Guidelines to Parents for Selecting an ABA Therapist
By: Smita Awasthi, BCBA, PhD Candidate
Finding the right therapist for your child is the key to your success outcomes. If you are going to trust your therapist with your child's development and growth, it is imperative you ask questions about your therapists training & background. In eastern cultures we tend to revere professionals like God. We believe they can never make mistakes, we hesitate to ask questions, we are afraid they will be offended, we accept inappropriate actions for fear of losing treatment hours, we accept professional arrogance & above all we accept everything without questioning.
This needs to change.
Identifying the best therapist for your child is key to helping your child overcome his / her deficits, but for this you need to ask questions. Asking questions will help the parent & professional understand each other. This helps develop a framework, where the parent informs about their expectation & the professional identifies workable solutions to meet those expectations. This becomes a significant step in forging a collaborative relationship between the parent & professional. 1 (Van Houten, R., Axelrod, S., Bailey, J. S., Favell, J. E., Foxx, R. M., Iwata, B. A., & Lovaas, O. I. (1988). The right to effective behavioral treatment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 21, 381-384.).
As parents contact me, I am never asked about my credentials. They come with trust. Most stay to forge a long term partnership, some move on, but no one asks.
Making a detailed assessment is the key to program design. ABLLS - R or Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills -Revised 2006, is a great tool which many ABA therapists use.
Begins with doing a "Preference Assessment", identifying reinforcers, & non-contingent pairing.
Designing the program is key to learning outcomes. It is vital that the goals selected for your child are functional, target pivotal behaviors & are age appropriate. An ABA therapist who has not had an opportunity for University education in ABA, or is studying ABA, should ideally be consulting with a supervisor for making the program.
Most therapists will refer to a behavior analyst or work under their direct supervision. If someone gives instant advice, you need to know they are not practicing the science of ABA.
Therapists practicing ABA, have meetings as often as possible and as often as needed. Different centers have different rules, however there is a lot of coordination that is expected between parents & therapists.
Most professionals practicing ABA train parents and expect parents to be involved in the therapy process. As per research 30 - 40 hours of therapy is recommended(The development of a treatment research project for developmentally disabled and autistic children. Lovaas,O.I (1993), Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 26,617-630). This will not be possible without parent training & involvement.
ABA professionals work under very high ethical standards. Hence anyone working under influence of intoxicants is not a true ABA professional.