1.) If your child is under 3 years of age, call your local regional center to see about qualifying for intensive early behavior intervention (IEBI) services and other information. Click here for a listing of California regional centers by county.
These agencies will help in getting services started for you. They typically contract with local ABA agencies and create IFSPs (individual family service plan) which target basic learning skills for the child and training for the parents and other family members. The county agencies will provide government funded treatment until the age of 3. Once a child reaches age 3, the local school district are in charge of taking over the individual plan and support till the age of 22.
2.) If your child is 3 years of age or older, contact your local school district’s special education department and request a special needs assessment, particularly if your child is having significant difficulty with learning and/or managing behavior due to the possibility of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
If the behaviors are significant and the school team cannot get the behavior under control, request an FBA (functional behavior assessment). Click here for more information of FBAs.
3.) Push for an assessment through your medical insurance provider. It does not matter if you have Blue shield, Kaiser or on Medi-Cal, they are mandated by law to provide behavior services (applied behavior analysis). Only medical diagnoses of Autism will qualify for behavior (ABA) services except when assessing for services in the public school setting. You have to be very persistent with these companies and agencies.
There are shortages of behavior therapists so expect waitlists. I advise putting your name on as many agencies that are available to you following the completion of your initial assessment.
Bonus: Begin accessing as much support services as soon as possible to ensure maximizing your child’s learning and ability to manage his or her symptoms. There are no cures for Autism. ABA however, has been proven through research, to be significantly effective in the lifelong management of the symptoms of Autism.
Work on generalizing skills with your child immediately. You will read and hear about how things should be consistent all the time, which is partly true. What should be consistent is constant social interaction with various people, environments, activities with those trained in applied behavior analysis.
For further information or on-demand ABA providers in the San Francisco Bay area please click here or use the form below.
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