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What can I expect from an ABA home program?Weekly sessions with a BCBA. You will be provided with weekly consultation with a behavior analyst (Program Manager). The manager will assess your child's skills, listen to what your goals are for your child, write programs and goals, and train home tutors to implement the programs. The weekly session is generally two hours which includes working with your child, analyzing data, and making program changes. You are asked to pick up your child 10-15 before the end of the two hours to allow for time for a short debrief. Home tutoring. ABC hires and trains all home therapists (or tutors). Therapists will be scheduled according to the familie's request and selected for who would be a good "fit" for the child. ABC then bills for their time as well as any other ABC services on one invoice, sent once a month. Tutor training. Training will be provided frequently for home tutors. Occasionally, a large-group "tutor training" will be offered by ABC. In addition, individual training for each tutor will be required until s/he is familiar with and has proven effective in administering the programs. Families are responsible for paying for the training. Materials. When you set up a home program, it's important you provide a work area for your tutors and child. This can be a separate room in the house or in the child's bedroom. The room should have a door that closes so there can be limited distractions from the family's activities. There should be a child-size table (or whatever size the child is), a closet or other closing cabinet for program materials, and reinforcing toys and treats that are reserved for work time. Other materials that are frequently needed and used are a small DVD player, video camera for
taping tutors, bean bags and big pillows, a big bouncy ball, and new reinforcing toys every so often. The goal is to make the room a super wonderful place to be with all the best stuff so the child wants to go there. However, the room or materials should not be able to be used throughout the day unless work is being done. This is to keep the reinforcing items reinforcing! If s/he can play with the toys whenever, s/he will satiate on them and they will not be as useful when the tutors are there to work. School observations. Your manager can be involved in your child's educational setting through class observations, feedback to school staff, IEP meeting attendance, reading and interpreting assessments, and IEP goal recommendations. Because the program director has been on the parent side, on the teacher side, and also on the outside therapist side, she has a unique perspective and insight into what can and cannot be offered to your child and how your child can get what s/he needs. Team communication. E-mail is the best and most efficient way to communicate with your child's team. Your manager will be in regular contact with your home tutors, and you can e-mail your team with any comments or questions. Scheduling changes that are far in advance can be done via e-mail, but day-by-day changes (such as a sick child) should be done by e-mail and a phone call. Monthly or bi-monthly team meetings will be provided with your home team. Because this can be an expensive meeting (paying for the manager's time as well as the tutor's time), this can be arranged to happen during an existing session, during a different day, or on a less-frequent basis if determined it is not needed by the manager. What can I expect from a social group? Social groups are designed and based upon Michelle Garcia Winner's model of social thinking. Students are assessed and placed into groups with other students around the same age and social thinking ability. The number of students participating in a group is generally between three and five, and we try to include typically-developing peers whenever possible. Groups are usually held once a week with more sessions available in the summer. Community outings are made a part of our goals so that students have the opportunity to practice their social thinking in more real-world settings.
ABC managers can help you review IEPs and evaluations, give suggestions, collaborate with school (or other personnel), and attend meetings with you. |
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