This post explains what the ABA intake process looks like and what to expect. Keep in mind, every ABA company is different, but most intake processes will look something like this:

Verify Insurance

An important step is to verify insurance benefits. Your chosen ABA company will be able to contact your insurance and ensure that they are within network and let you know what co-pays to expect.

Intake Meeting

Generally a meeting will be arranged to get to know your family and your child. It’s helpful to make sure the company is a good fit and to see what the expectations are. Feel free to ask any of your questions during this time as well! Some questions you may expect are “why are you seeking services now?” and “what is your biggest goal for your child?”

Assessment

Once the intake meeting is done, an assessment is scheduled in person. Depending on your child’s age or skill level, different assessments will be chosen. The most common assessments are the VB-MAPP and the ABLLS-R. Both are great assessments to gather information on treatment goals and current status, but there are even more assessments which may be an even better fit. Ask your BCBA if you’re interested in which assessment they are choosing.

Assessments generally take two hours, but can take less time. At the start, it is common for the therapist to play with the child before beginning the assessment trials. Often, parents will be asked to leave the area so that they do not interfere with the assessment results, since sometimes kids can be easily distracted.

Keep in mind, an initial assessment is a small sample of your child’s skills. Most kids don’t perform their best during the first assessment since it’s a limited amount of time with a brand new person. Since the initial goals are based off of the first assessment, it may take a bit of an adjustment period to get the perfect goals for your child.

Treatment Recommendations

After an assessment is completed, a report will be written to summarize the results. This report will also include recommended goals and the recommended number of therapy hours. Your child may be recommended anywhere from 15-40 hours of ABA per week. ABA is a commitment and it is most effective if you can schedule the recommended hours per week.

Therapy Start

Once the report has been approved by insurance, therapy services can start.

If you’re interested in starting in-home ABA services in the Chicagoland area, email us at [email protected]