No, but we partner with several professionals who are able to provide that service and can provide referrals upon request. Contact Us if you’d like for a CCABA team member to help with an introduction to a diagnostician.
At CCABA, a client’s services are provided by a treatment team, including Registered Behavior Technicians, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and parents/caregivers. Registered Behavior Technicians provide the majority of the one-on-one services during sessions, but each member has important roles. The BCBA’s role is primarily supervisory. She or he is responsible for collecting information about the client’s needs, identifying which skills therapy should focus on, designing programs to teach those skills, providing training to other team members about how to use the programs, and monitoring progress. In addition to providing the majority of one-to-one services, Registered Behavior Technicians also share insight with the BCBA about the rate of progress and make suggestions on how the session can be structured to maximize success. Parents and caregivers share ideas and provide input about what skills the client will learn and what those skills should look like. They also implement the behavioral programs outside of therapy sessions.
As a general standard of care, the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) recommends that Board Certified Behavior Analysts supervise 2 hours for every 10 hours of direct treatment hours (~20%). For example, if a client receives 20 hours of direct treatment per week, a BCBA would typically be recommended to provide the client’s case at least 4 hour each week of direct observation, family training or other dedicated support. The level of case supervision may vary based on a variety of factors, including the stage of treatment, changes in protocols, changes to a client’s other therapies or medications or a transition of care.
Given this high level of expected involvement by BCBAs, many organizations struggle to meet this threshold given their efforts to expand access to as many families as possible. We would encourage all families to directly discuss this topic with any prospective provider. At CCABA, we are working hard to expand our access, but we foremost have an obligation and commitment to the quality of our services. With that, we require our BCBAs to oversee their client’s care at an average rate of at least 20% of the direct treatment hours, with many cases well over this threshold due to the complexity of their care programs.
To produce meaningful outcomes, clients should receive the medically necessary level of treatment. If you believe you cannot meet the recommended number of treatment hours, your clinical team can work with you to identify different scheduling options to ensure your child gains access to the appropriate amount of therapy.
When selecting skills to teach, our clinicians collaborate with caregivers to make sure that what is being taught is beneficial to the client and important to your family. Some of those important skills (e.g., hand washing) might be non-preferred, but it is still in the client’s best interest to teach him or her how to complete that task. As with other behaviors, our clinicians use reinforcers to make these activities less aversive and often preferred over time. While working on these skills and at all times during the course of treatment, CCABA will maintain its focus on client preference and client dignity.
To produce meaningful outcomes, clients should receive medically recommended levels of treatment. If you believe you cannot meet the recommended number of hours, your treatment team can work with you to identify different scheduling options to ensure your child gains access to the appropriate amount of therapy.