QUESTIONS TO ASK IBI/ABA
 SERVICE PROVIDERS

The following is important information you need to ask private IBI/ABA service providers. Please ask all questions, add any of your own you can think of.  Be sure to include any questions that might be specific to your province/state/region/country. Write down all the answers and keep them to refer to for future reference. If you think we are missing anything, please email us at liz@deaknet.com.

1.       Do you require a full psychological assessment before implementing your program? If so:

a)      Can I use the assessment I already have from ______ (state clinic, be ready to read off a list of which tests were used in obtaining the diagnosis)?

b)      Who conducts the assessment? Psychologist, psychometrist, multi-disciplinary approach?

c)       If I have to use your psychologist to get an assessment, how much will it cost? Is there a wait list? If so, how long?

d)      What diagnostic tools (tests) do you use to conduct assessment?

e)      Ask for a copy of this assessment.

2.       Do you have a wait list for services? If so, how long? Do you provide any interim services for wait-listed families?

3.       What is the cost for your team to come into my home to do programming? Please provide breakdowns per staff member.

4.       Is there an income dependent sliding scale for those not able to afford full cost?

5.       Does the government fund you?  How much is funded?

6.       What age groups do you take?

7.       Do you set up the home program? Do you put together the programming binder and provide ongoing binder maintenance?

8.       Who is responsible for training materials, paper, storage, therapy items, etc?

9.       Is your staff responsible for cleaning up after the session?

10.   Do you require an adult to be present in the home while your staff is performing therapy?

11.   Are you agreeable to working as a team with SLP, OT and other professionals?

12.   How often do you hold staff meetings? Are they at my home? Who can I invite to attend?

13.   Please break down the services you provide and their costs. For example can you:

a)      Set up the home program so that I can run it myself?

b)      Provide training to myself and others?

c)       Train my staff?

d)      Have a mixture of your staff and mine?

e)      Provide a senior therapist to write programs and oversee only?

f)        Supervision by a psychologist?

g)      Video viewing?

h)      Regular assessments by this psychologist?

i)        Have a list of therapists I can hire to work with my child?

14.   If you are on a wait list for Ontario IBI Funding from Kinark, ask if they’ve been approved in the past for private funding, if so, how many times and who specifically approved them.

15.   What training do your therapists have? Your senior therapists? (Please be very specific i.e. – which courses, how long were they, who conducted the courses, where they local or out-of-town?)

16.   How often am I invoiced?

17.   Will your staff spend any time building rapport with my child?

18.   Do you supply a list of resources to governmentally funded agencies (i.e. Kerry’s Place, Geneva Centre) to families?

19.   Do you have a transition to school program? Do you work with the family on IEPs, IPRCs, behavioral plans etc?

20.   How many hours per week do you recommend to start?

21.   Do you use aversives? Do you use the word ‘no’?

22.   Who is responsible for writing the programs? What training do they have (if not covered in #11)?

23.   Do you work with children exclusively with ASD?

24.   How about co-morbid conditions such as seizure disorder? Is your staff equipped to recognize and work around this?

25.   Are they trained in what to do in a medical emergency?

26.   Do you help with life skills such as toileting, eating problems, dressing, bathing etc?

27.   Do you provide integration into the community program? A social skills program?

28. How closely do the senior therapist and/or program supervisor work with the therapists, teachers and parents?

29.   Are parents involved with the planning as part of the intervention team?

30.   Do you train parents how to do programming as well as how to generalize?

31.   Are parents welcome to observe therapy sessions? Can they videotape?

32.   What techniques do you use to manage challenging behaviors such as self-injury, aggression etc.?

33.   How long typically does it take for your agency and it’s representatives to return telephone calls?

34.   Please describe your program for communication and language development. Do you use a picture communication system, sign language or other kinds of systems? How do you determine what is best for my child?

35.   How do you evaluate a child’s progress and how often? How are the parents informed? Can you provide written updates?

36.   Do you come to the home or does the child come to you?

37.   Please provide references from other parents who’ve used your services?

1: August 12, 2002 

(c) BBB Autism – June 2002

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