When a child enters service an initial functional skills assessment is conducted to determine the child's baseline skill level in the areas of receptive and expressive language, social skills, play skills and adaptive functioning. The assessment is also designed to identify any challenging behaviours which may interfere with the child's learning. Of utmost importance is the identification of effective reinforcers given that well run ABA programs must include the skillful art of differential reinforcement. The initial assessment is scheduled over two separate appointments and will include the use of non-standardized as well as standardized tools (e.g.: ABLLS, Vineland, C.A.R.S., H.E.L.P. Checklist, QFAB). At the completion of the assessment, parents are consulted with respect to the number of hours of therapy recommended and the most immediately functional skills to be taught. The child is then be assigned to one or more Instructor Therapists depending upon the number of hours the child participates in therapy. The Instructor's role is to teach language, social, self-help, play and academic skills while tailoring the child's program to capitalize on his or her areas of strength. All A.B.A. programs are empirical in nature. The child's progress and individual responses are recorded in his or her program binder. This data is necessary to determine the child's mastery of sub-goals and readiness for new programs.

The length of time a child is involved in ABA therapy varies greatly and is dependent upon a number of factors, including the
child's age at the onset of the program as well their involvement with other programs (school, speech therapy, etc).



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