FATHOM NORTHYou will probably tour an ABA clinic exactly once before deciding whether to hand them twenty-plus hours a week of your child's life. It's easy to spend that tour noticing the paint colors and the waitlist. These ten questions will tell you more.
Print this list. Bring it. Any clinic worth choosing will be glad you asked.
The ten questions
1."How many clients does each BCBA supervise?"
The BCBA is the clinician designing your child's program. If they're stretched across 15–20 kids, your child gets a thin slice of their attention. Ask for a number, not a vibe. A clinic that knows and states its caseload cap has thought about this. A clinic that says "it varies" hasn't — or doesn't want to tell you.
2."How much time will the BCBA actually spend with my child each week?"
Day-to-day sessions are usually run by an RBT (Registered Behavior Technician) with BCBA supervision layered on top. Ask how many supervision hours your child will get, and whether that's direct (in the room) or indirect (reviewing data). More direct supervision generally means faster problem-solving when something isn't working.
3."What happens when my child says no?"
This might be the single most revealing question. You're asking about assent — whether therapy proceeds only with the child's willing participation. Listen for answers about pausing, changing the activity, and reading the child's signals. Be cautious if the answer is only about "working through" refusal or pushing to compliance. (We wrote a whole guide on this — understanding assent.)
4."How do you decide what goals to work on?"
Good answer: a standardized assessment (tools like the VB-MAPP or ABLLS-R), plus your priorities as a parent, reviewed together before therapy starts. Weak answer: a generic goal list every child seems to get.
5."How will I see my child's progress?"
ABA runs on data. Ask to see a sample graph (with any identifying details removed). Ask how often you'll review data together. "You can ask anytime" is not a system. A scheduled monthly review is.
6."What's my role as a parent?"
Clinics that treat parents as team members build in regular parent training — not a handout, but coached practice. Clinics that treat parents as drop-off drivers will say something like "we handle everything" — which sounds convenient, but leaves you outside the team.
7."What's your staff turnover like, and how do you support RBTs?"
High turnover is common in this field, and every departure costs your child a relationship. No clinic has zero turnover; honest ones will tell you what they do about it — pay, supervision, mentorship, realistic schedules.
8."How do you handle challenging behavior, including restraint?"
You want to hear: prevention first, understanding why the behavior happens, and clear policies. Ask directly whether physical restraint is ever used, under what policy, and how parents are told. You are allowed to ask this bluntly.
9."How will you work with my child's speech therapist, OT, school, and doctor?"
Children don't live in one discipline. Ask whether the clinic coordinates with outside providers, how often, and whether that collaboration time is real or theoretical.
10."What does 'graduating' from ABA look like here?"
Ethical ABA plans for its own ending. Ask how they fade hours, what discharge criteria look like, and how they support the transition to school or fewer services. A clinic with no answer may have no plan to ever reduce hours.
Red flags, briefly
- Guaranteed outcomes or "recovery" language. Nobody can promise that honestly.
- Every child gets 40 hours, regardless of assessment. Hours should follow need.
- You're discouraged from observing sessions. You should be welcome, within reasonable structure.
- Nobody can name the assessment tools they use.
How to actually ask
You don't need to be adversarial. A simple script: "We're comparing a few providers and asking everyone the same questions — do you have ten minutes?" Take notes. Compare answers side by side. The clinic that answers plainly, admits trade-offs, and doesn't flinch at question 3 or 8 is telling you who they are.
That's this chapter.
Question three on your list — what happens when my child says no — deserves more than a paragraph, and the next chapter gives it a full explanation.