Frequently Asked Questions
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Questions About ABA
Get answers to frequently asked questions about ABA Therapy.
What is ABA Therapy?
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the science of behavior. ABA therapy incorporates evidence based processes to teach skills, reduce challenging behavior, and make a meaningful change in individuals’ lives. ABA therapy can be done with individuals of any age and in a variety of settings, including school, home, and in the community.
How does ABA Therapy work?
ABA therapy works by adapting to each individuals’ unique needs. ABA therapy uses assessments to determine client’s skills and needs and designs specific programs used to teach these skills. ABA therapy uses processes such as reinforcement, schedules, and continued assessments to teach skills including communication, social skills, self-help, and life skills, along with behavior reduction of challenging behaviors. ABA therapy also involves consistent data collection so decisions can be data based and can reflect the progress of the client.
Where to get ABA Therapy?
ABA therapy can be offered through private agencies and through school based services. ABA therapy should always involve a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) as a supervisor and a behavior therapist to implement the programming. If you are interested in finding out more about how to receive ABA therapy from Graham Behavior Services, please contact us here.
Why does ABA Therapy work?
ABA therapy works by meeting the needs of individual clients and assessing each individual personally. Evidence based treatments are used to provide effective intervention plans and skill acquisition programs.
Can ABA Therapy be done virtually?
ABA therapy can be done online virtually via video conference software. When providing ABA therapy telehealth, BCBAs and therapists should connect remotely via a video and audio connection. The virtual services may incorporate materials the client has at their home or materials that are presented on the screen through a screen share from the therapist. The virtual services should match the quality of the in person services, and may have the parents be present through the session to assist with prompting when needed. Graham Behavior Services has been successfully implementing ABA therapy virtually in this way.
What about when ABA Therapy doesn’t work?
ABA therapy can help with a variety of skills and diagnoses. Improvements should always be seen while using ABA therapy, however, the amount of time it takes for skill development will vary. Challenges or lack of progress may occur when ABA therapy is not implemented correctly or if there are other medical issues affecting behavior. It’s always recommended to visit your pediatrician to rule out additional medical complications. Also, if you do not feel ABA therapy has been helpful for you or your child, reach out to the supervising BCBA to talk about the programs and protocols. Make sure you and your child’s needs are known and if you do not feel they are being addressed, consider talking to a supervisor.
Who needs ABA Therapy?
Many individuals can benefit from ABA services, including individuals with autism, special needs, and behavior challenges, or for anyone who has a behavior they want to learn to change. Graham Behavior Services offers help for parents through our Purposeful Parenting program and sleep consultation through our sleeping skills instructions. Both of these services are available in person or can be accessed through online instruction here and here. These can be implemented with individuals of typical development or with individuals with special needs. ABA therapy can be helpful for individuals of any age from birth through adulthood.
Why does ABA Therapy work?
ABA therapy works by meeting the needs of individual clients and assessing each individual personally. Evidence based treatments are used to provide effective intervention plans and skill acquisition programs.
How can I treat problem behavior without medication?
Within the field of Behavior Analysis, we make every attempt to treat challenging behaviors without medication. We believe that it’s best to approach problem behavior without medication because there is no medication at this time that treats the actual problem behavior. Medication most often dulls all of the client’s emotions and behaviors. If challenging behaviors are treated with ABA therapy, the actual behaviors are treated and reduced, allowing a client to avoid the need for medication.
Where does therapy occur? What skills are taught?
Most often ABA therapy is conducted in the home, school, and community setting. We work on a variety of skills including: academic, leisure/play skills, self care, communication, job skills, social skills, feeding, imitation, desensitization, tolerance training, toileting, sleeping, self management, and to decreasing challenging behaviors. All goals for your child are based on assessments conducted by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and then individualized programs are written based on scientific research. We then track your child’s progress by taking data. It may sound scary, however this is how we can make programming decisions and to ensure your child is making progress.
When working on these skills we might teach them through play; other times we might need to sit at a table, or go out into the community. Sometimes it might look different from traditional teaching, however learning is always occuring! Depending on the skills we are working on, we might need to start out in one environment before generalizing to other environments.
What ages do you service?
We provide ABA therapy for children as well as adults. We work with your child from diagnosis, which could be as young as 12 months, through adulthood. When children are younger more intensive therapy is needed. Research shows that children who receive early and intensive behavioral intervention prior to age 5 make the most gains. Research shows that ABA can change the pattern of the brain. However, ABA therapy is also very effective for individuals over the age of 5. Once therapy is started, consistency is key. This is similar to other therapies people may need. For example, physical therapy after an accident won’t work if it occurs only one time, or for a short duration.
Who’s involved in ABA therapy?
We work together as a team here at Graham to help your child meet their goals. There is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) who writes the programs for your child and trains the therapist on the team to implement those programs. The BCBA also collaborates with other professionals your child works with, such as occupational therapists, speech language pathologists, physical therapists, teachers, child study teams, etc. The therapists and BCBA will work closely with your child. They will work with your child at least twice a week in most cases, if not more often. The BCBA also works with you, the parent and/or family, to coach you through how to teach your child new skills or decrease problem behavior. This helps maximize the amount of therapy your child receives, resulting in faster acquisition. Your BCBA is there to help you with any concerns you have about your child.
Questions About Parenting
Get answers to our most frequently asked questions from parents
Why are parenting classes important?
Research indicates that toddlers and children who have behavior problems are more likely to:
struggle with peer relationships
have poorer academic achievement
engage in aggression, deviant behavior, drug use, underage drinking, deviant peer affiliation, and opposition as teenagers
Our Purposeful Parenting Program helps you set a strong foundation for your children to meet success with interpersonal relationships and social situations throughout life.
Do parenting classes work? What does a parent coach teach?
Your trained, professional mentor will work with you to teach you strategies that will help your child change his/her challenging behavior into more socially appropriate behavior. Not only will the mentor teach you how to implement evidence based strategies, they will also create customized, individualized plans and routines for many issues that your family is facing including:
social skills
difficult meal times
getting out the door struggles
potty training
manners
bath time clashes
sibling battles
bedtime fights
My children are so little. Can’t I wait to implement positive practices that help them learn how to behave appropriately?
The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be to help your child behave in a socially appropriate way. Children are constantly learning and the longer their challenging behavior is tolerated, the harder and more stressful it is to change it.
Don’t wait and see if your child will outgrow their problem behavior – let us help you take back control over your life. Our parenting programming is geared towards parents of children ages 2-10 but can be customized to work with any family. We have different variations of parent coaching that we customize to fit your family’s needs.
Where can I find parenting coaching classes near me?
We have three tiers of parent support, and two of them take place right in your own home! Our online courses can be viewed at your leisure either individually or as a package.
Our Purposeful Parenting program is unique because a trained professional mentor comes right into your home, observes you playing with your child, and teaches you strategies that you can start implementing immediately. This parent coaching program pairs you with a mentor who has expertise in Applied Behavior Analysis, or the study of behavior, which has over 50 years of peer reviewed research.
What if I just need a little parenting support?
We provide a shortened version of the Purposeful Parenting program as a free workshop. Please check the events page to see when and where we are presenting. You can also request to have this parenting class near you! Contact us to set up a consultation.
My child already receives ABA therapy. Can I also get parent coaching classes?
When GBS provides in home ABA therapy to your family member with autism, parent training comes as part of the package. The BCBA that will work with your family will identify your family’s individualized needs and provide the correct kind of instruction. This can range from developing a potty training schedule that you can follow to working with you so that community outings become fun again!
My child’s behaviors are affecting them in school and with friends and siblings. What do I do when everything turns into a fight?
All parents experience the occasional temper tantrum. However, when your child’s challenging behavior starts making you question your parenting skills, have anxiety about going out in public, or even dread spending time with your child, it may be time to reach out for help.
As a positive, research based approach to resolving behavior, Purposeful Parenting takes place over the course of ten weeks. Our Purposeful Parenting program is unique because a trained professional mentor comes right into your home, observes you playing with your child, and teaches you strategies that you can start implementing immediately. The first 70% of the program teaches you positive parenting strategies are supported by over 50 years of research including our five key parenting skills: attending, effective rewarding, ignoring, delivering effective instructions, and providing breaks. Throughout the remainder of the program, the mentor will work with you to identify specific areas of need unique to your family and tailored interventions including but not limited to: building social skills, navigating difficult meal times, eliminating getting out the door struggles, mastering potty training, developing positive social manners, solving sibling battles, and putting bedtime fights to sleep. This package will be the best approach to handle challenging or problem behaviors because it is customized to meet the needs of your family.
What sets Graham Behavior Services apart from other companies offering parenting services? Why should I invest in the Purposeful Parenting Program?
Our high quality staff. Our most valuable asset is our staff. We pride ourselves on having the best in the industry. All of our behavior therapists have extensive training in applied behavior analysis (ABA) and most are enrolled in graduate programs in behavior analysis. We maintain our staff for many years resulting in very little turnover.
Our reliance on the science. GBS provides the only comprehensive parent coaching program that pairs live workshops, online courses, and customized in home parent coaching with the science of applied behavior analysis. The information we present is based on the principles of ABA and has over 50 years of research to support it.
Our ability to see clients immediately. We respond to new clients within 24 hours. We guarantee that we will follow up on our initial conversation within a week but it will probably be sooner. We begin services immediately after that as long as we have staff available.
Our focus is on helping parents become independent so that after ten weeks of training, you don’t need us anymore. We train our staff to work with you to identify your family’s values and goals for your child as well as what your child desires. We use that to create meaningful plans that help your child and your family live the life you have always envisioned. It may seem impossibly far off now but we can help you get there.
Not only are we great at what we do, we care about helping your family achieve lasting, meaningful change. We want you to get back to doing what you do best – raising awesome little humans. Talk to us about finding the package that will be perfect for your family. Check out our parenting blogs for more useful information.
Questions About Graham Behavior Services
Get answers to frequently asked questions about us, our services, and more.
What are our employee’s qualifications? Do we perform background checks?
Graham Behavior Services employs the highest quality Board Certified Behavior Analysts and behavior therapists. We verify each professionals’ experience prior to hiring and complete background checks on each employee.
What services do we offer?
We offer ABA therapy services in home, school, and community settings for individuals from diagnosis age through adulthood. There is no age limit to our services, and while we typically work with individuals with autism and special needs, we can work with various diagnoses and challenging behaviors. We work with insurance and school funders and work together with Medicaid through their DDD program. Graham Behavior Services offers sleep consultation and parent training programs. Both of these services are available in person or can be accessed through online instruction here and here. We also provide advocacy services to assist with school placements, IEP meetings, and school services. Additionally, we offer online training options for professionals and families, and continuing education trainings both live and recorded for professionals.
Who should I contact if I’m interested in services?
You can contact us by filling out our contact us form here. We will return your inquiry within 48 hours of receiving your information.
What makes you better than other providers?
Graham Behavior Services provides the highest level of ABA therapy by hiring quality Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) and behavior therapists. We also have an additional level of supervision by providing BCBA Clinical Supervisors, who provide supervision and support to field BCBAs. In addition, the Clinical Director and Executive Director are both BCBAs and provide support to our families along with our Clinical Supervisors, field BCBAs, and behavior therapists. The strong team atmosphere and continued training allows all of our professional staff to reach their full potential and provide the best possible service to our clients and families.
How is my family supported during ABA services?
ABA therapy focuses heavily on providing support, training, and assistance to the family while working with the individual receiving services. The Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) will provide parent training and will be available to meet with you weekly to review progress. We also take into consideration which goals are important to you and your family to make sure these goals are assessed and targeted for development. To learn more about family involvement at Graham Behavior Services, see our information here.
What areas do you service?
We service throughout the state of New Jersey, Currently we provide services in Monmouth, Middlesex, Ocean, Burlington, Mercer, Morris, Hunderton, Union, and Somerset counties, however, we are always open to working in additional areas.
Who provides the ABA Therapy?
According to the BACB®:
The Board Certified Behavior Analyst® (BCBA®) is a graduate-level certification in behavior analysis. Professionals who are certified at the BCBA level are independent practitioners who provide behavior-analytic services. In addition, BCBAs supervise the work of Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analysts, Registered Behavior Technicians, and others who implement behavior-analytic interventions.
The Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst® (BCaBA®) is an undergraduate-level certification in behavior analysis. Professionals who are certified at the BCaBA level may not practice independently, but must be supervised by someone certified at the BCBA/BCBA-D level. In addition, BCaBAs can supervise the work of Registered Behavior Technicians, and others who implement behavior-analytic interventions.
The Registered Behavior TechnicianTM (RBT®) is a paraprofessional who practices under the close, ongoing supervision of a BCBA, BCaBA, or FL-CBA. The RBT is primarily responsible for the direct implementation of behavior-analytic services. The RBT does not design intervention or assessment plans. It is the responsibility of the RBT supervisor to determine which tasks an RBT may perform as a function of his or her training, experience, and competence. The BACB certificant supervising the RBT is responsible for the work performed by the RBT on the cases they are overseeing.
At Graham Behavior Services “others who implement behavior-analytic interventions” (behavior therapists) have a minimum of a bachelors degree and 1 year experience providing ABA services in home or school settings. Most of our behavior therapists are certified teachers, social workers, or graduate students completing masters degree programs in behavior analysis.
For more information go to Behavior Analyst Certification Board® (BACB®)
Questions About Insurance and Other Payers
Get answers to frequently asked questions about insurance and other payers.
Does insurance cover ABA Therapy?
There are many insurances that cover ABA therapy, however, it will be dependent on your specific insurance plan. We can contact your insurance company for you to get details on your coverage. If you’re interested in learning more, please contact us here.
Do you accept Medicaid?
Graham Behavior Services in an approved DDD provider and we are able to provide Community Based Supports. There are also additional ways in which we can work together with Medicaid. Please contact us for additional information.
Are you in-network with my insurance?
We are an out of network provider, however, there are many options for us to work with your insurance. If you’re interested in finding out more, please contact us here.
How much does autism therapy cost? Why is it so expensive?
This depends on a few factors, including, the insurance plan you have and the amount of services you receive. Due to these differences, it will be different for each person. ABA therapy can be very costly for families since most clients require many hours of service. Research shows that most individuals with autism need 25-40 hours of therapy each week. Luckily, under the 2009 New Jersey Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities insurance mandate, individual and small employer health benefits carriers are required to cover ABA for the treatment of autism. Most families will still have some responsibility for the cost of services, including their deductible, co-pay, or co-insurance. At Graham Behavior Services we help you understand your insurance benefit and exactly what the cost for services will be for your family before we start services. If you have any questions about your benefits or insurance, please complete the contact us form and someone will reach out to you within one business day.
Can you work with my school district to provide services?
Graham Behavior Services works with many school districts, and there is a possibility that we could work with your school district as well. Here is more information about the school services we are able to provide. You could contact your school district and request to work with Graham Behavior Services, or you can contact us directly and we can work together to approach your school.
