The first day of ABA therapy is not a test. It is a low-pressure, play-based introduction between your child and their care team, held in your child’s natural environment — either your home or their school — depending on the type of ABA therapy your family has chosen. What...

Why Parent Training Is a Core Part of ABA, in plain terms: ABA works because the people in a child’s life every day — not just the BCBA — learn how to support skills and respond to behaviour consistently. Insurance plans require it, the BACB Ethics Code reinforces it, and the...

The 90-Second Answer (Read This First) Sensory overload is often missed by parents because it looks like defiance, attitude, or a “bad mood.” It is not. Sensory overload is an involuntary nervous-system response to too much input — sound, light, smell, touch, or social...

A token economy in ABA therapy is a structured reinforcement system where a child earns symbolic items called tokens for completing specific target behaviors, then exchanges those tokens for a preferred reward. Think Velcro stars on a clipboard, poker chips dropping into a jar, or...

Parents walk out of a BCBA meeting with three letters echoing in their heads: DTT. It sounds clinical, even a little intimidating. It doesn’t have to be. Discrete Trial Training (DTT) is a structured ABA teaching method that breaks complex skills into small, repeatable steps....

The kitchen is one of the busiest, most rewarding rooms in a family’s life — and one of the most hazardous. For a child with autism, learning to navigate it safely is a milestone that unlocks real independence: making a snack, helping with meals, eventually preparing a simple...

Some teaching methods focus on individual skills one at a time. Others focus on broader behaviors that influence many areas of development. Pivotal Response Training (PRT) falls into the second category — and that’s exactly why it can produce gains that ripple across...

If your child is in ABA therapy, you’ve probably heard the term Natural Environment Teaching — or NET. It’s one of the most effective approaches in modern ABA, and the best part is that it doesn’t stay in the therapy room. NET is built on a simple idea: kids learn...

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is often misunderstood when it comes to “punishment.” Many parents wonder: Does ABA therapy use punishment? Is it harsh? The truth is more nuanced. ABA does include punishment as a possible technique, but it is not the main strategy and is...

When exploring options for behavioral therapy, you’ll quickly run into two leading approaches: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Both aim to improve quality of life — but they work in very different ways.  Choosing the right path...