Typical ABA sessions and how many hours?

[Anonymous]

How many hours of ABA do you suggest for a 4.5 yr old with moderate ASD? And how much time in a 2 hour session is spent on teaching either through trials/natural environment/play etc vs graphing the data? Sometimes therapists spend 1/2 hour graphing during the 2 hour session. After 15mins of set-up and 30 mins of graphing, about an hour is actually spent on teaching. Is this typical?

[Anonymous]

Yes. We have increased some of our sessions to three hours for that reason. Anything over 15 mins of data taking I'd raise as an issue with the BCBA.

[Anonymous]

The diagnosis report should have a recommendation for the number of ABA hours.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The diagnosis report should have a recommendation for the number of ABA hours.

Agree, but for us the recommendation was very high and we could not find a provider who could provide all those hours.

[Anonymous]

This is OP, thanks for the replies. I will discuss with the BCBA bc the therapist is ending session 30 mins early to graph the data. Our diagnosis recommended 40 hours, but said that was a combination of all therapies and school, not just ABA. The most the ABA company has given us is 20 hours/week in the summer, but then we're back down to max 10 hours during the school year (really 5 hours of actual ABA since the graphing and set up take so long). They just don't have enough therapists and we are on a 6/8 month wait list for a second therapist. So frustrating esp when all the Drs stress how important these early years are for ABA.

Has anyone found success finding ABA therapists on Craigslist or care.com? We are at the point where we are willing to try this route to get more hours of therapy.

[Anonymous]

Call around as there are many companies. We did not like the company we were assigned to and easily changed it. I found an ABA Facebook group for our insurance with recommendations. It really depends on your child's needs. I think if your insurance will cover it, doctors stress it and are overgenerous to maximize success. We found the same as you where none wanted to give more than a few hours a week. Maybe your doctor has a recommendation. Our doctor really pushed it too.

[Anonymous]

956, which insurance company is that? thanks!

[Anonymous]

Why can't they graph everything after the session and charge you accordingly? Ours did an extra 15 mins of data work after every session or the next day and it was charged differently, like plan management or something like that. What do you mean set up? What are they setting up? Usually they are talking to the child while they are getting stuff ready for drills so I'm not sure why this would cut into the "therapy" time.
Are they preparing materials that they could do beforehand? I think in total we were getting charged an hour or two of plan management for every two weeks for preparing, updating the plan, data input, analysis and report writing. This is in addition to the regular two hour therapy sessions.

[Anonymous]

3 hours is a better session length IMO - which includes 15 min at start/finish for data, and a small break (10-15 min) in the meantime. Not sure why your therapist is graphing so much during the session - quickly noting data, yes, detailed graphing, no.

Ideally, though, 3 hours a day/3 days a week, at least.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live? Autism Learning Center in Falls Church (but serves all over Northern VA) could handle that, at least in the past.

[Anonymous]

Thanks, we live in Fairfax so Falls Church would work for us. Do they come to your house or do you need to go to them?
The set up is when the therapists are getting all the program materials out and organized. They like to have all the program materials ready on the table so they can do one and then another, etc. some are sequencing cards, others stuff for writing programs etc. Sometimes DC sits at the table and colors while they set up, and they do talk-but sometimes DC plays in the other room while set-up. They take data through the entire session, but the graphing of the data is done after they finish session. Today the therapist ended session 40 mins before and spent all that time graphing the data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, we live in Fairfax so Falls Church would work for us. Do they come to your house or do you need to go to them?
The set up is when the therapists are getting all the program materials out and organized. They like to have all the program materials ready on the table so they can do one and then another, etc. some are sequencing cards, others stuff for writing programs etc. Sometimes DC sits at the table and colors while they set up, and they do talk-but sometimes DC plays in the other room while set-up. They take data through the entire session, but the graphing of the data is done after they finish session. Today the therapist ended session 40 mins before and spent all that time graphing the data.

That's ridiculous. Talk with the supervisor asap.
FYI, after three BCBAs, my best experience has been with a private one who has her own practice. Working with a company was a nightmare. A private BCBA has more flexibility, is willing to train therapists. We joined forces in hiring techs, placed ads at local universities, and now have an amazing team. I would not stay with a company that can only do ten hours a week, that's unacceptable.

[Anonymous]

Ours did graphs while she did activities but there was nothing like you described. That should not be done in the home but outside after sessions. They should come prepared with the lesson plan, then do graphing as they work and then data outside the session.

But, most refused to do that much ABA for us (but we didn't really need it so I didn't push it or care). For moderate Autism, you clearly need a lot more.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all-I'm speaking with our BCBA next week. For the PP who found a private BCBA-where or how did you find him/her? I have no clue where to even look for private BCBA's other than google. Will try to find the Facebook ABA page one other PP suggested.

[Anonymous]

You can also try calling your insurance for a list but I haven't found them that accurate. Beyond Facebook groups, I googled my insurance and providers then googled for reviews on providers.