There are many benefits for in-clinic ABA services. This is why ABA Works decided to start an ABA learning center in the county of LA.
Here are the top advantages of having ABA services in a learning center:
Positive effect 1: Easier transition to (pre) school.
Many parents would love to have their children transition to a mainstream learning environment. Think about a preschool, daycare or a school. In-clinic ABA services provides a highly structured environment for learners to learn different skills. In-clinic services provides a structure and environment, that is similar as a school environment. Receiving ABA services in this environment, following group rules, and learning social skills, can all contribute to transition into another structured environment like a school
Positive effect 2: Many opportunities to teach and learn social skills.
With the ABA Learning Center as a controlled environment, Behavior Technicians can contrive opportunities to work on the learner’s socialization skills. These social skills can include social communication, interactive play, turn-taking, identifying and understanding social cues, coping skills, and more. With high access to clinicians present in a in-clinic environment, the learner will have a larger array of adults to socialize with.
As the learner improves in their social skills, it can be beneficial to generalize these skills with age-appropriate peers. In an in-clinic environment, it can also provide more peers for the learner to socialize with. For example, through the organization and coordination of the activities from both Behavior Technicians, they can then have both of their learners be working on similar turn-taking goals. Other opportunities can be contrived in the learning center to generalize other social skills and it can also be beneficial to generalize these social skills under natural opportunities and in approved community outings.
Positive effect 3: Increased quality of care through supervision
When multiple Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) are on site, it makes it easy for them to observe and supervise various learners and Behavior Technicians.
Positive effect 4: Easy transition to other Behavior Technicians.
It minimizes challenges when clinicians transition. In ABA and schools, the turnover rate for teachers and Behavior Technicians can be high due to high demand for services. When services are based in a center, it is easy for Behavior Technicians to collaborate, so when someone transitions, another Behavior Technician can easily take over.
Positive effect 5: Learning and using skills across different people and environments.
The ABA Learning Center fosters generalization. In the ABA field, generalization is the learner’s ability to apply and perform a skill taught under different conditions across different environments, people, and materials. With in-clinic ABA services, it can assist the learner to generalize specific skills. With high access to Behavior Technicians and other peers present in a center-based environment, the skill taught can be generalized across different people. In addition to greater access to people, centers also provide more access to a variety of toys, tools, and materials, allowing the learner to generalize the taught skill across different items.
With a center, you can also increase the settings. If the ABA Learning Center provides approval, the learner and the clinical team can go on community outings where the learner can generalize the skill across even more settings than just the clinic. The community outings can be in many different settings, such as going to a nearby park, going to a store, going to a mall, or walking around a busy area. By generalizing the learner’s skills across different conditions, it can also be highly beneficial for the learner to continuously retain those taught skills through natural opportunities outside of clinical services.
Positive effect 6: Supports families in balancing busy schedules.
Caregivers can bring their children to the center, observe them through a one-way screen, rest, or work on their laptops. They can also decide to run errands. This will help family members balance their schedules while their child is still receiving the ABA services they need.
Positive effect 7: Focused learning and enhancement of progress.
In the in-clinic environment, there is usually less distraction. For example, the TV is off, siblings are not running around, the father is not on the phone, and toys are not always readily accessible. In the controlled environment, everything is focused on teaching the learner their skills and helping them reduce their problem behavior. In this structured teaching environment, the learner can focus more.
Positive effect 8: Increase the effects of ABA treatment through easy access to toys and reinforcement.
In the ABA Learning Center, there are plenty of toys and teaching materials available. This makes it easier to implement the learner’s goals and to use the best available reinforcement.
Positive effect 9: Consistency of the implementation of the Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)
Since multiple Behavior Technicians work on site, it is much easier to consistently implement the BIP across the team of clinicians, which can lead to a quicker reduction in the learner’s problem behaviors.
Check out our blogs:
How ABA therapy actually works
Group Parent Training
Lilyan W.J. Campbell, LMFT, BCBA, and Kathleen Ruano
If you like to learn more about our ABA Learning Center, you can take a tour of our facility. Please contact us at info@aba-works.com