Home-based services

Location - clients’ home

Home-based therapy is a great generalization tool that allows clients to learn skills within the environment that they will most often use the skills. They have the opportunity to practice these skills directly with the people they will most often use the skills with. Parents involvement and commitment in intervention strategies and program goals is made easy when sessions occur in their own home and where they already have access to their child’s favorite things. 

When providing in home services, the therapist will bring along supplies that may not be present in the home like picture cards, small tinker toys, etc. Therapists will bring an electronic device that will allow them access to the clients program book for data collection and note taking.

Since ABA is a play based therapy service, the sessions look a lot like play but in fact, the client is learning to make requests, gaining social play skills, practicing self-regulation and coping skills when upset or frustrated.

Community-based services

Location - varies

Community-based therapy is available in a variety of locations and settings. If the client has a hard time tolerating grocery stores, dentists’ appointments, doctors’ offices, pools, water parks, etc. therapy can be requested in order to meet the clients needs in any of these scenarios. 

Sessions in the community are a great way for parents and therapists to identify barriers in community environments and collaborate on creating solutions for successful routine events. Eventually the therapist would begin to fade out and the parent is able to continue to identify precursor behaviors, reinforcements, opportunities for praise, and use of other intervention strategies.

School-based services

Location - school

School-based services can be requested at any time but will only be initiated after a school meeting is conducted to determine necessity and deficits. 

Depending on skill level, program goals for the school setting can often be in response to teacher requests, learning to communicate with teachers and peers, increasing the duration of attention on one task, etc. Therapy time in the school will often include caregiver training goals where the teacher will work to follow through on requests, deliver reinforcement/praise, etc. to increase the clients success in the classroom. Once the clients teacher has established rapport and is successful in maintaining the clients on-task behavior then the therapist begins to fade out of the school setting and the teacher continues to implement strategies for clients continued success. 

Center-based services

Location- Cresco IA

Center-based services allow for contrived learning opportunities that could include peer groups, one-on-one tasks, initial introduction to settings that the client finds highly aversive, etc. To give a few examples, a center setting could allow the client access to a small dentist room, small salon room, a small grocery store room that the client could practice finding things on a shopping list, waiting in line with peers, playing with dental tools, introduction to water play before a water park, etc. These opportunities help the client move at their own pace and get comfortable with certain factors that they are nervous about before having to take on an appointment or a day at the water park all at once.