Plain-language guide
What is ABA?
ABA is the therapy most often recommended for autistic children. Here is what it actually is, what the research says, and how to tell whether it is right for your family, in plain words.
- About 6 minutes to read
- Written for parents
- Sources on every number
- BCBA-led care
- HIPAA-compliant
- In-network with major plans
- Telehealth available
- Se habla español
The short answer
It is teaching, measured.
ABA stands for Applied Behavior Analysis. It is a way of teaching that people have studied for more than fifty years. The idea is simple. We find out what your child can already do. We pick the next small step. We try something, write down what happens, and keep what works.
The writing-down part is what makes it ABA and not just good teaching. If a plan is not working, the data shows it in weeks, not years. Then we change the plan.
- 53.1
- per 1,000 children in California
- 1 in 31
- children in the United States
- 2012
- California has required coverage since
- At home
- is where new skills get their practice
What it always includes
Whatever the setting, this part stays the same
- A goal that matters in real life, asking for a drink, sitting through dinner, telling a friend to stop.
- A small step your child can reach today, not in six months.
- Something good that happens when they get it right, chosen by your child, not by us.
- A written record of every try, so we can tell progress from a good week.
- A Board Certified Behavior Analyst who reads that record and changes the plan when it stalls.
- You, in the room, learning the same moves, because your child lives with you, not with us.
A plan gets built from your child's own numbers, not from an average.
Worth saying plainly
Worth knowing early
More hours is not automatically better.
The well-known studies used 25 to 40 hours a week. A 2024 trial found 5 to 10 hours did about as well for many children on the measures it used. The right amount is the amount your child's plan calls for, and the plan is what we set it from.
Some autistic adults have criticised how ABA used to be done.
Older approaches sometimes aimed to make autistic children appear non-autistic. We think that was the wrong aim, and we do not write goals that way. If a goal would mainly make things easier for the people around your child, we leave it out.
Read next
In the order most parents want them
- Start hereABA explained simplyWhat we do, why we do it, and what a session actually looks like from the doorway.Read more
- The numbersThe researchReal figures with real sources, including the ones that complicate the sales pitch.Read more
- DecidingIs it right for my child?Honest questions to ask any provider, including the times the answer should be no.Read more
- ReferenceWord listBCBA, RBT, FBA, reinforcement, generalization, every term, one line each.Read more
Still have questions?
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