How to Choose an ABA Provider
Choosing an ABA provider can be overwhelming and confusing; below are a few things to consider when choosing an ABA provider to ensure you are finding the best fit for you and your child!
Scope of practice and caseloads
- Scope of practice is a term that simply means that healthcare professionals should ethically only treat populations and use procedures/processes in which they have specific education and training. For example, if a BCBA has only worked with the pediatric population, it would be outside their scope of practice to treat adults.
- It is important to ask the potential ABA therapy practice if they have BCBAs with experience treating patients with the specific behaviors, traits, and age of your child. This will help to ensure safety and maximum progress. It is also important to ask how much experience they have as the experience of the BCBA treating your child will have an impact on the outcome. There is no substitute for experience!
- It is critically important that BCBA’s do not exceed a manageable caseload. If a BCBA is personally overseeing a caseload than cannot be managed in an average work week that would indicate that your child will not be properly supervised or that the staff working directly with your child will not be properly trained. The Behavioral Analysis Certification Board (BACB) recommends that BCBAs should not manage a caseload greater than 120 hours per month. At Achievement Balance Community, LLC our BCBAs manage caseloads of less than 100 hours per month. This enables our BCBAs to spend more time training our staff, designing optimum treatment plans, and focusing on positive outcomes. When evaluating ABA therapy practices, asking about the potential BCBA’s caseload is one of the most critical questions to ask to ensure your child is safe and will experience the maximum progress. As more competitors from outside of our state enter the market, we have noticed a large uptick in the caseloads of BCBAs. Please ensure you are asking about caseload!
Location of services
- Some ABA therapy companies only offer in-home or in-clinic services exclusively. Other places, like Achievement Balance Community, LLC, offer ABA services in homes, clinics and community settings.
- It is important to consider where your child might need support and choose an ABA company that is able to offer services where therapy will be most appropriate, beneficial, and consistent.
Insurance coverage
- ABA therapy is recommended 10-40 hours per week, based on the BCBA recommendations. This range of hours is what has been proven to be most effective for progress.
- Because of the large number of hours, therapy can be very costly if paid for out of pocket.
- When calling ABA therapy providers, be sure to let them know which insurance you have (at Achievement Balance Community, LLC we will check benefits and provide a summary explanation as a courtesy to our families). Families are then able to determine if it is going to be financially feasible to begin services with the provider.
- Determine how often invoices are provided for services rendered. Providers are required by state and federal law to invoice families for deductibles, co-insurance and copays; failure to do so is insurance fraud.
ABA therapy requires consistent communication and collaboration between provider and family, so above all, it is vital you select a provider who you are comfortable talking, sharing, collaborating, and brainstorming with!
If you have any questions or concerns about your child Achievement Balance Community, LLC would love to help. Please contact us at 972-410-5297 to discuss how we may help.
