Maximizing ABA services Within the Home

As behavior specialists, we would like to thank families for opening their homes up to Applied Behavior Analysis services and allowing us to work with their remarkable children.

We recognize that in some instances, we are in your home for many hours a day, most days of the week, and that this constant presence can be a lot to handle. It has the potential to blur the lines and complicate the balance between what is personal and what is professional in our relationship with you.

Providing information about optimizing your relationship with your specialist to help deliver the most successful treatment for your child is important to us. To that end, we would like to offer some simple suggestions.

Here are some things to consider:

• Be open. Be open to any suggestions and strategies we offer, but never be afraid to ask questions about the treatment we are providing to your child. Your communication and involvement throughout the session is crucial to your child’s learning and maintaining skills.

 

• Trust your specialist. We have all had ample education and training in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy and continue to learn new strategies and techniques. We know that we sometimes model strategies that you may feel are not particularly helpful to your child, and we recognize that you, as parents, know your child best. However, we do suggest that you trust us in trying various strategies, and if they do not work, not to count them as failures. Each solution we try brings us a step closer to finding the best one for your child.

 

• Be honest.Feel comfortable in sharing essential information about your child and in voicing any concerns you may have. For example, if a change in your child’s routine or schedule occurred prior to the treatment session, or if such a change is likely to happen in the near future, please tell us about it, and let us help!

 

• Respect your session time. There are two important things to consider when thinking about “time.” First, as many of you already know, we(your specialists) prepare for every session we have with your child.It is important to remember this when committing to a treatment schedule.Second, before you cancel a session, think twice about doing so. We love working with your children, and that time is valuable, not only to your child, but to us as well. So consider whether the cancellation is necessary and if there is another way to make it work. Try avoiding schedule conflicts by documenting your session appointment times, just as you would doctor’s appointments, so you can try to avoid the need to reschedule or cancel.

 

• Be prepared. Be mindful of the time that we are spending with your child and prepare the environment beforehand to help us achieve best results. This means, consider what might distract your child and eliminate the distraction as much as possible.For example, if you know that the TV is going to be steal your child’s attention, turn the TV off before your specialist arrives. Also, be ready, prepared and available to participate in your child’s learning experience. For example, if you know you have to make an important phone call, let us know about it before the beginning of the session, so we can prioritize activities according to your availability.

 

Having ABA services in your home is not always easy or convenient. We, as specialists, want to thank you again for your dedication and patience in the ABA experience. We hope that the tips we provided will be helpful for you and your family!