Introduction to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Online Tutorial
	Module 8: Setting up a Home-Based ABA Program Steps to Starting a Home-Based ABA Program 2. With Your Consultant, Set Up the Program At first, your consultant will most likely conduct some initial assessments to get a baseline of your child's current skills. This will help with with choosing goals for your child to accomplish with the ABA program. It will also help provide with monitoring your child's progress. When you know exactly what your child's skills were before beginning the ABA program, you'll have a comparison for how much he or she has progressed. You, as the child's family, should have input on your goals for your child during the ABA program. Other things that will need to be set up with your consultant include: Number of hours of ABA per week, Number of hours the consultant will be working analyzing your program and conducting meetings, and Scheduling the ABA therapists that will work with your child. Different consultants may have different policies for how to set this up, but I would recommend getting all of this in writing so that everyone is clear on the number of hours for billing purposes. 3. Hire ABA Therapists to Work Directly with Your Child If the consultant or agency you've hired does not provide therapists to work directly with your child, you may want to hire your own. Many consultants employ their own ABA therapists, so you won't have to hire your own. However, some do not. If you need to hire your own, one potential source of ABA therapists is college students. College students in fields such as special education, child development, psychology, and behavior analysis can make great ABA therapists because they have experience in fields related to children with special needs, and they often have a great enthusiasm and love for children. Having therapists from a variety of backgrounds also brings lots of fresh ideas to an ABA team. To find ABA therapists, you might contact local parent support groups and college professors in the fields mentioned above to see if they have students who might be interested. Having more than one ABA therapist is generally recommended (to help your child generalize skills to a wider variety of people). Parents, siblings, and relatives can also function as ABA therapists by providing ABA intervention to their children. Next --> Steps to Starting a Home-Based ABA Program, Continued