ABA Services for Children Diagnosed with Autism
Treatment provided solely by master's level Board Certified Behavior Analysts
Treatment provided solely by master's level Board Certified Behavior Analysts
We implement individualized, empirically supported behavior assessments and interventions, utilizing data analysis to ensure our clients are making progress and achieving goals.
We ensure high quality treatment by guaranteeing direct services are rendered by Board Certified Behavior Analysts with a master's degree. This model allows highly qualified clinicians to focus more time and energy on a small caseload of clients, ensuring clients maximize progress toward their individualized goals.
Bramble ABA’s priority is providing high quality ABA services to children with a diagnosis of autism. We provide empirically supported ABA assessments and interventions with the ultimate goal of maximizing a child's potential so the child can be successful in their natural environments (e.g., home, community).
We offer in-home ABA services to children with a diagnosis of autism. Services include conducting assessments and creating individualized skill acquisition and behavior reduction goals, developing and implementing behavioral interventions, analyzing data to assess effectiveness of interventions, and generalizing skills to a child's natural environment.
Our service area spans Southeast Nebraska, from Bellevue (south Omaha) to Nebraska City.
Rebecca Groff earned her Master’s in Psychology with a Clinical Concentration in Applied Behavior Analysis from the University of North Carolina Wilmington and has been a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst since 2008. She served as a guest associate editor for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and authored and co-authored a book chapter and several articles published in peer reviewed journals. She worked for five years at the University of Nebraska Medical Center where she specialized in working with children with special needs who engaged in aggression and self-injurious behavior, as well as developing treatments for children diagnosed with pediatric feeding disorders. She worked at The Shafer Center in Reisterstown, MD, as an ABA Program Supervisor for two and a half years and at BTEC Behavioral Services in Pensacola, FL for five years.
Rebecca has experience working with children with a variety of diagnoses ranging in age from toddlers to teens and has worked in clinic and home settings. She has extensive practice developing behavior reduction and skill acquisition goals and she loves working directly with clients. Her background includes collaborating with school systems and participating in interdisciplinary teams in order to ensure her clients receive optimal and thorough treatment. Rebecca believes communication with families and programmed generalization are critical components of applied behavior analysis services.
Insurance credentialing is currently in progress. Contact us at the following address for more information.
Please reach us at becca@bramblebehavior.com if you cannot find an answer to your question.
Extensive research shows that Applied Behavior Analysis is an effective treatment for individuals with a diagnosis of Autism and it has been deemed "an evidence-based best practice treatment by the US Surgeon General and by the American Psychological Association" (https: www.autismspeaks.org/applied-behavior-analysis)
Applied Behavior Analysis works by changing the environment (using behavioral principles) in order to increase desired behavior and decrease undesired behaviors. Common assessments and interventions used in applied behavior analysis include preference assessments, functional assessments/analysis, reinforcement, fading, chaining, shaping, antecedent manipulations, prompting procedures, functional communication training, natural environment teaching, environmental modifications, discrete training trials, token economies, and modeling.
As part of ABA services provided by Bramble ABA, caregivers will receive ongoing training regarding applied behavior analysis and how to implement strategies and interventions with their child.
Several resources for learning more about ABA include:
Autism Speaks
The Council of Autism Service Providers
The Behavior Analyst Certification Boad
Behavior analysts use graphs and analyze data to determine if the interventions they are using with a child are effective. Behavior analysts use the data to help determine if a child is achieving a child's skill acquisition and behavior reduction goals. ABA services can’t be properly rendered unless data is collected during every appointment and the data is graphed and analyzed by the provider on a regular basis. Bramble ABA will collect accurate data during every session and graph the data in a timely manner in order to assess progress and, if necessary, make modifications to interventions. Data analysis is how Bramble ABA ensures it is providing optimal ABA services to their clients.
Bramble is currently working through the credentialing process. Accepted insurance plans will be posted following completion of credentialing.
Most insurance companies require pre-authorization prior to initiating ABA services, but we are happy to answer general questions about ABA as you work through the process.
At the start of services, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) will review your child’s records, conduct caregiver interviews and assessments, and interact with and observe your child. Based on this information, the BCBA will write skill acquisition and behavior reduction goals. The BCBA will discuss proposed goals with you prior to working on goals. The BCBA will utilize behavior interventions and strategies to help your child achieve these goals. The BCBA will collect data during ABA sessions and use this data to determine if your child is making progress on his or her goals. Interventions and strategies will be modified, and additional goals may be added, based on your child’s behavior and progress. Every 6 months, the BCBA will write a formal report documenting the progress your child made on his or her goals and propose new goals.
ABA sessions are individualized and tailored to a child’s needs and interests. Prior to implementing interventions with your child, the Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) will take time to establish a rapport with your child. When planning ABA sessions, the BCBA will consider your child’s age, developmental level, interests, and preferred items and activities.
At the beginning of a session, Caregivers share pertinent information about their child’s behavior or changes to schedule or routine. Based on this information, the BCBA may modify how she conducts the ABA session.
The focus of the ABA session will be implementing behavior interventions and strategies to help your child achieve his or her goals. Goals will be broken down into small steps to make them easier to achieve. Some activities during sessions will be structured and some will be play-based. Consistency and repetition are key components of an ABA session. During sessions, the BCBA will collect data on your child’s behavior, his or her response to interventions, skills he or she demonstrates, difficulties your child has with tasks, and other important observations. After a session, the BCBA will graph and analyze the data collected during the session. Based on the data, the BCBA may make modifications to interventions and session structure.
If your child engages in problem behavior (e.g., aggression or tantrums), the BCBA will conduct a functional assessment or functional analysis to determine why your child is engaging in the behavior. Common functions of problem behavior are attention, escape (avoiding or getting out of doing a non-preferred activity), tangible (gaining access to a preferred item or activity), or automatic (the behavior itself is enjoyable or meeting an internal need for the child). The BCBA will then develop a behavior intervention plan that will describe how to respond when your child engages in problem behavior and how to teach your child more socially appropriate ways to access the things they want and need. The BCBA will discuss the behavior plan with caregivers prior to implementing it with their child. The BCBA will then consistently implement the behavior plan during ABA sessions. That is, the BCBA will always respond in a similar way when your child engages in problem behavior and provide your child other means to gain access to preferred items and activities during the session. If data indicates changes need to be made to the behavior plan, the BCBA will adjust the plan accordingly and discuss these changes with caregivers.
At end of sessions, the BCBA will provide caregivers a verbal summary of the session and answer caregiver questions or concerns.
The ultimate goal of ABA services is for your child to demonstrate the behavior changes and skills he or she acquires during ABA services in his or her natural environments (e.g., at home with caregivers and in the community). Caregiver training is critical to ensure these skills and behaviors generalize. At least once per month, caregivers will participate in caregiver training with the BCBA. Depending on the type of training, the BCBA will recommend whether your child should or should not be present.
Caregiver training is not limited to, but may include receiving information and learning about a variety of ABA topics, providing input and discussing interventions and data collection systems to use at home, discussing behaviors observed and data collected at home, learning about interventions and strategies that are effective with your child, role playing how to implement interventions and strategies, practicing implementing interventions and strategies with your child, observing the BCBA modeling how to implement interventions with your child, and discussing your child’s progress and behavior during ABA sessions and in different settings.
Most insurance companies require caregiver training goals and data be part of a child’s treatment plan. Caregivers will play an active part in establishing these goals and the BCBA will collect data on caregiver goals. Caregiver goals will be created based on the client’s goals, caregiver’s knowledge of behavior analysis, caregiver input, and the BCBA’s recommendations for how to best promote generalization.
Copyright © 2024 Bramble Aba LLC - All Rights Reserved.