Why choose a center-based ABA therapy provider

Why choose a center-based ABA therapy provider

Treatment for autism can take many forms, because there’s a wide spectrum of autism symptoms. It’s not unusual for a child to have a team of healthcare providers working together to ensure all of their needs are being met.

ABA therapy is considered the gold standard treatment for autism. The reason for that is it can help children in all areas of their development so they can achieve their full potential. For the best outcomes, research has shown ABA therapy should be started early, as young as two, when their brains are making critical connections with the world around them.

When you first begin to look for ABA therapy providers, you’ll notice they come in two varieties:

  1. In-home ABA therapy providers come to your home to provide therapy services.
  2. Center-based ABA therapy providers invite children and families to come to them.

 

Location isn’t the only difference, however. Center-based ABA therapy providers offer many more benefits than in-home providers that parents should know about before making a decision for their child. This article will explore those benefits and show you how to find the best center-based providers near you.

It's true! We're biased. For good reason.

The Behavior Exchange is proud to be a center-based ABA therapy provider. A fun fact about us is our founder used to provide in-home therapy to families in North Texas! So, we appreciate the importance of in-home providers and how they offer much-needed choice and flexibility for families.

In-home providers offer talented, board-certified therapists just like you’ll find at center-based providers. They’re also great for families in areas of the country where center-based providers are not available or are located too far away.

In addition, they can be a life-saver for families whose child has aged-out of center-based programs that tend to be focused on early intervention for toddlers, preschoolers, and those who are newly in school.

These are all great reasons to choose an in-home provider. Here are some equally great reasons to choose a center-based one. The first one is a biggie.

Top 9 reasons to choose a center-based ABA therapy provider

  • Higher rates of learning – This study from 2016 evaluated home and center-based ABA therapy and found that participants of the study made significantly more progress in center-based locations compared to home-based locations. It’s important to note that average treatment hours received per week only differed by 3.5 hours. Even this slight difference increased the number of mastered learning objectives per hour.
  • Generalization of skills – With in-home therapy, kids can apply the skills they learn directly to their routines and activities. Center-based therapy helps children use the skills they’ve learned in all kinds of different situations and locations, for example when they’re with a group of people or at a restaurant.
  • Provides consistency – In-home providers offer families flexibility in terms of hours and settings. Center-based ABA therapy provides the predictability and consistency of a routine that reduces anxiety in kids with autism.
  • Socializing with peers – Center-based therapy provides children with more opportunities to interact with their peers in a low-pressure environment that helps them learn important social skills as they play and interact in small groups.
  • Prepares kids for school – Center-based providers offer preschool-like group programs for kids with autism that help them learn important social, academic, and motor skills they need for a smooth transition to a school environment.
  • On-site supervision of therapists – In-home therapists are supervised, but their supervisor does not accompany them to each appointment. Supervisors for center-based therapists are always present to ensure the quality and consistency of therapy that is provided to children.
  • Individualized attention – Center-based providers are well staffed and are able to provide highly individualized therapy and treatment plans for each and every client.
  • Fewer distractions – The nature of in-home therapy means there can be more distractions for the child, creating obstacles to learning. Center-based providers have dedicated rooms for intensive One-on-One Therapy, for example, so children and therapists can focus without interruptions.
  • Help navigating insurance – Center-based ABA therapy providers are in-network with insurance providers and can advocate on your child’s behalf to ensure they receive all the medically necessary therapy hours that are necessary for them to reach their full potential.

Here at The Behavior Exchange, our colorful and fun hives are another reason families over the years have chosen our center-based practice. We aim to lift spirits, fill you with hope, and make you feel supported every time you visit.

Final thoughts

Of course, the choice of is up to you whether you go with an in-home provider or one that is center-based. Finding one quickly that you like best and is best for your child is the goal. That alone can be difficult, because it often means trying out several providers until you find THE ONE.

To find the best center-based providers as quickly as possible, go to the source – BHCOE.org. They are the only accrediting body for center-based providers. To narrow down your choices, you can search their directory of accredited, center-based providers by name, city, state, or ZIP code.

If you live in North Texas or call the Boulder, Colorado, area home, our autism and ABA therapy experts would love to learn more about your child and family. To get in touch, email or just call 972.312.8733. As a Behavioral Health Center of Excellence® with the highest accreditation possible, we can help.

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Ashvina attended University of Bombay and graduated with a Bachelors of Commerce. She got her Montessori Diploma in 1985 and taught ever since. Ashvina came to TBE in January of 2016 as Admin Assistant. During the years she got the opportunity to learn and work in different departments such as HR, Finance, Office Manager and Executive Assistant. Last summer TBE bought billing in house and her current focus area is Revenue Cycle Management. She is detail oriented and enjoys working with people. Ashvina volunteers to deliver meals to seniors and local shelters on the weekend. She loves to spend time with her family and grandkids. Ashvina loves her job because she enjoys hearing different points of view, and she feels her contributions help fuel the direction of our company.

Working with children comes naturally to Angela. Her mom was a special education teacher for 30 years and often had Angela join her for Take Your Child to Work Day. And in high school, Angela spent every summer as the nanny for a little boy with an autism spectrum disorder. It was this experience where her passion for working with children with autism started to blossom.

From there, she went on to graduate from Oklahoma State University with a Bachelor of Science in Human Development and Family Sciences. She learned about Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) in a non-normative development class and from that moment knew that ABA would be her life’s work.

Angela moved to the DFW area shortly after and began working at The Behavior Exchange as a therapist. She worked on her Master’s in Behavior Analysis at the same time. A year after graduating, she earned certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst.

Now, as a Clinical Director at The Behavior Exchange, she brings a life-long passion to her work, holding a special place in her heart for children with limited language skills and working closely with families to develop healthy sleep habits.

Danielle’s passion for working with families is deeply personal and from the heart. Her younger brother has an autism spectrum disorder, and through their journey as a family, she found her purpose in life as an advocate for individuals with special needs.

After graduating from the University of North Texas with a degree in Human Development and Family Studies, Danielle began volunteering at The Behavior Exchange. She saw passionate therapists, meaningful change for clients, and families with hope for the future. After a summer of volunteering, she officially joined the team as Director of Admissions and found her home with The Behavior Exchange family.

With her extensive experience working as a client advocate with insurance providers, Danielle perseveres to help individuals of all ages and abilities receive the services they need to reach their full potential. She feels truly honored by each and every family who entrusts The Behavior Exchange to be part of their journey and is committed to the organization’s core values, mission, and goal of being a beacon of hope for the community.

Adam has always had a passion for helping individuals of all ages thrive and reach their full potential. He’s also an enthusiastic musician, songwriter, leader, and devoted family man, who has been helping children and team members grow with The Behavior Exchange since 2010.

Prior to joining the team at The Behavior Exchange, Adam was a mortgage loan consultant and grad student, pursuing his master’s degree in Education at the University of North Texas. He graduated in 2013 and also earned a graduate academic certificate in Autism Intervention. The following year, after years as a Behavior Therapist and seeing first-hand the power of ABA and the meaningful impact it can have on children and their families, Adam became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst. He then commenced from the Stagen Leadership Academy after completing the Integral Leadership Program (ILP), a 52-week practice-based program designed to develop executives serious about transforming themselves, their teams, and their organizations.

Adam is truly grateful to be a part of a dynamic, inspiring and compassionate team, and he’s dedicated to bettering the lives of all children and their families through the delivery of the highest quality of ABA services, while supporting the amazing team at The Behavior Exchange.

Soraya is from South Africa and moved to Texas in 1996. She graduated from The University of Texas and pursued a career, at that time, in Education. Soraya taught at a Montessori school for a few years and then took on a leadership role.

During her time in the education system, Soraya realized her passion was to assist children with special needs. So she joined The Behavior Exchange as a therapist, transitioned into a supervisory role in 2017, and a year and a half later, was promoted to Clinical Operations Manager.

She quickly learned the ins and outs of ABA operations and scheduling and successfully collaborates across departments to ensure The Behavior Exchange continues to provide quality services to clients and their families. She’s thankful to be part of such an amazing organization and excited to see what the future holds.

You could say Walter’s career started when he spent hours as a young child drawing superheroes and coloring maps. This passion, along with extraordinary swimming skills, landed him a full swimming scholarship at Texas Christian University, where he graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communication Graphics.

During the next 13 years, his design and art direction skills, conceptual-thinking abilities, and marketing-savvy know-how were honed at a few prestigious advertising and marketing agencies around the Dallas area. In the mid 2000s, he helped his wife Tammy Cline-Soza (founder and CEO of The Behavior Exchange) create a unique and concise brand for her new business. From logos and websites to uniforms, brand voice and visuals, Walter has been the main creative force for all things The Behavior Exchange.

Aside from giving birth to The Behavior Exchange brand, Walter is helping Tammy raise two amazing, beautiful children, River and Sierra. In his spare time (the two minutes he’s got per week), you can find Walter illustrating iconic landmarks of Dallas and Texas or looking around for this next open-water swim. Once he gets back in shape.

After 20 years of building The Behavior Exchange, literally from the ground up,
Tammy couldn’t be more proud of the team, culture, and organization that it has become.

As a family helping families, The Behavior Exchanges looks for opportunities that will make the biggest impact and produce life-changing outcomes – for clients, families, and even for team members. Tammy believes that if a team, a family, a community takes care of each other, the possibilities are endless and the relationships built along the way can make life more enriching and challenges easier to navigate. You could say her goal has been to build a kind of utopia full of support, love, and expertise that brings the best services possible to the community and ensures more families have access to those services.

Tammy and her family have dedicated their lives to the mission of The Behavior Exchange and continue to grow, learn, cultivate, challenge, support, and create better models for success. To that end, she is committed to her own leadership development and actively participates in advanced training, mentoring, and deep self-exploration on how to live out her purpose to love and support her family and help others reach their full potential. She takes her position very seriously and tries to serve as a channel for what the universe wants to come to fruition.

She also loves travel, gardening, being creative, MUSIC!, tennis, yoga, meditation, journaling, reading, being in nature, adventures, and more than anything, spending time with her husband Walter and their two beautiful children, River and Sierra.