ABA Therapy: Who’s Actually in Your Home (and What to Ask Upfront)

If you are a parent looking into ABA therapy, there is one staffing detail you should understand early because it explains why families can have very different experiences from one provider to the next.

Who usually delivers the direct hours

In many ABA clinics and in-home ABA programs, a large portion of direct therapy hours are delivered by Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs). RBTs can be hard-working and skilled, and many do excellent work. The point here is not to criticize anyone. The point is to make sure parents understand how the model is commonly staffed.

The BACB requires ongoing supervision for an RBT for at least 5% of the hours they spend providing behavior-analytic services each month.

A question every parent should ask themselves

If your child is going to receive 20 to 40 hours per week of a medically necessary service, are you comfortable with an entry-level credentialed staff member with as little as a high school diploma and a 40-hour course they can take online being the primary person in your home for most of those hours? I wouldn't be.

Some families are. Some families are not. You get to decide.

Our model is different

We do not use RBTs. We do not spend hours a week in your home.

You, as the caregiver, would meet online with one of our graduate students who are working on (or have recently completed) their master’s degrees in Applied Behavior Analysis. They work under active oversight from a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) who is also a Virginia Board of Medicine Licensed Behavior Analyst (LBA).

And it is free for parents

There is no cost to families. Graduate students in our program pay for supervision as part of their fieldwork, and those supervision fees fund services for families who would otherwise be blocked by waitlists, specific diagnosis requirements, or insurance barriers.

If you are a graduate student looking for remote BCBA supervision, start here: www.appliedbehavioranalysts.com.