ABA Therapy Services

ABA therapy starts with an assessment of your child’s current skills and needs. Then an ABA therapist partners with a board certified behavior analyst and pairs with your child.

During the pairing process the therapist gets to know your child and aligns themselves with the activities and items your child values. This helps build a foundation of trust and connection between your child and their therapist. Then the therapist engages with your child using their natural interests to develop positive reinforcement for the desired behavior.

Skill Breakdown and Teaching

Complex skills are broken down into smaller, manageable steps that your child can master one at a time. For example if we’re working on tooth brushing we might start with just picking up the toothbrush, then adding toothpaste, then the brushing motion and so on. This step by step approach ensures success and builds confidence.

Positive Reinforcement in ActionOur therapists use specific positive reinforcement techniques tailored to what motivates your child. This might include verbal praise, preferred activities, small rewards or access to favorite toys. The key is timing – reinforcement happens immediately after the desired behavior to strengthen the connection.

Ongoing Data Collection

Throughout each session therapists track your child’s progress using data collection methods. We record which skills your child is mastering, how often behaviors occur and how quickly they’re learning new concepts. This data helps us adjust the treatment plan in real time to ensure maximum progress.

The therapist works with the behavior analyst to create and implement a comprehensive and individualized treatment plan to address your child’s specific needs. Over time the therapist helps your child expand their interests and develop new skills and behaviors.

Data collection is a cornerstone of effective ABA therapy and what sets it apart from other approaches. At Scottsdale Pediatric Behavioral Services we use systematic data collection to ensure your child is making meaningful progress.

What We Track:

• Frequency of target behaviors (how often specific behaviors occur)
• Duration of activities (how long your child engages in tasks)
• Accuracy of skill performance (percentage of steps completed correctly)
• Response to different teaching strategies
• Progress toward individualized goals

How We Collect Data: Our therapists use digital tracking systems and structured data sheets to record information in real time during sessions. This might include simple tallies, time measurements or detailed notes about your child’s responses to different teaching approaches.

Why Data Matters: This objective information helps us make informed decisions about your child’s treatment. If the data shows a particular strategy isn’t working we can quickly adjust our approach. When data shows progress we can celebrate successes and build on what’s working well.

Sharing Progress with Families: We regularly review this data with families through progress reports and meetings so you can see concrete evidence of your child’s growth and understand exactly how they’re developing new skills.

Our ABA therapists use a variety of evidence based techniques, always selecting the approaches that work best for your individual child:

Discrete Trial Training (DTT): Breaking skills into small, clear steps and practicing them repeatedly with immediate feedback and reinforcement. Perfect for teaching specific skills like identifying colors or following instructions.Natural Environment Teaching (NET): Using your child’s natural interests and daily routines as opportunities to practice skills. If your child loves blocks we might work on counting, colors or requesting during block play.

Prompting and Prompt Fading: Providing support (physical guidance, verbal cues or visual aids) to help your child succeed then gradually reducing that support as they become more independent.

Task Analysis: Breaking complex activities (like getting dressed or preparing a snack) into a sequence of smaller steps and then teaching each step systematically.

Positive Reinforcement Systems: Creating individualized reward systems that motivate your child to engage in therapy and practice new behaviors. This might include token systems, preferred activity schedules or immediate social praise.

Behavior Intervention Plans: For challenging behaviors we develop specific strategies that teach appropriate replacement behaviors while reducing problematic ones.

All techniques are implemented with consideration of your child’s learning style, preferences and developmental level to ensure therapy remains engaging and effective.