Frequently Asked Questions

1.  What behaviors will your programs target?

Programs are individualized and may teach a wide range of behaviors and skills.  Programs focus on teaching functional skills (with a strong emphasis on communication) and decreasing maladaptive or problem behaviors.

In most cases, the ABLLS assessment will be administed to determine the child's current skills and develop a baseline performance.  The ABLLS focuses on 26 basic skill areas including imitation, receptive language, vocal imitation, requests, labeling, play skills, social intereaction, gross and fine motor skills, and grooming.  As needed, consultants will supplement ABLLS objectives with child-specific goals.

2.  What teaching techniques are used in HOPE programs?

HOPE uses a variety of teaching styles depending on what works for each individual child.  ALL programs are based on the principle of positive reinforcement.  Using positive reinforcement during therapy sessions, makes the sessions fun for the child.

HOPE programs typically use errorless learning rather than traditional no-no-prompt error correction strategies.  This means that on each trial the child is given the supports and prompts necessary to make sure he or she correctly completes the trial and gains access to reinforcement.  For more information on errorless learning, see www.christinaburkaba.com/ELvsNNP.htm

3.  Do you provide direct therapy hours or consultation?

The answer to this question depends on you!  The main responsibilities as a HOPE consultant are to administer assessments, develop programs for your child, track and graph child progress, update goals as needed, and make sure the team is running smoothly.  I prefer to see each child at least once per week for a two hour consulting session.  Typically this two hour session is broken down as follows: 45 minutes of direct intervention with the child, 45 minutes discussing progress and concerns with the parent/caregiver, and 30 minutes updating the notebook, graphs, and goals.  I am available to do direct therapy hours as well although many parents choose to have the bulk of their child's therapy hours implemented by people not employed by HOPE.

4.  Who is responsible for assembling our therapy team?

Parents are in charge of hiring the therapy teams that work with their children.  This is because we believe that parents should ultimately be in charge of who works with their child.  However, HOPE consultants will be happy to provide you with names of therapists that other families reccomend.  HOPE consultants will also train therapists that you hire. In looking for a therapy team, remember than ANYONE who has an interest in your child's success can be a great therapist - this includes college students, family members, friends, etc.

5.  Do you collaborate with my child's other service providers (i.e. speech and occupational therapists)?

ABSOLUTELY!  We love to collaborate with other service providers in order to encourage generalization of skills.  We can work with the speech therapist to make sure we're working on compatible goals and  occupational or physical therapists can help us to incorporate their techniques into therapy sessions.  We also meet with preschool teachers to provide basic training in ABA or collaborate on goal selection.

Collaboration with other service providers can happen in a variety of ways: 1) service providers can attend team meetings; 2) we can go to therapy sessions with the child; 3) we can set up meetings with therapy providers specifically to discuss progress and concerns.

6.  What if  my child has behavior problems in settings outside of the home (i.e. the grocery store)?

Consultants can come to the place where the behavior occurs, observe the child and make suggestions on how to reduce occurrences of the problem behavior.

7.  Will health insurance cover the cost of assessment and therapy?

It depends. 

HOPE is an approved TRICARE provider, so TRICARE should cover HOPE services, but be sure to check on stipulations such as number of visits.

Until recently, most insurance companies did not cover the cost of this type of intervention.  However, it is more and more common for insurance companies to provide behavioral therapy for children with a diagnosis of autism although the insurance company may have stipulations on who provides the therapy, the number of visits, etc.  The best thing to do is to call the insurance company and see if they will cover therapy and what the stipulations are.  We will then work on becoming an approved provider with your company.