ABA Therapy in Itasca

Our Itasca ABA therapy relies on the scientifically supported method of reducing challenging behaviors and supporting positive daily living skills, social skills, and communication skills in children with autism. 

There are several components to the sessions, focused on individual therapy and play time. For children between the ages of 2 and 7, our Itasca ABA therapy program at our facility starts with an assessment to determine individual needs. From there, children are paired with a therapist, with whom they start to build rapport during their initial sessions. These sessions will look different from one child to the next, but generally provide an opportunity for therapists to engage in preferred activities and play activities of the respective children to help them foster a trusting relationship and to keep children motivated.

Sessions can include skill building, reinforcement strategies, and data collection.

Skill Building

The primary focus of our therapy sessions is to build skills through activities that help target self-care, social interactions, and communication. This, again, is highly individualized and will look different from one client to the next.

Some children might be nonverbal, and therefore the communication focus will be on incorporating tools like PECS boards for improved communication, whereas other students might be focused on incorporating listening skills and sharing activities so that they can prepare for school.

Data Collection

During each of these sessions, therapists will track progress for each child. This progress is essential in making sure that the components of each ABA therapy session are adjusted moving forward to ensure that children stay on track and are able to meet their current goals and set new ones once current goals are met. This is something that our team regularly reviews and shares with parents.

Reinforcement Strategies

With individualized systems, our therapists will help children to continue with desired behaviors and reduce challenging behaviors by reinforcing them with things like snacks, toys, or praise. A central part of that initial pairing is to ensure therapists understand what activities or toys a child prefers so that those objects can be incorporated into respective reinforcement strategies.

After that, sessions generally involve skills that parents are trained to reinforce outside of our treatment center. For those who are receiving treatment at home, parents and caregivers alike are equally incorporated into that skill-building to ensure that key skills are reinforced outside of the sessions.