IS AN INTENSIVE HOME-BASED BEHAVIOURAL

We recommend that you carefully consider whether or not an Intensive Behavioural Home-based program is a suitable match with your lifestyle, values and resources. From talking with parents involved in intensive, home-based intervention programs, we have found the following factors to be worth consideration:

1. A family who is well-suited for this program is very involved in their child’s treatment, is willing and able to be a critical part of their child’s treatment team.
2. Parents who value being part of the decisions made about their child’s treatment, while still being willing to critically examine alternate points of view from their own.
3. Willingness to develop the organizational and motivational skills necessary for interacting effectively with the staff who work in your home.
4. Willingness to take on some management responsibility for handling staffing issues, resource allocation, and maintaining a "bigger picture" perspective.

Meeting the demands of such a program will be hard work. The benefit of taking on some management responsibility is that it keeps the cost of the program lower and means more hours of therapy for your child. Additionally, many families report that the rewards they experienced as a result of their child’s progress and their involvement in it have made the hard work worth it. If you are wondering if this type of program is for you, please feel free to contact us to discuss your situation.

Factors that Good ABA Programs Have in Common:

The following factors are required to maintain a high quality Intensive Behavioural Treatment program:

1. Consistency inside and outside of therapy (across people, across situations, among involved professionals)
2. Parents and core staff attend all meetings and workshops
3. Parents and other professionals involved support the philosophy and practice behind Intensive Behavioural Treatment
4. Regular and ongoing staff training
5. Pleasant working environment
1. parental appreciation of therapy team
2. not comparing staff
3. appreciating different therapists’ styles
6. Organized and thorough day-to-day administration of the program (by a Lead Therapist and/or parents) – ex. targets clearly outlined, intro and mastery dates recorded, accurate collection and analysis of data
7. Open communication among all members of the team
8. Discussing problems directly with involved parties and with Supervisor
9. Parental involvement and follow-through outside of therapy (both skill acquisition and behaviour management targets)
10. Follow-through within therapy by qualified, well-trained staff (both skill acquisition and behaviour management targets)
11. Regular and ongoing Program Supervision (see below)
12. Data collection and analysis to evaluate treatment effectiveness
13. Active team problem-solving