Home Based Behavioral Learning

What Makes Waypoint Different?

Note from the Founder

CLIMB Method

Why Waypoint?

Small Business Heart: Waypoint started small, in the heart of one businesswoman and mother who had struggled through autism therapy for her child and saw the opportunity to do better for other families. Waypoint has grown and will continue to grow to serve the needs of families in our practice, but we have always and will always keep a small business feel that has time for individual attention and focused care with compassion.

Agile and Responsive: Because we adhere to the ‘stay small’ strategy of care, we are able to respond quicker to needs and move faster through the process of getting your child to the start of therapy. We do not have a waitlist and we have the fastest onboarding process possible with a personal touch from every professional in our team. You can expect to be able to reach your team and get answers to your questions quickly and easily and that your team will respond with energy and eagerness to help.

Highest Standards of Professional Care: We know that the people who provide service to your child day in and day out are the changemakers, so we are meticulous about hiring only those therapists who meet the highest standards. Waypoint therapists are expected to not only be certified, degreed, and well trained, but are also expected to have chosen ABA as a profession and pursue that with the highest standards. We never consider candidates with entry level skills or who see this job as a babysitting position. We expect high quality medical professionals and only accept the best at Waypoint.

Professionally Preferred Environment: Speaking of our therapists, they love their job! We keep our turnover rate very low by making sure we treat our therapist like the professionals that they are, which includes the highest pay rate in the area, compensation for travel, and a work environment where therapists feel valued and successful. Waypoint therapists not only come to work for us and stay, but they recruit their friends to join us as well.

Over and Above: Our industry has a standard written by our certifying board and endorsed by the insurance companies that we are expected to follow, but we think of that as a minimum standard. Going over and above, we provide twice as much supervision of your case as is required and keep caseloads for our supervisors manageable, so that your child gets the attention they need to make progress.

Future Focused: We never stop thinking about the future; in fact, your child’s future as a functional independent adult is the first thing we think about. We design our programs from start to finish with progress towards independence in mind. That’s why we have a comprehensive plan across all settings, a standard of care that does not exist anywhere else and allows us to help your child meet benchmarks and milestones towards independence.

ABA is a scientific discipline that uses data collection to drive decision making for each individual’s behavior change. ABA Therapists create programs to target certain important behaviors, and use data to determine if progress is being made so that the program can be finely tuned to meet the individual needs of the client.

As a parent, the science of ABA matters to you. It matters not only because it works to make changes for your child, but because you the design of ABA allows you to have confidence in the process. A good ABA program will give you these assurances as a parent:

• You can be assured that the changes that are made are designed just for your child and will be meaningful to your child. There is not a ‘one-size-fits-all’ ABA program. Each ABA program is unique because each child is unique. ABA should apply principles to meet the individual challenges that are meaningful to you and your family.
• You can be assured that there are decades of scientific backing for the elements of an ABA program. It’s not just the latest fad in education or the next big idea that someone invented to publish a book. ABA is solid and secure and based on SCIENCE.
• You can be assured that the science part of ABA will track your child’s progress step by step. Think back to your last high school science class. You remember introducing variables and measuring the outcomes. ABA will do that, too. For parents (and providers) this is the most valuable and powerful component of ABA. If we say that something is or isn’t working, we aren’t using feelings or perceptions or responding to a really good day or really bad day. Decisions about what works and what doesn’t are based on collecting and analyzing data over a period of time, and includes understanding all the variables and making changes that point behavior change in the right direction.

Rights and Responsibilities of the ABA Parent

You might have figured out that ABA therapy is a commitment. It is a commitment to consistency and partnering with professionals to help guide your child’s development. ABA can also be a sacrifice. It is a sacrifice of your time and resources and your ideals about your parental interactions with your child.  If you are going to make that commitment and sacrifice, you need to understand your role and what you should expect from the process and yourself.

Rights of the ABA Parent

1. You have the right to have your program designed and overseen by a qualified professional. Typically, the professional overseeing the behavior change program will have earned a certificate that identifies them as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). You will not see your BCBA as much as you see your direct therapists, but the BCBA should be accessible and actively involved in the care of your child.
2. You have the right to an individually designed program with meaningful and precise goals. One of the hallmarks of ABA therapy that sets it apart from other treatments is that each client is treated for their specific needs based on an extensive assessment to identify the behavior changes that need to be made. The individualized program created for your child will contain goals that will make a positive impact on your child and your family and they should be goals that you agree are meaningful. Additionally, any behavior goals will be clearly defined, so that they can be measured objectively and changes can be tracked.
3. You have the right to have programming that includes consistent measurement to track progress and you will have regular access to understanding that progress. Data should be collected each and every time your child is in a session. That data will be used by the behavior analyst to track progress and make changes to the program, if needed. This data will be available for review by the parents at regular intervals, so that you can be aware of progress and make requests for program changes.
4. You have the right to be presented with extensive parent training. You should expect to be highly involved in the therapy programming of your child. Through observation, one-on-one practice, and other guidance, your care professionals will help you learn the techniques and tools you need to maximize the learning opportunities for your child.
5. You have the right to ask questions and clearly understand the goals, process, and progress of your child’s program. ABA is a practice that is full of jargon and terms that don’t necessarily make sense at first glance. Your care professionals should be able to explain the choices they have made and the way they plan to go about those choices in a way that makes sense to you.

Responsibilities of the ABA Parent

1. You are responsible to ensure that your child receives the recommended dose of ABA. ABA professionals will make a recommendation based on your child’s needs and goals as to what level of ABA treatment will most effectively meet these goals. It is your responsibility to ensure that your child receives all of the treatment hours prescribed, just as you would ensure that your child receives all of a medicine that is prescribed.
2. You are responsible to participate in parent training and implement the things you learn at home with consistency. Consistency is key in effective ABA therapy. Your role in the therapy process is to learn as much as you can about what makes the optimum learning environment for your child and continuing that at home.
3. You are responsible to collect data and implement protocols at home. Helping your care professionals to make qualified and informed decisions is a team effort. You are responsible to collect data for your team when asked and implement protocols at home that are effective.
4. You are responsible to work collaboratively with your ABA team members. Trusting others to direct the care of your child can be very vulnerable. There may be times when you feel like things are not going the way you wanted or expected. This is the best time to talk to your care provider and allow their expertise to help guide you. Sometimes their professional guidance may not be what you expected, but it is best if you can listen with an open mind to their suggestions and work together to find a solution that meets your goals.
5. You have a responsibility to proactive and patient. It is important to be open with your therapy team when you feel that something isn’t working or needs to change, but it is just as important to be patient. Your child is an individual with thoughts, feelings, strengths, weaknesses and wants that cannot be overlooked or underestimated. ABA is a science with methods to follow, but therapy should not be applied without individual consideration. Getting to know your child, understanding their needs, and analyzing those needs to implement behavior change takes time and requires patience.