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Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Treatment Program
What is applied behavior analysis (ABA)?
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is treatment that is widely used for persons with Autism Spectrum Disorder. There is solid evidence from years of study that ABA therapy is effective. In ABA therapy at the Center for Autism and Developmental Disabilities, many important life skills are taught by breaking them down into smaller parts until the child can do the entire skill or activity. In addition, our therapists work to decrease challenging behaviors by teaching communication, replacement behaviors, and by rewarding only appropriate behaviors.
Why you should choose Henry Ford Health
There are many organizations that offer ABA therapy, so what makes Henry Ford different?
- Our therapist turnover rates are significantly lower than turnover for most centers.
- We have higher training standards for our therapists. We require a bachelor’s degree, whereas many places require only a high school diploma.
- Our board-certified behavior analysts (BCBA) carry a very small caseload of patients, giving them time to provide more individualized treatment.
- Our sites have individual therapy rooms where children get one-on-one therapy.
How to begin ABA therapy
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Intake Phone Call:When you call, our secretary will ask you a few questions about your child and your health insurance to make sure coverage is available. At the end of the phone call, they will schedule your appointment or put your name on a waitlist.
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Initial Appointment:You and your child will come in for an assessment. The BCBA, sometimes accompanied by a technician, will test your child’s skill level with some activities. You will respond to a questionnaire about your child and their skills. This will help identify important goals for therapy. At the end of the appointment, the BCBA will discuss a start date to begin therapy.
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First day:Your child will be assigned a behavior technician who will pick them up and take them to their therapy room for their session. You will meet with the BCBA to go over the assessment results and therapy goals. Every six months, your child will be evaluated to see if their therapy plan needs to be changed.
What is the ABA process?
Our board-certified behavior analysts (BCBA) design a treatment plan that meets the needs of your child. The first step is for our BCBA to meet with you virtually to discuss what skills you see your child can do, and what you want them to work on. Then the BCBA meets with your child one-on-one for a skills assessment. Your child’s BCBA then develops a therapy plan for our behavior technician to follow when working with your child. The BCBA observes your child and their behavior technician weekly to make sure they are making progress toward the goals set for your child.
Center-based ABA therapy for children ages 2-17 years
We offer center-based ABA therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) at two locations in metro Detroit. We also offer online telehealth ABA therapy for children ages 2-17 years.
ABA one-on-one therapy
Individual therapy may help your child ages 2-17 years build various life skills, learn activities of daily living or improve challenging behaviors.
With one-on-one therapy, your child receives individual care with their own therapist to close the gap between their current skills and age-appropriate skills. A typical therapy session consists of goals specific to your child which may include:
- Naming items
- Learning how to ask for what they want
- Social and conversation skills
- Play skills
- Group skills
- Activities of daily living (toileting, getting dressed, brushing teeth, etc.)
- Decreasing challenging behaviors (aggression, self-injurious behaviors, wandering off, etc.)
ABA group therapy
When appropriate, group therapy may help your child with ASD improve their social, group and classroom readiness skills. In group therapy, two children are paired together with one behavior technician. Each child continues to work on their individual goals along with the goals of the other children in their group. The focus is to prepare your child for a smooth transition into the school setting or to improve their skills if they already attend school. Group therapy can help with:
- Group skills such as taking part in circle time, following group instructions, learning in a group setting
- Classroom skills such as unpacking items, following instructions, getting materials to do a task
Telehealth parent training (ages 2-17 years)
Whether or not your child is currently undergoing in-person ABA therapy, you can schedule weekly telehealth (virtual care) training sessions with our experienced BCBAs from the comfort of your home with an Internet connection. Similar to in-person sessions, our BCBA works with you to determine what skills are most important in the home setting. The BCBA creates goals and a plan for your child that you can follow at home. You also can get real-time feedback from your child’s BCBA.
Telehealth parent training may help:
- Teach your child how to follow a schedule
- Teach skills like toilet training, daily living skills, playing and following directions
- Increase desirable behaviors
- Teach prevention of challenging behaviors
- Decrease challenging behaviors in the home setting
- Address crisis situations
- A referral is required from your child’s primary care doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, or BCBA to register for crisis training
Other services
Child behavioral health, feeding therapy and speech therapy
Speech-language therapy, feeding therapy and behavioral health care can be added to your child’s treatment plan, if needed. Speech-language therapy is available on site at our therapy locations. Our speech pathologists offer feeding therapy at other Henry Ford locations and can be scheduled separately. Behavioral health services are not offered at our therapy locations but can be scheduled separately with our behavioral health team. The speech and behavioral health providers partner with families and the ABA therapy team to design personalized and coordinated treatment plans for each child.