Frequently Asked Questions

ABA therapy stands for Applied Behavior Analysis. It is an evidence-based approach that uses principles of learning and behavior to help people develop useful skills and reduce behaviors that interfere with learning, communication, safety, or daily life.

ABA can be individualized to target skills such as:

• Communication: requesting, expressing needs, answering questions
• Social skills: interacting with others, sharing, turn-taking
• Learning skills: following instructions, matching, imitation, attending
• Daily living skills: dressing, toileting, handwashing, eating
• Independence: completing routines and activities with less prompting
• Flexibility and transitions: moving between activities or tolerating changes
• Reducing interfering behaviors: such as aggression, elopement, property destruction, or severe refusal, while teaching more functional alternatives

Assent-based therapy in ABA means providing services in a way that respects the learner’s willingness to participate, gives them meaningful choices, and recognizes their communication of comfort, discomfort, or desire to stop. Instead of focusing only on whether a learner follows instructions, the therapist considers whether the learner is comfortable, engaged, and ready to participate, while creating a supportive environment where the learner can communicate their needs, request breaks, make choices, and appropriately refuse activities. Assent-based therapy emphasizes building trust and rapport through pairing, using reinforcement, honoring functional communication, minimizing unnecessary prompting, and gradually increasing participation rather than relying on pressure or forced compliance. The overall goal is to help the learner develop meaningful skills and greater independence while maintaining dignity, safety, and a positive therapeutic relationship.

There are four steps. First, a free 15-minute call to share your child’s needs, your expectations and your availability, and to ask us anything. If it feels like a good fit, we book a 2-hour intake meeting. Next comes an assessment period of 4–8 hours. Then services begin.

Yes. The 15-minute call is free.

We are a mobile service. Sessions happen in your home and in the community, and we collaborate with your child’s school or daycare team.

The Greater Toronto Area and Kitchener-Waterloo, plus some nearby communities to the west depending on availability. See our Areas We Serve page for details.

Availability depends on your location and the hours of service you need. On the first call we will tell you honestly whether we can accommodate your family.

Every program is overseen by a BCBA / RBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst; Registered Behaviour Analyst is the title used in Ontario), working alongside supervised behavior therapists. Our practice follows the standards of the College of Psychologists and Behaviour Analysts of Ontario (CPBAO).

Our ABA programs support children from 18 months and older, from early intervention to social skills groups. We also offer parent and caregiver coaching, and school collaboration from preschool through Grade 12.

Yes. Our school collaboration service supports IEP goals and accommodations, classroom observations, and coaching for teachers and educational assistants, so what your child learns carries across home and school.