Nobody explains these words when you first hear them. Here they are, without jargon, so you can follow every conversation about your child's care and ask better questions.
ABA Applied Behavior Analysis
The science of learning and behavior applied to teaching skills. In practice: breaking a skill into small steps, teaching each step, rewarding progress and measuring results with data.
BCBA Board Certified Behavior Analyst
The professional who evaluates your child, designs the treatment plan, supervises the team and adjusts goals. Requires a master's degree, supervised fieldwork and a national board exam.
BCaBA Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst
Bachelor's-level certified professional who works under a BCBA's supervision, helping implement and monitor programs.
RBT Registered Behavior Technician
The person who works one-on-one with your child in most sessions. Trained and certified, always supervised by a BCBA.
FBA Functional Behavior Assessment
A study of why a behavior happens: what triggers it, what maintains it, and what the child gets from it. Without knowing the why, you cannot teach a better alternative.
VB-MAPP Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program
An assessment tool that maps which language and learning milestones a child has reached, to set realistic goals.
ABLLS-R Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills
Another common assessment covering language, self-help, academic and motor skills.
AFLS Assessment of Functional Living Skills
Assessment focused on everyday independence: hygiene, home, school and community skills.
IEP Individualized Education Program
A legal document from the public school describing the supports your child receives to access the curriculum. Educational, not medical — it does not replace ABA therapy.
504 Plan Section 504 Accommodation Plan
A simpler school plan providing accommodations (extra time, seating, breaks) without specialized instruction.
CDE Comprehensive Diagnostic Evaluation
The full evaluation that documents the autism diagnosis. Insurers often request it to authorize services.
EAP Evaluation and Assessment Package
Term some plans use for the diagnostic documentation package required before authorizing ABA.
Prior authorization
The insurer's approval before services begin. We submit the assessment and plan, and follow up until it is approved.
Medical necessity
The documented justification that the service is needed for the child's health — the basis on which insurance approves ABA.
Prompting
Temporary help given so the child succeeds: a gesture, a word, physical guidance. The goal is always to fade it until the child does it alone.
Prompt fading
Gradually removing that help so the skill becomes independent. A skill that only works with prompts is not learned yet.
Reinforcement
Anything that follows a behavior and makes it more likely to happen again. It is not bribery: it is how all learning works, for children and adults.
Positive reinforcement
Adding something the child values after the desired behavior. The core tool of modern ABA.
Generalization
When a skill learned in one place works everywhere: at home, at school, with grandma, at the store. This is the real goal — not just performing in session.
Maintenance
Keeping a learned skill over time, after formal teaching ends.
Discrete Trial Training (DTT)
Structured teaching in short repeated trials: instruction, response, consequence. Useful for teaching new, specific skills.
Natural Environment Teaching (NET)
Teaching during play and daily routines, using what the child is already interested in. Looks like play — it is teaching.
Pairing
The first phase, where the therapist becomes someone fun and safe before demanding anything. If your child does not enjoy the sessions, learning stalls.
Mand
A request. Teaching a child to ask for what they want (with words, signs or a device) is usually the first and most life-changing goal.
Tact
Naming or labeling something in the environment — 'dog', 'red', 'hot'.
Echoic
Repeating what someone says. An early building block of spoken language.
Echolalia
Repeating words or phrases heard before. It is communication, not a defect — and it can be shaped into functional language.
AAC Augmentative and Alternative Communication
Systems that support or replace speech: picture boards, sign language, tablet apps. Research is clear: they do not delay speech, they often help it.
PECS Picture Exchange Communication System
A method where the child hands over a picture to request something. Often a first step toward speech.
Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP)
The written plan describing how the team will prevent, teach around and respond to a challenging behavior.
Baseline
Where your child starts, measured before teaching begins — so progress can be proven, not assumed.
Data collection
Recording what happens each session. It is what tells us whether the plan is working or needs to change.
Parent / caregiver training
Sessions where the team teaches you the same strategies. It is a covered part of the program and one of the strongest predictors of progress.
Telehealth
Sessions by secure video — useful for parent training, supervision and families far from the clinic.
Supervision
The BCBA's regular oversight of the RBT and the program. Required by ethics and by insurers, and it is what keeps quality high.
Still have questions?
There are no silly questions here. Our team explains everything in your language.
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