Parents are not therapists—and they shouldn’t be expected to become therapists just because their child receives ABA.
The purpose of parent training in ABA therapy is to create a partnership between caregivers and clinicians so that useful strategies can fit into real family life.
At Nest ABA, parents bring expertise about their child. Clinicians bring behavioral and developmental expertise. Good caregiver collaboration brings those perspectives together.
What Does Parent Training Actually Look Like?
It might involve talking through a difficult bedtime routine.
It might mean practicing a new communication strategy.
It could involve helping a parent understand why a behavior is happening, discussing how to respond to a meltdown, or finding a realistic way to support independence during mornings.
It should not feel like a clinician handing parents a list of rules.
We Don’t Expect Families to Run Therapy at Home
Home should still feel like home.
Parents shouldn’t have to turn dinner, bath time, play, and bedtime into continuous therapy sessions.
Instead, clinicians can identify small opportunities to support skills within routines that already exist.
Parents Have Information We Need
Parents see their children when they’re tired, excited, sick, comfortable, overwhelmed, with siblings, at Grandma’s house, in stores, at restaurants, and everywhere in between.
That perspective is invaluable.
Parent training should therefore involve just as much listening as teaching.
Strategies Need to Work in the Real World
A strategy isn’t particularly useful if it only works when a BCBA is standing in the room.
We want families to leave parent-training conversations thinking:
“I understand why we’re doing this, and I can actually use it.”