salary of $40,782, which is higher than the $36,769 average annual salary of a behavior support specialist.
The top three skills for a behavior support specialist include social work, crisis intervention and applied behavior analysis. The most important skills for a support specialist are customer service, patients, and mental health.
| Behavior Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $36,769 | $40,782 |
| Hourly rate | $17.68 | $19.61 |
| Growth rate | 12% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 140,749 | 125,740 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 3 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 12 | 2 |
Behavior support specialists are social work professionals who provide support to other therapists in treating individuals with behavioral issues. These specialists must provide behavior analysis and health consultations to individuals who are diagnosed with development delay issues, disabilities, and autism spectrum disorders. They must develop and monitor crisis intervention plans for patients with mental health and behavioral needs. Behavior support specialists must also work with special education and regular teachers to implement behavior intervention strategies for students with special education needs.
A support specialist is responsible for assisting technical and administrative support, depending on the business need. Support specialists must have extensive knowledge of the services of the organization they work for to assist customers with their inquiries and resolve complaints efficiently. A support specialist maintains documents of issue resolution, providing recommendations to improve business strategies and procedures. Support specialists must be well-versed on technology systems, perform basic troubleshooting, and secure databases. They should also have impeccable customer service and communication skills to attend with customers' needs and requests.
Behavior support specialists and support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Behavior Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $36,769 | $40,782 |
| Salary range | Between $28,000 And $46,000 | Between $25,000 And $64,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | North Dakota | New York |
| Best paying company | Texas | Microsoft |
| Best paying industry | Health Care | Technology |
There are a few differences between a behavior support specialist and a support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Behavior Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 62% | Bachelor's Degree, 52% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Business |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between behavior support specialists' and support specialists' demographics:
| Behavior Support Specialist | Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 43 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 35.2% Female, 64.8% | Male, 38.4% Female, 61.6% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.6% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 14.4% Asian, 5.9% White, 62.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 2.1% | Black or African American, 11.5% Unknown, 5.4% Hispanic or Latino, 15.9% Asian, 10.4% White, 56.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 11% | 11% |