Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They were bought out by a private equity firm. There's a huge financial incentive in ABA since it's covered by insurance. I disagree with the anti-ABA fundamentalists, but I absolutely agree that this kind of setting needs to be very, very, very closely monitored.

Isn't it part of KKI? (CARD affiliation?) how can they be bought out?
Otherwise fully agree, so may privately owned chain places get minimally educated staff for low wages and squeeze the profits with little or no oversight about the quality of services. Free enterprise at its worst.
I also see a trend of smaller, individual practices heading in this direction given the huge demand - expanding but not keeping up with the quality of staff, transforming good RBTs into passable BCBAs with zero years of experience, getting technicians with minimal credentials, and raking in the $.

I'd agree with all except the bolded. You can't become a BCBA with zero years' experience. You're required to have 2,000 supervised fieldwork hours, and a lot of those hours are time spent doing direct work with clients. You also have to have a Master's degree, usually in Special Ed or something similar. The good supervisors and practices located close to universities poach the grad students and offer supervision hours in exchange for them working as RBTs while doing BACB coursework. Obviously that's more expensive than hiring warm bodies with no experience but you get what you pay for.

Anonymous wrote:They were bought out by a private equity firm. There's a huge financial incentive in ABA since it's covered by insurance. I disagree with the anti-ABA fundamentalists, but I absolutely agree that this kind of setting needs to be very, very, very closely monitored.

Isn't it part of KKI? (CARD affiliation?) how can they be bought out?
Otherwise fully agree, so may privately owned chain places get minimally educated staff for low wages and squeeze the profits with little or no oversight about the quality of services. Free enterprise at its worst.
I also see a trend of smaller, individual practices heading in this direction given the huge demand - expanding but not keeping up with the quality of staff, transforming good RBTs into passable BCBAs with zero years of experience, getting technicians with minimal credentials, and raking in the $.

Anonymous wrote:They were bought out by a private equity firm. There's a huge financial incentive in ABA since it's covered by insurance. I disagree with the anti-ABA fundamentalists, but I absolutely agree that this kind of setting needs to be very, very, very closely monitored.

I think they were bought by the same people who bought Auburn school and who run a bunch of SN day schools in Maryland. Or maybe there are two private equity firms trying to profit off our kids.

They were bought out by a private equity firm. There's a huge financial incentive in ABA since it's covered by insurance. I disagree with the anti-ABA fundamentalists, but I absolutely agree that this kind of setting needs to be very, very, very closely monitored.

Is this the one in Alexandria?

Is this the one in Baltimore? Or elsewhere?
Thank you for speaking out, OP.

Which specific CARD center are you referring to? Not all will be the same.

Almost all the public day schools FCPS contracts with are just as bad. Sad to say. They pay these for profit places 400$/day and then they just hire whatever warm body they can find.

This place is a daycare for children with autism. They keep your child on the iPad or at a empty desk with sensory toys all day long! Some kids are left for hours with no instruction which they promise parents a one- one pyramid.

Kids who are higher functioning do anything they want and they are running around all day long cursing at staff.

There is no real instruction occurring except for the white children who are fully functional since they can talk and tell their parents.

Don’t be fooled by the quick tour and empty promises. These people are not doing right by children and your child will never have a 1-1 experience that they promise. It’s more of 12: 1 so 12 kids per one staff who can only truly give her all to one child at a time since most cases are extreme.

If you have a child that doesn’t speak , can’t toilet independently, or fight off abusers don’t bring them here ! They can’t advocate for themselves and you will never learn of the abuse, neglect, and horror they experience. This is 100% due to the fact that the 90% of thestaff that they call behavior technicians come don’t have an education past high school so no formal training of education, development, or even autism is no existent! BTs get a quick 3 day video training and then on to the floor to Work with our babies who they abuse and treat like crap.

If you have children here stay on them and don’t ever not question their actions or words.