Our pediatrician recommended ABA and we have a few providers on the list. I don't know what I'm supposed to ask beyond "do you take our insurance."
What questions help you figure out if a BCBA and their team are actually good? I'm thinking about the intake call, the first meeting, and what to keep asking once therapy starts. Parents and BCBAs, what do you wish families asked upfront?
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Before you sign, ask about supervision, caseload, parent training, communication and AAC, data sharing, staff turnover, and safety policies. You're not being difficult. You're checking whether this team can explain their work in plain language and whether your child will be respected, not just managed.
1) How many clients does each BCBA carry? Around 10-14 is workable. Much higher, and your child's plan may get written by someone who rarely sees them.
2) How often will the BCBA directly supervise my child's sessions? Notes reviewed from an office are not the same as in-person supervision. Ask for a percentage or hours per week.
3) How are RBTs hired, trained, and supported? High turnover is the most common thing that quietly wrecks progress. Ask what ongoing training looks like beyond the 40-hour certification.
4) How will you involve me as a parent? Look for scheduled parent training, not a one-time handout. Ask how often you'll practice skills at home and whether you can observe sessions.
5) How do you pick goals? Good answers mention family priorities, skills that matter in daily life, and your child's assent. Be wary of goals that only target compliance or quiet behavior.
6) How do you support communication, including AAC? Therapy should never punish gestures, signs, or device use. Ask how they coordinate with speech therapy and how they respond when a child can't or won't speak yet.
7) How will I see progress? You should get data you can understand: graphs, goal updates, plain-language summaries. "He's doing great" is not enough.
8) What's your policy on restraint and seclusion? Ask what counts as an emergency, what staff are permitted to do, how parents get notified, and how incidents are documented.
9) What happens when therapy isn't working? Ask how they adjust programs when data flatlines, and whether they'll tell you when a different approach or provider might be a better fit.
10) What does discharge or fading look like? A strong team should be able to describe how they reduce hours over time and transition skills to home, school, and community.
If you're touring clinics specifically, ask to observe a real session for 20 minutes. How staff interact with kids when they think nobody important is watching tells you a lot. For clinic walk-through questions, see the related thread on touring an ABA clinic. Once you pick someone, the first-session thread covers what that day should feel like.
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