Before the Therapy: What to Expect

Information Gathering & Interviews

What happens:

• A Board‑Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) meets with you to review your child’s medical, educational, therapy history, developmental milestones, medications and behaviours. (Hopebridge, 2022)
• You’ll complete questionnaires about daily routines, triggers, strengths, and family priorities. The BCBA may also interview school or daycare staff.

Why it matters:
These conversations let the therapist understand your child in context—what works at home, where the difficulties lie, and what you hope to achieve. This becomes the base of a plan that fits your family, not just a one‑size‑fits‑all model.

Direct Observation & Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA)

What happens:

• The BCBA observes your child in play, routines, transitions, and during interactions. They may also deliberately set up scenarios to see how your child responds to adults, peers, or changes. (DaytasticABA, 2025)
• If there are significant behaviours of concern (e.g., aggression, elopement, refusal), a Functional Behaviour Assessment is conducted to identify antecedents, consequences and purpose of the behaviour. (Autism Learning Partners, 2025)

Why it matters:
Observation ensures the plan addresses how the child learns and behaves in real life. The FBA helps target the root of behaviours rather than just reacting to them. For example, knowing whether a behaviour occurs for escape, attention, or sensory stimulation guides better strategies.

Standardised Assessment Tools & Skill Inventories

What happens:

Professionals will often use validated tools to evaluate language, social, adaptive, motor and academic skills. Some widely used ones include:

Why it matters:
These tools provide measurable baselines and help track progress over time. They also help shape goals that are concrete, specific and meaningful for your child’s growth.

Standardised Assessment Tools & Skill Inventories

What happens:
With data from interviews, observations and assessments, the BCBA develops:

• Clear, measurable goals (e.g., “child will use a two‑word request in preferred play 80% of opportunities”)
• Strategies for teaching: prompting/fading, reinforcement, generalisation across settings
• A schedule of services: number of hours per week, location (clinic, home, school)
• Parent‑training components to support generalisation and consistency

Why it matters:
This plan translates information into action. It ensures services aren’t vague or disconnected but are tuned to your child’s needs and your family’s rhythms. It’s a roadmap that guides everyone, child, family, therapists, toward the same destinations.

Assessment Tools & Skill Inventory

What happens:

• Therapists collect data each session (e.g., success rate, latency, prompts required). Parents may also be involved (Yellowbus ABA, 2025).
• Regular reviews (often every 6 months or as therapy intensity dictates) revisit assessments to see if the plan needs adjustment.
• If goals are being met easily, new ones are set; if progress is slow, strategies or service hours may be changed.

Why it matters:
ABA is dynamic: children grow, environments change, goals evolve. Monitoring ensures therapy remains effective and aligned with current needs. Without it, progress stalls or the plan becomes outdated.

Summary Table: ABA Evaluation Steps

Why it matters for your family

When you go through an ABA evaluation,rooted in structured observation, data, and individualised planning, you’re not just “testing your child.” You’re gaining clarity on the following: 

• Where your child is now: what they can and can’t do
• What skills truly matter for their future independence
• How the therapy will look, how many hours, and where it will happen
• How you as a parent will be involved and empowered

In other words: the evaluation sets the stage for meaningful growth, both for your child and for your family.

Next steps for families

After the evaluation:

• Ask for a copy of the assessment results and treatment plan
• Review service hours and schedule: is it realistic for your family?
• Understand parent‑training and home‑practice expectations
  Check how progress will be communicated to you and how often
• Keep all records and updates for insurance and for your child’s team

If you haven’t yet scheduled an evaluation, know that this is the key first step toward tailored support. With a thorough evaluation behind them, children receive programming that’s right‑sized, and families gain tools to be active partners in their child’s journey.

Why Choose Autism Pediatric Therapy & Learning Center

Thorough & Personalized Evaluations for Every Child

At Autism Pediatric Therapy & Learning Center, we understand that every child is unique. That's why our evaluations are tailored to your child's individual needs. Through careful observation, interviews with parents, and standardized assessments, we gather crucial data to create a personalized therapy plan.

Comprehensive Approach to Understanding Your Child's Needs

Our evaluations go beyond simply identifying behaviors—they provide insight into your child’s strengths, challenges, and growth areas. Using tools like the VB-MAPP and ABLLS-R, our specialists gather data across different areas, such as communication, social skills, and adaptive behaviors.

Ongoing Support and Progress Monitoring

At Autism Pediatric Therapy & Learning Center, we don’t just stop at evaluation, we continue to support your child's journey with ongoing assessments and progress monitoring. Regular re-evaluations ensure that your child’s therapy plan evolves alongside their development, so they are always receiving the most relevant and effective interventions.