When your child receives an autism diagnosis, some of the most important decisions that follow are selecting providers for the services they need to achieve their fullest potential.  We have put together a list of five questions you can ask prospective providers to help you make those decisions.

1. Do you currently have a waitlist for services for the time when my child is available to receive them?

Many ABA providers have waitlists for services, so this question is the first we recommend you ask of any provider you contact when inquiring about services.  While waitlists are unfortunately common, it is possible to find a provider with availability for your child’s services.  It is critical to communicate your child’s availability with the provider during this initial conversation so that the provider is clear on the request, and you understand what is currently available.

At Breakthrough ABA, we do not currently have a waitlist for services during any time of the day for our home-based and clinic-based services!  When you contact our offices, we work diligently to ensure that your child’s first date-of-service is within our 30 day expected timeline.

2. What type of training do you provide your staff?

Ongoing and quality staff training is an integral part of a successful ABA provider organization.  A company that invests time and resources in their staff can guarantee that you will receive consistent, effective and life-changing therapy.

At Breakthrough ABA we require all our staff to become Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) certified within the first 45 days of employment, but we don’t stop there! We continue to provide additional training and ongoing support well outside of what is required for the RBT credential. We also hold full team meetings monthly that focus on maintaining and continually increasing the quality of our services.

3. In what ways to expect and/or encourage your families to be involved?

Most insurance funders require parent/caregiver training sessions as an integral part of ABA programming so that you full understand and can implement treatment plan goals outside of ABA sessions. 

At Breakthrough ABA we want to encourage generalization (i.e., learned skills occurring successfully across environments and people) of skills both naturally and as quickly as possible. We will invite you to join our sessions to guide you on implementation of ABA techniques and your BCBA supervisor will hold one-on-one educational sessions with you to teach you why techniques are being used in your child’s program.  Breakthrough ABA requires a minimum of 1 hour per week of parent/caregiver training.

4. How many staff can I expect to be assigned to my child’s treatment team?

To make sure that generalization occurs, your child’s direct therapy hours will be provided by a minimum of two RBTs.  This team might be larger depending on the number of hours your child is receiving and/or the goals being addressed.  Working with more than one technician also ensures that there is variety in your child’s therapeutic schedule.

Breakthrough ABA will maintain a consistent team to ensure that your child is getting the most out of their therapy. We require a minimum of 2 therapists per client and our operational team works diligently to ensure consistency with those staff assigned.

5. What sets you apart from other ABA providers?

It is important to know what sets the provider you are speaking with apart from all other providers so that you know how to differentiate providers that you feel would be a good fit for your family.   

Breakthrough ABA focuses on quality programming and company culture over anything else. We believe that if you have an environment that focuses on employee satisfaction and professional development, that will translate to optimal client progress.