Frequently Asked Questions

What is Applied behavior analysis?

ABA is the science of applying experimentally derived principles of behavior to improve socially significant behavior. ABA takes what we know about behavior and uses it to bring about positive change (Applied). Behaviors are defined in observable and measurable terms in order to assess change over time (Behavior). The behavior is analyzed within the environment to determine what factors are influencing the behavior (Analysis). Applied behavior analysis contributes to a full range of areas including: AIDS prevention, conservation of natural resources, education, gerontology, health and exercise, industrial safety, language acquisition, littering, medical procedures, parenting, seatbelt use, sports, and zoo management and care of animals. ABA-based interventions have gained recent popularity in the last 20 years related to teaching students with autism spectrum disorders. Verbal behavior, pivotal response training, positive behavior support, Lovaas method, discrete trial techniques, and incidental teaching are all included under the ABA heading.

What is a BCBA?

Individuals who wish to become Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA's) must possess at least a Masters Degree, and have 225 classroom hours of specific Graduate-level coursework:

  • Ethical considerations – 15 hours
  • Definition & characteristics; Principles, processes & concepts - 45 hours
  • Behavioral assessment and Selecting intervention outcomes & strategies - 35 hours
  • Experimental evaluation of interventions - 20 hours
  • Measurement of behavior and Displaying & interpreting behavioral data - 20 hours
  • Behavioral change procedures and Systems support 45 hours
  • Discretionary – 45 hours
  • Meet experience requirements (1500 BCBA supervised hours):
    • Conducting assessment activities related to the need for behavioral interventions
    • Designing, implementing, and monitoring behavior analysis programs for clients, overseeing the implementation of behavior analysis programs by others
    • Other activities normally performed by a behavior analyst that are directly related to behavior analysis such as attending planning meetings regarding the behavior analysis program, researching the literature related to the program, talking to individuals about the program; plus any additional activities related to oversight of behavioral programming such as behavior analyst supervision issues, or evaluation of behavior analysts' performance. The supervisor will determine if activities qualify.
    • Pass the Behavior Analyst Certification Examination. BACB certificants must accumulate continuing education credit to maintain their credentials. Please visit BACB.com for more information.

Who do you serve?

SAIL is an early intervention group, therefore, we accept new children into the project from ages birth through five years old. Our intervention typically lasts between two and three years, depending on the child. If needed, we can continue to serve a child by focusing on parent training and school consultation, in an increasingly limited way, until seven or eight years old.

We, typically, serve children within forty-five minutes to an hour drive of Nashville. Due to our requirement of your consultant seeing your child at least once per week and for team meetings, any longer drive makes it difficult for us to serve you as well as we’d like.

How do we start?

SAIL interventions follow the standard “team” format in the ABA field. Due to the intensive and comprehensive nature of our intervention, a consultant typically runs and manages a “team” of individuals working with your child. Our staff will make up part of your team (consultants and tutors), but it is common to need additional people to provide the recommended number of intervention hours.

To organize a team for a child, you should have at least 3 to 5 people interviewed and selected for the team. Some effective methods for identifying potential team members are through local colleges, churches, running advertisements in the paper, public schools, accessing existing tutors from other ABA teams, friends, and family. Once you have chosen the members of your team, have them spend some time with you and your child. It is also helpful if you and your team members have read:

  • Let Me Hear Your Voice, by Catherine Maurice
  • Teaching Individuals with Developmental Delays: Basic Intervention Techniques, by Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas
  • Behavioral Intervention for Young Children with Autism, edited by Maurice, Green and Luce
  • Making a Difference: Behavioral Intervention for Autism, edited by Maurice and Green
  • A Work in Progress, edited by Leaf and McEachin
  • Overcoming Autism, by Lynn Kern Koegel and Claire LaZebnik
  • Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities, edited by Jacobson, Foxx, and Mulick

You can order these books through most local bookstores.

What is a team meeting?

A team meeting is a monthly or bi-monthly time that the whole team gets together and reviews teaching programs/data, practices with the child, and discusses any concerns, new ideas, or successes. The team meeting should last no less than one hour. Meetings may be scheduled more frequently for new teams and reduce in number as the team and child become accustomed to the therapy sessions. If a team member cannot attend the team meeting time, we recommend that they discontinue working with the child. These meetings are crucial to the success of the child’s intervention and are not optional.

Does SAIL collaborate with other professionals?

We would love to, as often as possible!

It is our preference to be able to collaborate with all professionals on your child's team and would encourage and support any classroom involvement. Some school districts and professionals share and support this vision. In those cases, SAIL staff is available to observe, collaborate, consult, train, and/or provide your child with support in the classroom, and other settings, on an on-going basis.

How do you decide what to teach?

All of the children’s interventions are individualized. We do not follow one book or a predetermined set of sequences. Your child’s intervention will depend on your goals and needs, the number of hours of intervention they will be receiving, their age, IFSP or IEP goals, our input, and will be guided by the ABLLS assessment and early childhood curriculums.

What is the ABLLS?

The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills - Revised (ABLLS-R) by James W. Partington, Ph.D., BCBA.

The ABLLS-R is an assessment, curriculum guide, and skills tracking system for use with children who have autism or other developmental disabilities. It allows you to identify deficiencies in language, academic, self-help, and motor skills and then implement and monitor individualized intervention.

Appropriate for children 3 to 9 years of age, the ABLLS-R includes two components: the Assessment Protocol and the Scoring Instructions and IEP Development Guide.

The Protocol provides precise, criterion-referenced information about a child's existing skills and the conditions under which the child uses these skills. It also identifies weaknesses which prevent the child from learning new skills, taking into account the child's motivation to respond, ability to attend to complex environmental stimuli, ability to generalize skills, and tendency to spontaneously use those skills. Once you have recorded the child's scores, you can use the Protocol to develop an individualized curriculum with concrete, actionable educational objectives. The skills tracking grid included in the Protocol allows you to observe and document the child's progress in acquiring targeted skills. It provides explicit criteria for the completion of each objective.

Do you accept insurance or TnCare?

We would love to and we try very hard to walk through this process with you. We have all necessary codes and numbers to complete this process, but cannot control or predict each specific insurance situation.

Due to the nature of insurance companies and billing turnaround time, you will be responsible for paying your SAIL bill upon receipt. SAIL will then submit a bill to your insurance company. When and if we are paid for these services, you will receive reimbursement for whatever portion your insurance company covered. More information can be found here.

Can we speak with some of the families that are working with you?

Of course, but for confidentiality's sake, we cannot list names and numbers here. If you contact us, we will be happy to pass your information on to them and they will contact you.

Do you have a wait list?

We try very hard not to have one. If we do have wait list, we will refer you to other qualified individuals in the area. When your name comes up on our list, you can decide if you’d like to continue with them or move to us.

Let me explain how our list works if we have one:

To waste as little time as possible driving around and reduce travel costs to our families, we decided to go to a zone defense. A consultant is given a certain area to serve, say Dickson County and Nashville, Robertson County and Nashville, or Williamson County and Nashville. When you contact us, you will be placed on the list in your county. So, for example, you maybe be fifth on the entire wait list, but first in your county. When a consultant has an opening, we look to the counties they serve and contact the first person in that county. Typically, we give that family a couple of weeks or 3-4 contact attempts before moving to the next person on the list. Sometimes we have to move to the next person on the list - even if there is an opening in that county - if your child’s schedule does not match the consultant’s open time slots. For example, if the consultant has mornings open and your child is in school in the mornings. You would always have the option of changing or modifying your child’s schedule before we move to the next family.

We recently hired new staff and moved to the zone defense, which is helping to keep any wait list we might have to a minimum.

Do you have a center?

No, we do not have a center. We considered it for a time, but since we go where the children need us (home, preschool, elementary school, soccer, church, restaurants, Target, the zoo, the movies, etc.) a center seemed like a very expensive toy closet. We decided that rent, insurance, utilities, etc., were costs we didn’t need to pass on to our families. Now our cars are just very expensive toy closets!