Choosing an ABA Provider: Questions Worth Asking Before You Sign On

Quality varies a lot between ABA providers, and most families don't have a clear way to tell the difference before they're already in it. You don't need a clinical background to ask good questions — you just need to know which ones tend to reveal the most.

Questions about credentials and supervision

• Who is the BCBA overseeing my child's program, and how often do they actually see my child directly — not just review notes?
• What's the ratio of RBTs (the staff doing direct sessions) to supervising BCBAs?
• How much ongoing training do RBTs receive after they're hired?

Questions about the actual approach

• How will you involve our family in the goals, not just the at-home homework?
• What's your philosophy on using aversive procedures, and under what circumstances, if any, would they come up?
• How do you decide when a goal is "done" and what happens next?
• Can you show me what data collection actually looks like — not just describe it?

Questions about fit

• How do sessions get adjusted on a hard day, or when something clearly isn't working?
• What does communication between sessions look like — are we hearing from you only at formal reviews, or more often?
• How do you handle goals around things like self-advocacy and autonomy as my child gets older, not just compliance in the moment?

Answers that should make you pause

• Vague or defensive responses to "can I see the data."
• No clear answer about who is actually supervising versus who you were told would supervise.
• A philosophy that treats all behavior reduction as the goal, with little discussion of building skills or honoring communication.
• Reluctance to involve you in setting goals, or to explain the reasoning behind a given target.

None of these alone is automatically disqualifying — providers vary, and a single rough answer in an intake call isn't the whole picture. But a pattern of vague or defensive answers across several of these is worth taking seriously.