So You're Starting ABA Therapy - Written by Amber Legacy, RBT
You've finally booked an intake with your local BCBA and have decided to take the plunge and enroll your child in ABA therapy. Congratulations!
Here are some things you can expect in those first few months of service (written from a therapist perspective). Please note that these are specific to our way of running therapy and may differ from other service providers.
Your house is meant to be lived in. While we appreciate some order in the dedicated therapy space we don't expect it to be immaculate. No need to apologize for your "messy" room, house, etc. You are caring for a child with special needs. Are they fed? Relatively happy? Nutured and cared for? GREAT! Those things are so much more important than spending hours cleaning a room that your lovely child will quickly destroy.
Your child is starting something new! It's exciting and interesting. You will want to be involved in sessions.. and you will be, but not yet! Please allow your child and therapist some time to become acquainted with one another. Once your child gets the swing of things and your therapist has a handle on his or her specialized programming you will be invited to take part in some of the therapy sessions. This will be a great opportunity to see some of the work your child is doing first hand and see the progress your little learner is making.
Speaking of being involved... your therapist sends out daily emails about sessions. These are an invaluable resource and are carefully catered to each individual child. Please take the time to read them and ask questions as needed.
Your BCBA (that's Anita) develops all of the programming for your child and your therapist (that's me) implements those programs. If you would like to discuss working on new goals with your therapy team, Anita is more than happy to address your concerns and priorities. We all have your child's best interest at heart and work as a team to help your child reach his or her best potential. Please do not ask your therapist to implement new goals or programs - that stuff needs to go through Anita first ;)
Speaking of BCBAs: your BCBA is central to service. Her presence is required to ensure high quality and personalized sessions for your child. Anita comes in to supervise your child and therapist in their regular session once every two weeks. During this time she evaluates the effectiveness of programs and provides feedback to your therapist as need be. Please make yourself available from time to time to sit in on on portions of these supervised sessions. They are a great opportunity to discuss programming and have a guided explanation of what your child's therapist is running and the teaching strategies she is using.
Inevitably at some point your child will become upset during therapy. Please do not intervene unless your child's therapist specifically asks you to. Therapy is hard sometimes but we promise your child is ok! Allowing your therapist and child to work through these challenging behaviors together will create a better rapport between the both of them in the long run.
Sessions are very play-based and child-led so it may look like we are just "playing" at times. In reality we are working on many crucial skills such as communication, requesting, engagement, cooperation, motor movement, appropriate play etc. We use motivation in play to fold in work throughout the session. On that note: if you see a cool new toy that your therapist uses with your child please do not go out and purchase one. Motivation for activities and toys is crucial during our sessions and that motivation will quickly decline if your child has free access to these items.
Welcome to the world of ABA therapy! We are excited to get started with your child!
Written by: Amber Legacy, RBT
