1.-3 Here at Mariposa, you will have 1 primary BCBA that will be your primary point of contact. You will see your BCBA at the beginning and end of each clinic session and also during all home sessions. Your BCBA will work with you to determine how to help you carryover interventions into your home and the community. Your BCBA will also be available to contact directly via text or phone during regular business hours. In addition, your BCBA is the one who will work with your child directly, collect and analyze session data, and modify programming as needed. Because it’s one person, this model is incredibly efficient! At the same time, there are times when another BCBA may work with your child such as covering for a planned vacation or when assessing generalization of skills.

Make sure that your child’s program will have oversight by a person with adequate experience, education, and credentials. For programs with a tiered service delivery model, using technicians or tutors, oversight is required by a “supervisor.” There are different credentialing bodies for these levels with each having different requirements for amount of supervision required. Ask about the specific credentials and supervision requirements. It is important that data is collected during each session and analyzed in a timely manner. Goals and interventions should be monitored and modified in keeping with data trends, which must be done by a qualified, Master’s level, credentialed clinician.

4-7 ABA should be individualized and fit in with your child’s particular needs and interests! Beware of programs that take a single approach for every client. We do our best at Mariposa to assess the special interests and preferences of each individual. Sessions look a whole lot like “play” even for our oldest clients. We’re always looking for ways to join with our learners in increasing social connections while keeping at the forefront the treatment plan goals. We’re big fans of the work of Dr. Gregory Hanley and his “happy, relaxed, and engaged” framework. Your child has his or her own special interests, let’s harness those interests to increase language and understanding of the world.

These words mean we make plans with people not for people. Consent and assent to treatment is of the utmost importance. This means you might see us asking a 3 year old client what they want to work on. We might ask a client’s parent, “what is one thing that if it changed, would make your life better?” We might ask a sibling about things they like to do with the client. We talk with all of our clients about what their future goals are so we can tie in today’s work with their vision of their future. Our job is to come alongside individuals and families and help increase the things that are working and teach new skills where they are desired.