Applied behavior analysis is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991).
These improvements in behavior are accomplished by breaking behaviors down in their component parts of Discriminantive Stimulus (Sd), Response (R), and Reinforcing Stimulus (Sr) and tapping into motivation to adjust behaviors step by step so that over time desirable behaviors are increased and undesirable behaviors are decreased. Good ABA is done by reducing the prompts so that the Sd’s and Sr’s become more and more natural over time.

There is huge variability in this field when it comes to fees. Many factors effect rates such as location, number of hours per week, size of ABA team, is the program supervised by a BCBA, etc. In my experiences (translation=opinion), an average rate for an ABA therapist is $15+ per hour. Average rate for a BCBA is $60+ per hour.  The average number of therapy hours needed each week would be between 25-30. Besides private pay, some parents get grants or scholarships from the state or private businesses,  get the school district to pay for ABA, or get reimbursement through their insurance companies to pay for ABA therapy.

Though it could be a much shorter time and process, we like to provide parents with a 45-60 day turnaround from the start of the intake process. This time includes insurance authorization processing times as well as treatment planning by the assigned Board Certified Behavioral Analyst.

This is not a question with a quick answer, but new clients ask me this all the time. Which I can completely understand a parent wanting to know when therapy will be done. Let me give you an example of why this is such a hard question to answer: If I start working with a child who is 2, nonverbal, and tantrumming every few hours, we will have lots of intensive goals to target. As that child makes progress and begins to improve in their functioning, could therapy stop? Yes. Do parents typically say “Okay she is talking now, we can stop this”? No. Almost no one says that. Parents then say “Well what about toilet training? What about feeding issues? Can you work on church attendance?”, so then the program goals change and evolve into different areas. So I suppose my answer would be, whoever is paying for services can determine at what point therapy is “done”, based on how much progress has been achieved.

A Board Certified Behavior Analyst is a trained behavior analyst who holds a masters degree in behavior therapy and has passed the national BCBA board certification examination. A BCBA conducts descriptive and systematic (e.g., analogue) behavioral assessments, including functional analyses, and provides behavior analytic interpretations of the results.
A BCBA designs and supervises behavior analytic interventions. BCBAs effectively develop and implement appropriate assessments and intervention methods for use in unfamiliar situations and for a range of cases. The BCBA teaches others including parents to carry out ethical and effective behavior analytic interventions based on published research and designs and delivers instruction in behavior analysis.

Autism Home Support Services BCBAs supervise the work of Care Team Members to assure that effective interventions are being performed, appropriate methodologies are being used, and progress is being made. By having a BCBA, you are assuring that your ABA program is professionally designed and managed.

An ABA session is typically a high energy interaction between the client and the therapist.
ABA sessions include some discrete trial work which might occur at the table, lots of positive reinforcement using whatever is motivating for the child: praise, tickles, hugs, high-fives, opportunities to play, sometimes edibles. Often there will be a mix of tasks that the therapist is practicing in order to assure that there is focus and mastery vs. rote repetition or boredom.
In order to be successful, the therapist must develop rapport with the client. A process of pairing with reinforcement will take place during a portion of the session. Generalization is very important for children with autism as well. A portion of the session will be spent in the natural environment, away from the table, doing incidental teaching of skills. If the child doesn’t like the therapist, he or she won’t do what the therapist directs them to do, so establishing that relationship is a critical first step.

ABA does not require “table time”.
Good ABA therapists follow a child’s motivation in order to develop and shape behaviors effectively. If the child is motivated on the floor, that may be where therapy begins. To develop highly functional skills over time, it may be helpful to build the ability to work at the table and attention to task at the table can be developed over time.

ABA therapy stresses receptive, and expressive language skills by working on structured programs to measure vocabulary and expand capabilities in matching features and functions.

ABA goes beyond what a speech therapist does by mixing language programs with play programs, academic programs, motor skills, and activities of daily living such as toileting. ABA teaches all of the verbal operants or functional units of language as described by Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior.

When these units of language are systematically taught using principles of ABA, a child with autism benefits through an increase in receptive and expressive language, including communication, or requesting.

ABA assists in developing social interaction skills when working on programs related to turn-taking, conversation and other skills that neuro-typical kids may pick up naturally. By identifying those individual areas where a child on the spectrum has deficits and building the developmental skills using ABA, social skills can be remediated.

Unfortunately, our therapists are not able to transport children in their personal vehicles in any way. However, our therapists are able to meet you at said locations or are able to accompany you in your vehicle if they wish.

Unfortunately, we require a designated individual (by legal guardians) over the age of 18 to be present during ABA therapy at all times.