The goal of comprehensive ABA treatment is to bring your child’s functioning to levels typical for his or her chronological age or to maximize independence in multiple skill areas. This approach is intensive, typically with 26 to 40 hours per week of direct treatment, depending on your child’s age and needs. These hours may gradually decrease as your child progresses in independence and begins to generalize behavioral changes to other critical settings.

Although the recommended number of hours of therapy may seem to be too strenuous (particularly if your child is young), it’s important to remember that time spent away from therapy may move your child even farther away from the behaviors and goals you wish to achieve.

Initially, treatment involves 1:1 staffing in structured therapy sessions. As your child gains ground, more naturalistic treatment approaches such as small group formats may be added. Training and participation by you and other caregivers are also important components.

The goal of focused ABA treatment is to address a limited number of areas of targeted behaviors, such as reducing dangerous behavior or improving social skills. Focused treatments can range from 5 to 25 hours per week of direct therapy. Focused therapy is sometimes part of a step-down or discharge plan from a comprehensive ABA treatment program. Focused therapy can also be appropriate for children who are reaching most age-appropriate milestones but need help in one or two areas.

Focused ABA treatment may be appropriate to help your child acquire or strengthen developmentally appropriate social skills, self-help skills, and advanced language and communication skills. These skills are often fundamental to maintaining health, social inclusion and increased independence.

The purpose of caregiver training is to give families and caregivers the tools and strategies they will need to carry out the principles of ABA across all the settings that a child encounters. Caregiver training is required by many insurance companies and typically occurs 1 hour weekly to 2 hours per month. Behavior Texas has a mandatory parent training policy that will be reviewed with caregivers during intake.

Through collaboration with your BCBA, caregiver training goals will be developed during the completion of the initial treatment plan. Your BCBA will teach you why your child’s behaviors occur and how to respond. The caregiver training goals will be individualized to meet both your child’s and our family’s needs.

Behavior Texas consults and contracts directly with school districts to conduct Functional Behavior Assessments and in-service training. The owner and executive director, Erin Loper, is a Licensed Specialist in School Psychology and Licensed Behavior Analyst. Mrs. Loper contracts with public schools in Texas to provide school based psychological services, including eligibility evaluations.

At Behavior Texas, we believe collaboration with schools is imperative to client success; however, most insurance companies and school districts do not readily allow private ABA services to be provided in schools.