What Will My ABA Session Look Like?

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE!

Oh, the things we will learn! We may learn to make a call, we may learn to request needs, we may learn to throw a ball. If you’re not sure what I mean, we can learn it all!

All kidding aside, ABA sessions will be individualized for each client based on their programming. They can be done in the community to work on social skills or tolerating noises/ lights, at a dentist’s office to work on tolerating dental procedures, or at home to work on teaching play skills or communication skills. As I mentioned in my “So What is ABA Anyway?” post, programming will be based on remediating symptoms identified through assessments. Our primary focus will be to work on addressing behaviors that may cause harm to the client or others or behaviors that may be keeping the client from learning- think aggression, refusals, difficulty attending to tasks, and so on.

However, every session will have some basic elements. Each session will begin with a quick check-in with the adult present to get updates on recent life or behavior changes for the client. This will be followed by 5-10 minutes of pairing with the client. What on earth is pairing? I’m so glad you asked! This involves us spending time doing an activity the client wants to do (within reason- there’s no time for lengthy Monopoly games, I’m afraid). It’s important that we connect with your child to let them know we are there for them and that we won’t come in and immediately jump into our agenda without taking their choices into account as well. That builds trust, which is essential for your child to begin to cooperate with us. The rest of the session will focus on programming with some breaks built in. Breaks will look different for each client. Some will involve playing a game or doing a small craft and some may be more brief and involve singing songs. Some clients may have only one break (older clients) and some may have multiple shorter breaks. At the end of each session, the behavior analyst will update the adult on the contents and progress or setbacks of the session and have the adult sign a session note. The session note will have a summary of all of the things that occurred during the session.

And there you have it! Now, a big question asked is always about the length of each session and how many sessions your child will have per week. That’s determined by your child’s diagnosis and symptoms. The symptoms/deficits identified in assessments will let us know how many medically necessary hours will be needed to effectively treat their symptoms. We’ll work closely with you after your intake to find a schedule suitable for your child’s needs.

As always, please feel free to contact us with any questions on our contact form located on both the main and services pages on our site.

-Tania Henderson, MS, BCBA, LBA-VA