Applied Behavioral Services

"At first when my daughter started ABS it was a great program, they brought her out of her shell and we learned to communicate more as a family. The last 5 years I noticed my daughter was not learning (education wise) and a lot self hurt, aggression and seen a lot of turn over in their staff, when my daughter started I was told before a “staff” member could have their own classroom they had to shadow for 6 months, while speaking with a “supervisor” I was informed they no longer did this. I removed my daughter due to self hurt with a lot of aggression which was very new and also being informed that ABS does not have actual teachers trained in education. Since my daughter has been out of the program we have had no instances of aggression or self hurt, she has actually opened up more expressed more wants and has become more verbal of things she wants and needs, I feel ABS was holding her back and towards the end was the cause of her aggression to herself and others, it is sad such a good program has gone down hill."

"I watched it cause significant regression and ptsd symptoms to an 8yr old nonverbal autistic child before my eyes. Before ABS: Compliant, verbally requesting items, well behaved, 100% potty trained, some self injurious, and having learning challenges During/After ABS: More meltdowns/outbursts, increased self injurious, talking ceased, multiple toileting accidents a week, no tangible progress. Aside from the stress the assessments were really the most telling of how incompetent they were. To be specific the IEP from public school was up to date and given to ABS before child started, the IEP said child knew his complete alphabet, however the intake at ABS said he knew NO letters. The outtake assessment 9 weeks later from ABS said he knew 10 letters but NOT his complete alphabet. A month after having that assessment child started back at public school and they assessed that he knew his complete alphabet upper and lower case!!! So…. In 9 weeks ABS couldn’t even see he knew all his letter?!?! Let alone help him start using them?! Now, 8 months since he left ABS, with the help of a neurophysiologist the same child has been able to type 13 characters a minute accurately!! And his memory was tested to be great for his age. Incredible!! No thanks to ABA. Autism means his brain is different so we learned what the differences were and began working with them. ABS is an OLD SCHOOL ABA provider. The director was trained at the Lovass center, Search “Screams, Slaps, and Love” and read about the initial study Olvar Lovass did to develop his ABA principals. When my husband and I questioned ABS’s methods they got defensive and “offended” that we dared to challenge their “clinical experience”. I so much wanted to have a positive experience, but the more I saw and learned the more concerns I had. I didn’t even know how bad it was until after we left and I put all the assessments side by side. The director we spoke with was quite intelligent and convincing at first, but upon more digging it felt more and more like it was all about money. As we were seeing decline they were asking for more money.… I expected better from people who claimed to be experts. Biggest tip we’ve learned is spend all energy on assisting nonverbal kids to spell and type autonomously to communicate!"

"Fantastic people"

"Great place of care for kids in need"

"Absolutely great place for children on the autism spectrum. They all take their jobs very seriously and legitimately care about their students."