Early Intensive Behaviour Intervention FAQ’s

Behaviour consultant will meet with you and your child more often in the first month of starting the program to complete the assessment process (about once a week). Following that they will focus their time on developing the Behaviour Plan of Intervention, training you, and training the behaviour interventionists (BI) hired to work with your child.  In subsequent months, the BC will provide ongoing support to you and the BI’s in the form of regular overlap during sessions (about 2x per week), monthly team meetings and parent meetings when requested.

ABA stands for applied behaviour analysis. It is a scientifically valid approach in which strategies that are based on the principles of behaviour are systematically applied to teach new skills and to reduce problem behaviours that interfere with learning. All programs are monitored and evaluated on a regular basis to ensure your child is making progress towards their goals.

The EIBI program uses the Autism Curriculum Encyclopedia, a premier online educational system developed by the New England Centre for Children. It provides us with an efficient way to assess, teach and evaluate progress using evidence-based procedures.

To learn about other community resources, browse our list of useful links.

Parent training is an important component of the program. It is essential that parents participate in the initial training that is offered to the team and monthly team meetings to review your child’s progress. The initial training usually takes place at our office in Burnaby. This is an interactive workshop and provides parents and interventionists opportunities to practice teaching in a supportive environment. Monthly team meetings could be scheduled either at the office or at the family home. Ongoing parent training will occur in the context of addressing specific home goals. The BC will also train you on ways to support transfer of skills your child has learned during sessions into natural home and community environments. Monthly team meetings also provide an opportunity for parents to learn and problem solve around issues that are of concern.

Therapy will take place at your home in a designated teaching area. We recommend that you set up a table and chair in a relatively distraction-free area of your home for the sessions. While most of the sessions will take place in this designated area, in order to address a variety of other play, social skill and gross motor goals the sessions may need to be conducted in other areas of the house/yard or even in the community (parent or another adult will need to be present for community based sessions).

Yes, we work together with all team members. Parents are encouraged to facilitate these meetings and clarify roles and responsibilities. Regular communication between team members is key for your child’s overall program to be effective.

Yes, we will be happy to work with all team members in various settings including daycare. The decision to have BI sessions in the day care is a joint decision between the family, daycare staff and consultant depending on what is best for your child’s learning and what the daycare is able to accommodate.

We recommend your child receive a minimum of 20 hours of direct service in the form of 1:1 instruction each week delivered by 2-3 interventionists, with each session lasting a minimum of 2 hours. The behaviour consultant is involved in providing the oversight of the program (plan development, training, ongoing monitoring, data analysis, monthly team meetings) and his/her hours are approximately 8-10 hours each month. We are aware that you may need to seek out other services for your child such as a Physiotherapist, Speech and Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist etc. and as such have to allocate your funds accordingly. We work closely with you to understand your needs and your budget for behaviour therapy.

Progress will be reviewed and documented during monthly team meetings. A progress summary will be presented to the family annually from the start of the program and a behaviour plan of intervention is updated annually.

Our Team Leader will be able to assist you with the forms and paper work related to the contract you sign with our program. Ongoing support will also be available for any funding or budgeting questions you have pertaining to the service (BC only or BC and BI) you are receiving. However, if you hire a Behaviour Interventionist privately, it is your responsibility to budget for, identify and submit the relevant forms to the Autism Funding Unit. We recommend that you connect directly with the Autism Funding Unit for all general inquiries.

The Team Leader will schedule the first meeting with the family along with the Behaviour Consultant (BC). In the event the Consultant is yet to be assigned, the Team Leader will meet with the family and assign a consultant within 10 business days.

Behaviour interventionists from posAbilities are off on statutory holidays and therefore are not scheduled to work on these days. These hours can be made up on another day if possible. For privately hired behaviour interventionists, the family can check regarding their availability for statutory holidays. We recommend that parents have ongoing communication with the interventionists so they can anticipate days when their child will not have a session and can plan accordingly.

Yes, at the end of every month you will receive an itemized invoice for services received during the month from our accounting department. If you have any questions or concerns pertaining to an invoice please contact our Team Leader.

Our program offers services for school age children as well. As such, your child will not automatically be discharged from our services when he/she turns 6. Our consultant will assist the child in transitioning to the school and will discuss options of continuing services with our agency in our school age program.

Registered Autism Service Providers (RASP) consultants are required to complete a PRC annually in order to renew their RASP application.

If you hire behaviour interventionists from posAbilities they would have completed their PRC prior to being hired and are expected to complete one every 5 years. We recommend that privately hired behaviour interventionists complete a PRC before beginning services.

We encourage families to enjoy quality time together. We ask that a month’s notice is given when the family anticipates services to be on hold for short durations of time. For extended periods of absence please contact our team leader to discuss options so we can ensure your child’s program fidelity.