ABA Therapy for Autism is a Full Time Therapy, Here’s Why.

Prospective parents visiting our center often ask the question, “how much is too much therapy?” At Lighthouse Autism Center, we specialize in full-time, center-based Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy. This is an intensive type of therapy that is the only therapy for children with autism endorsed by the U.S. Surgeon General. Our therapy is play-based and child-led, because we know that children learn best while having fun! We meet our learners where they are most motivated and use strategically selected items in our play spaces to conduct therapy. We also create realistic environments in our therapy centers so that our learners and learn and be more comfortable in these environments when they are in the community in the real situations, such as at the salon or at the grocery store.

Children with autism need consistent, targeted, therapy to minimize skill gaps. Intensive therapy, such as ABA, has been shown to be incredibly effective in helping children and adults with autism live more fulfilled and independent lives. Furthermore, the earlier children with autism begin this therapy, the more effective the therapy will be.

If we think of ABA therapy in the same way we think about school for our children, we will see that the time spent is equal. The average child is in a classroom for 6 to 8 hours a day, five days a week. They are being taught and instructed in the classroom and those lessons are carried over at home. ABA therapy is the same. Most of our children spend eight hours each day at our centers where they are being taught life skills, school skills, and working on decreasing inappropriate or problem behaviors. These same skills are also put into practice in a home setting.

While your child may be missing out on a formal academic or school setting to attend full-time ABA therapy, typically children with autism that are recommended for full-time ABA therapy are not quiet ready for a full-time school setting. At Lighthouse Autism Center, it is our goal to get our learners ready to transition into a academic school setting by working with them on the necessary skills and independence to do so. This is why early intervention is also crucial. If we can get the learner in full-time before academic ages, they likely do not need to miss out on a typical school routine and we can prevent inappropriate or problem behaviors before they develop. Additionally, if the learner is already at an academic age, full-time therapy allows them to make greater progress faster, and transition into a school setting even quicker.

When a child is diagnosed with autism, it affects the entire family. While we often think of the parents or caregivers as those primarily affected, siblings are deeply affected as well. So, as parents, we must ask ourselves, what can we do to help both our child with autism as well as their brothers and sisters?

Educate and Set Expectations

It is important to make sure siblings understand the diagnosis of their brother and sister and what that means. Sit down and have a conversation with your child about autism and what that may mean for their relationship with their sibling (ie: Sam can’t express his wants or needs verbally so he may scream or Sam hears things differently than other people and that’s why we need to turn the music down, etc…). Be sure to have open communication with your child and be sure to let them know it’s ok to ask questions. Furthermore, having a sibling with autism can often mean having unexpected and upsetting reactions with others who may not understand their diagnosis. Prepare your child for different scenarios they may find themselves in with friends, schoolmates, or even strangers, and how to properly and respectfully react to things they may hear or experience.

Quality Time

Often times, so much time is dedicated to the child with autism and their needs, that the siblings can begin to feel neglected, or “left out.” Make sure you’re spending time with all of your children. Consider setting up a special one-on-one activity once a month with each child, or plan activities the entire family can do together. This will ultimately create a stronger family that is prepared to deal with the challenges faced by raising a child with autism.

Finding a Community Network for Families with Autistic Children

When facing the challenges of parenting a child with autism, it’s important for caregivers to understand they are not alone. With 1 in 61 children diagnosed with autism, there are many parents and caregivers going through the same struggles. At Lighthouse, we understand the importance of these caregivers finding a supportive community with others who are experiencing the same daily tasks, challenges and joys that they are.

LAC encourages families to get to know each other, as no one better understands what you are going through than other families going through the same thing. Parents dropping off and picking up their children often get to know each other, and can get together for play dates, coffee, or even just for a quick conversation before picking their kids up from the center. We pride ourselves on creating an atmosphere where families can support each other and their children.

Studies have long suggested that early intervention leads to the best outcomes for children with autism. If your child is not reaching developmental milestones, or is exhibiting possible signs of autism, a parent should immediately have their child tested. For your convenience, Lighthouse Autism Center has a list of these signs on their website.

A child’s brain develops rapidly between birth and three years of age. As a result, the earlier the intervention for your child with autism, the more effective ABA therapy can be. If your suspect your child may have autism, schedule an appointment with your provider to have your child tested. If your child does have autism, you can contact Lighthouse Autism Center and enroll your child at one of our centers. The earlier your child develops a treatment plan with one of our Board Certified Behavior Analysts, the better we can help your child reach his or her fullest potential.

Security and Safety Precautions at Lighthouse Autism Center

One of the most important criteria for choosing an autism therapy center is safety. When working with children who have autism, safety is of the most paramount importance. At Lighthouse Autism Center, we are committed to providing the utmost security for your child, ensuring a safe and educational environment.

There are several safety precautions taken in order to ensure the safety of your child. These include:

Doors – Every singly door in each center is locked. This means that if a child tries to “elope” or run, they cannot exit the building. Each door has a button above the door that must be pressed in order to exit the building. In the six years the centers have been open, a child has never escaped. Furthermore, the doors are also locked from the outside meaning that the only way an individual (besides staff members and parents who have key fobs) to enter the center is for someone inside the building to let them inside.

Staff- All staff members are put through multiple interviews, reference checks, and background checks before being offered a position with the center.

Training- Each staff member is provided with two weeks of training prior to commencing therapy with a child. Not only that, the center provides certification training for each therapist in both CPR as well as Crisis Prevention Intervention (CPI).

Emergency Protocols– Each center has emergency protocols for severe weather, fires, and lock downs. Several times throughout the year emergency drills are issued in order to ensure staff members and children know how to react in an emergency situation.

Where to Find our Centers, and Which Age Groups they Serve

No matter which LAC center you walk into, you will receive the same Lighthouse experience: Highly qualified therapists, one-on-one care, beautifully decorated, clean and safe centers, toys for all ages, and a warm and welcoming center. While the centers are similar in many ways, one way the centers differ is in the age groups they serve.

Mishawaka: Mishawaka is the only location that currently has two centers. The first center serves children from birth to five years of age and largely focuses on preparing children for school. The second location focuses on serving children from six to eleven years old (and sometimes older) and involves working on school skills as well as early life skills.

Plymouth: The Plymouth center serves the widest age range of children from two years old to sixteen years old. As a result, there are a wide variety of skills incorporated into therapy at this location depending on the child’s age and skill set.

Warsaw: In Warsaw, the center mainly serves children two to twelve years of age and focuses both on skills used to transition children back to school as well as some early-life skills.

Portage, Michigan: Similar to the Warsaw center, the LAC in Portage also serves children two to twelve years of age and focuses both on school skills as well as early-life skills.

While each center has a primary age group they serve, it’s important to remember that therapy is tailored to your child’s skills and needs and will always be unique to your child in order to help them reach their fullest potential.

As a parent, it is our goal to love and protect our children. This means doing everything in our power to make sure our child is loved, happy, and healthy. While it may be difficult to admit your child may have a problem, when it comes to an autism diagnosis, every minute matters. The best thing you could do for your child with autism is identify it early and enroll them in ABA therapy as soon as possible.

Signs that Your Child May be Autistic and What to Do

Autism spectrum disorder is a spectrum of closely related disorders with shared core symptoms. Autism generally appears in infancy and early childhood, causing a delay in basic areas of development such as talking, playing and interacting with others.

As a parent, it is important to look for early signs of autism in your child. Symptoms can appear as early as six months of age and ideally, autism should be identified and treated beginning by 18 months of age. This will provide your child with the best opportunity for treatment.

What are the early signs of autism you should look for in your child and what steps should you take if you think your child has autism?

• Developmental Delays – autism involves a variety of developmental delays including: no social smiling, lack of eye contact, poor visual tracking, unexpected reactions to sounds, lack of social babbling, not responding to name, lack of interest in interacting, not meeting verbal milestones, etc…
• Trust your instinct – as a parent, you know your child best. Sometimes, even well-meaning doctors can miss signs of autism. If your gut is telling you something is wrong, take action and be persistent.
• Don’t “wait and see” – some parents may want to “wait and see” if their child hasn’t reached certain developmental milestones. If you suspect something may be wrong, take action. The best thing you can do for your child with autism is identify the diagnosis early and begin treatment.

Do you suspect your child may have autism?

A Definition of What Applied Behavioural Analysis Means

ABA, or Applied Behavior Analysis, is a specific type of therapy used for children with autism. ABA is endorsed by the U.S. Surgeon General for the treatment of autism and involves therapy that develops new skills, shapes and refines previously learned skills and decreases socially significant problem behaviors.

ABA is at the core of Lighthouse Autism Center’s mission. Lighthouse Autism Center uses highly qualified Board Certified Behavior Analysts, or BCBA’s, who directly oversee each child’s therapy. These BCBA’s evaluate each child through a detailed assessment of a child’s skills and preferences and meets with each family to discuss goals for the child as well as the family. Because effective ABA therapy is not a “one size fits all” solution, the BCBA will then use the child’s assessment to create a customized therapy program unique to the child’s abilities, needs and goals. While each therapy program will look different, each involves emphasis on skills that will ultimately allow each child to reach their fullest potential.

Have a child with autism and looking for ABA therapy near you, catered for your child and family goals? Discover the Lighthouse Way.

Dealing With Insurance to Cover ABA Therapy

Does the center offer support for dealing with insurance companies and helping you navigate the insurance process?

Dealing with insurance by yourself can be a nightmare. Many insurance companies can prove to be difficult when it comes to covering ABA therapy. That is why it is so important that a quality ABA center has someone on their administrative staff who is dedicated to dealing with insurance-related issues, processes, and questions.
When going through the ABA therapy coverage process, you will likely have many questions. You want someone on your team who is thoroughly familiar with the ABA coverage process. This ABA coverage expert will know what kind of documents you need, what kinds of obstacles you might run into in getting coverage, and how to overcome those obstacles. A quality ABA center should have someone with this skill set on staff and readily accessible to all families. This way, every parent or caregiver who comes to the center will have an insurance expert on their team.
What if your insurance decides to deny coverage in the middle of therapy? Would your child be immediately denied services if insurance won’t pay anymore? You might want to ask them about how they have handled scenarios like this in the past. A quality ABA center would have their ABA coverage expert help you work through a situation like this and work through the appeals process.

Does the center call you back?
When you call the center to inquire about services, how good are they at getting back to you? Were they prompt? Did you have to call back multiple times?
If a center is not calling you back after you inquire about services, that is generally a bad sign. The intake team might be too disorganized and chaotic to promptly call back new inquiries. In this case, this is an ABA center that you will want to avoid.

Does the center provide a clear and comfortable intake process?
The process of giving you a tour of the center, collecting information about your child, providing a therapy program proposal, and ultimately enrolling your child is all part of the intake process. The intake process is essentially the process you go through to enroll your child at an ABA center. You, as a parent or caregiver within the intake process, should be able to answer these questions:

• Are you on a waiting list for enrollment?
• Are you waiting to hear about your insurance coverage?
• Does your child have a start date yet?

You should be able to easily answer all these questions if the intake process is well-communicated and transparent. If you can’t answer some, or all, of these questions, you might need to re-evaluate the ABA center you are working with. A confusing intake process is a symptom of deeper problems within the ABA center’s management and potentially their therapy overall

Does the center have a family outreach/support person to answer questions and provide resources no matter what?

Getting ABA services for your child can be complicated to say the least. An quality ABA center will be there to guide you and answer your questions about autism and autism resources, even if your child does not go to their center.
A family outreach or family support coordinator is someone at an ABA center that families can rely on to answer questions about ABA, finding autism resources in the community, and referring to other agencies if needed, and more . For instance, the family outreach coordinator should be able to answer the following:

• Where you can go for a dentist that works with patients with autism?
• Who are the local doctors that do autism testing and what are their respective wait times?
• Are there different resources in the community for children versus adults?

Without the family outreach/support component, an ABA center won’t be serving the community as well as they could. A lack of family support resources can show you that a center is not very interested in helping families in the community.

Does the center stop talking to you if you don’t have insurance coverage?
You can quickly get a sense for how much a center is focused on your insurance coverage, not your child, when you first speak with them about services. How quickly do they ask you about what insurance you have? Is it among the first 3 questions they ask you?
Generally speaking, if the ABA center staff ask you about insurance before discussing anything else, it shows you what is most important to them. You can imagine that an ABA center like this might see you as a big stack of money. You’ll want to avoid such a provider, because they will not be focused on doing what is best for your child and your family. This type of ABA center will do what is best for their bottom line before they consider you.
Another great way to tell if the center only cares about finances is to see what happens after they find out that you don’t have insurance that covers ABA. Do they quickly end the conversation and get you off the phone? Do they not return your calls afterwards?
An ABA center that puts the needs of the community first will not abandon you after finding out you don’t have coverage. Instead they might:

• Show you the various options for coverage such as buying a policy.
• Offer to add you to a list for updates as changes might occur with insurance or open enrollment.

The time and effort that goes into training and safety can tell you a lot about the quality of an ABA center. Let’s take an in-depth look at some of the training and safety practices that ABA centers should be using to provide quality, ABA therapy services.

Therapists that are working 1 on 1 with children should have a bachelor’s degree in a related field

When it comes to the therapists that will be working 1 on 1 with your child, it’s important to know that they have the right credentials. ABA therapists ideally should have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college. The ABA therapist’s bachelor’s degree should be in psychology, education or a related field. If they do not have a degree, they should at minimum have a broad base of experience working with children with autism, with additional training provided by the ABA Center.

Therapists that are working 1 on 1 with children should be Registered Behavior Technicians

Registered Behavior Technician(RBT) is the standard certification for ABA therapists that work 1 on 1 with children with autism. The RBT certification is the first level of certification from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. If you find out that a center’s ABA therapists are not RBTs, then you should see that as a big red flag. To give you an idea of how important the RBT certification is: Medicaid in Indiana will not cover ABA therapy that is not performed by an RBT.

Your child’s program should always be supervised by a BCBA, or at a minimum a BCBA in training, with constant supervision from a BCBA.

The clinicians overseeing your child’s whole therapy program should be Board Certified Behavior Analysts(BCBA), or at least someone who is working towards becoming a BCBA. Anyone working towards a BCBA is required to be directly supervised by a BCBA.
A Board Certified Behavior Analyst is the graduate-level certification from the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. Someone who is certified at the level of a BCBA is an independent practitioner, with a master’s degree, clinical training, and has passed a board exam, who can provide behavior analysis services.
What is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in training? Ideally, it is someone who has completed their master’s degree, is being supervised by a BCBA, and is going to sit for their BCBA exam within the next 12 months. According to the certification board, most people working towards their BCBA certificate are required to be supervised by a qualified BCBA for nearly a year.
This is important to know, because there are many ABA centers who have therapy program supervisors that are neither a BCBA, nor a BCBA in training. By making sure your child’s program supervisor is at least a working towards their BCBA, and supervised by a BCBA, you are ensuring that your child’s program will be overseen by someone who is qualified, competent, and knowledgeable in ABA. You don’t want to have your child’s program overseen by someone who has haphazardly fallen into their role as a behavior analyst.

Safety training

Safety, safety, and more safety! ABA centers MUST master safety. With such a large volume of children who must be supervised constantly, it is crucial that the ABA center is vigilant at all times when it comes to safety protocols and procedures.
One of the best ways to check if safety is being maintained at a center is to ask about the training of the staff, beyond ABA skills.
Are the staff CPR trained and First Aid certified? Not having staff that are CPR and First Aid trained poses a great risk. There may come the time when a child’s life is in danger and requires CPR, medical attention, or care for an injury.
Another question to ask: are the staff trained in crisis management? Crisis management is a set of techniques and strategies developed to minimize violent incidents and escalating crises. Children with special needs may often engage in challenging behaviors and create potentially dangerous situations. Having the right tools to safely manage these types of risks is crucial for any ABA center.
Another important question: Does the center have appropriate safety protocols throughout the center that staff are trained on? Does the center have dialed-in procedures for lock-downs, tornado drills, and fire drills? Just like at a school, an ABA center needs to have all these procedures and more in place to be truly safe for your child.
Another way to measure the safety of an ABA center is through looking at their security mechanisms and child-proofing. Does the center have effective security mechanisms on entries and exits to prevent children from eloping? Does the center have their drawers and cabinets adequately child-proofed so that children can’t access harmful cleaning chemicals? If they have a kitchen, is there a locked drawer for items that could be sharp?

Do they background check the staff?

Any company that is working closely with children should be background checking their staff. If it concerns you as a parent that some centers do not background check their staff, then your head is in the right place!
Gain the peace of mind of knowing that the ABA center you send your child to is doing background checks. Simply ask and find out for yourself.

Great communication can make the experience with your ABA provider much more positive. On the flip side, an ABA center with bad communication can cause you serious frustration. Let’s walk through some ways that you can tell if a center has poor communication skills before you enroll.

Daily, two-way parent communication

If you dropped your child off at an ABA center for 8 hours a day, would you like to know how their day went? Would it be important to know if they had a good day or a bad day? Did they have a lot of behavior issues? Did they acquire a new skill? If an ABA center is not routinely providing you information on how your child’s day went, the center is probably lacking in parent communication skills.

Additionally, just like you should want to know about your child’s time at the center, the supervisors of your child’s therapy program should want to know about your child’s time at home. Did they get a good night’s sleep? Were there any interruptions in their eating? Did they take their medication? These are all things your ABA center should want to know because they may impact therapy.
A high-quality ABA center should have a system in place that creates daily, two-way communication between parent and staff. Such a system makes it easy for parents to know how their child did throughout the day. This communication system also makes it easy for the parent to tell the ABA center about what’s going on at home.

One example of a two-way communication system, is a daily communication binder. A communication binder gets passed between the parent and the center. Upon picking up their child from a day at the ABA center, the parent would also pick up the communication binder. The binder would include notes about how their child’s day went, their successes and their challenges. The parent would take the binder home for the night and could add notes to the binder about anything going on at home that night. The next day when the parent takes their child back to the center, they will also return the communication binder. As a result, both staff and parents will have a better understanding of the child’s progress.

A communication binder is just one example. There can be many other ways that ABA centers provide daily, two-way communication. Just make sure that the center provides a simple, well-integrated system for both the parents and the center to monitor your child’s behavior and skills.

Access to Face to Face time with Staff

Are you able to come into the center any time during the day and talk to the staff? Can you get face-to-face time with the ABA therapists that work with your child?
Generally, ABA centers will have locked doors during regular therapy hours and only individuals with keys or door fobs will be able to enter. A quality ABA center will provide you with the means to access the building during the day so that you can walk in and speak with the staff.

It’s not a great sign if you can’t see a center at all during therapy hours. Often, centers are hiding the chaos and messiness that their less-than-adequate therapy programs are producing. Not to mention, this shows a general lack of willingness to be available and helpful.

Ability to get ahold of BCBA’s managing your Child’s Program

Is it possible for you to email your BCBA during the day and get a response? A quality center will have BCBA’s that are attendant to parents.
You might need to contact your BCBA to let them know that you are worried about something specific regarding your child. Perhaps your child isn’t sleeping very well, is taking a new medication, or something else that you haven’t told the center yet.

If you send your BCBA an email about your child, wouldn’t you want to hear back at some point? Wouldn’t you want to know that they received your email and any action items that are going to come as a result?
If you never hear back from your BCBA, that’s a red flag. Perhaps your BCBA has an overly large case load and is unable to focus much attention on each individual child. It could also mean that your BCBA simply doesn’t care about communicating with parents; which is of course a huge problem as well.

Center Communicates with your Child’s other Providers

Is your child is receiving more medical and therapeutic services than just ABA therapy? Your child might have an occupational therapist, speech pathologist, child psychiatrist, or pediatricians to name a few. The school they may attend spends time with them every day and understands their skills and behaviors in a classroom setting. A quality ABA center will often seek to consult with these professionals regarding your child’s therapy program.

Here’s an example. Your child has been receiving speech therapy from a speech pathologist, once per week. Your child then starts going to an ABA center. This is a relationship that the supervising BCBA will want to start from day one! The program supervisors can collaborate with your child’s speech pathologist on ways to develop their skills and incorporate speech goals into their daily ABA program. Through other therapy professionals, the ABA center gets insight and expertise into your child that they wouldn’t have otherwise. If the ABA center never consults with your child’s other therapy providers, they are ignoring possibly valuable information that can enhance the therapy’s effectiveness.

Center Communicates with your Child’s School

Let’s not forget what can be one of the most important goals of ABA therapy: transitioning your child back into a school setting. If an ABA center isn’t working with your child’s school, principal, and teacher before a transition, a transition into school will prove to be difficult. Most children with autism will often need an Individualized Education Plan(IEP) in the public school system, which is primarily left up to the parents to initiate. If your child needs an IEP, you want to know that the ABA center is going to be available as a support for certain aspects of the IEP. A Quality ABA center might provide teachers with information about your child’s goals, support systems, behaviors, preferences and other things that can better equip school teachers to provide a positive learning experience.