ABA Provider Comparison Worksheet for Families

This is a printable working tool. Print in landscape orientation or copy the tables into a document. Complete the family-priority sheet once, then fill one provider column after each call, tour, or written response. Keep dates, names, reference numbers, and documents with the worksheet.

Define your family's requirements first

A comparison starts with the child's life rather than a provider's sales materials. Mark each item Must have, Important, or Preference. A must-have is a condition without which the service would be inaccessible, unsafe, unaffordable, or unusable for your family.

The CDC autism information center describes wide variation among autistic people. A provider's fit therefore depends on the individual child's communication, health, preferences, support needs, and context. The CASP ABA Practice Guidelines public summary describes its 2024 third edition as guidance for planning, implementing, and evaluating individualized ABA assessment and treatment. The complete guideline requires licensed access and is not reproduced here.

Record the exact provider identity

Practice names can cover several legal entities, locations, programs, and clinician groups. Fill this page before comparing clinical answers.

Assessment capacity and treatment capacity deserve separate rows. A practice may have a clinician available to assess a child while lacking the BCBA capacity, direct-care staff, setting, or time block needed to start the recommended plan. Record a treatment estimate only when the provider explains the staffing assumptions behind it.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) says its Certificant Registry is updated daily and shows certification status and reportable disciplinary actions. Certification does not replace a state license when one is required. Verify both sources and record the date checked.

Use evidence and fit labels instead of a single total

A useful score shows what is known and what the family values. A search for “compare ABA providers checklist” can imply that every answer belongs in one total. Keep these three labels separate on every worksheet row:

• Priority: M for must-have, I for important, or P for preference.
• Evidence: W for written or independently verified, V for a verbal provider answer, U for unresolved, or C for conflicting information.
• Fit: F for fits, Q for a question remains, or D for does not fit.

Write the three symbols together, such as M/W/F for a verified must-have that fits. M/U/Q requires follow-up. M/W/D means the provider does not meet that family requirement unless circumstances change.

Do not add the symbols into one total. Ten preference-level conveniences cannot resolve one unknown about safety, credentials, communication access, staffing, network status, or affordability. Compare providers only after each must-have has written or independent evidence and a clear fit result.

Complete the clinical and operational comparison

Each row asks for a specific artifact, name, date, or process. Short claims such as “family-centered” or “highly supervised” stay unresolved until the provider explains what the words mean for this child.

Eligibility, access, insurance, and cost

HealthCare.gov directs Marketplace members to check the plan directory, call the insurer about specific providers, and call the provider's office. CMS also warns that provider directories are not always accurate. Use the exact member plan and confirm both sides. Network participation, covered benefits, prior authorization, and an available opening answer different questions.

CMS explains good faith estimate rules for people who are uninsured or will not use insurance for scheduled care. A provider usually must provide the estimate when the person requests one or schedules at least three business days ahead. Scope and timing depend on the circumstances. Families using insurance can still request a written provider estimate and confirm current cost sharing with the plan.

Clinical responsibility and supervision

The current BACB Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts applies to BCBA and BCaBA certificants and applicants, rather than to organizations as entities. It addresses competence, capacity when accepting clients, accountability for supervised work, performance monitoring, delegation, continuity, and transition. Supervision also varies with the child's plan, clinician judgment, credential rules, state law, payer requirements, and the staff member's competence. A universal observation frequency would hide those differences.

Goals, assent, communication, and methods

The BACB code calls for understandable explanations, client and stakeholder involvement, informed consent, assent when applicable, positive-reinforcement priorities, continual data review, and risk minimization. Its conditions for restrictive or punishment-based procedures do not create one universal prohibited-procedure list. Ask for the provider's exact policy and the state, payer, licensing, and review rules that govern the proposed care.

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association says people who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) should always have access to their communication tools or devices. Record what “access” means during active teaching, transitions, dysregulation, device charging, water activities, and repairs. An equally accessible backup matters when the primary system is temporarily unavailable.

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network's first-hand perspectives on behavioral interventions give families additional prompts about autonomy, communication, inclusion, goals, culture, and trauma-sensitive support. Use lived-experience sources alongside individualized clinical assessment.

Setting, schedule, family partnership, and coordination

Section 1557 applies to certain health programs and activities. For covered entities, HHS says communications with people with disabilities must be as effective as communications with others and appropriate auxiliary aids and services must be provided when necessary. Other disability-access laws may apply. Record the specific accommodation request and response rather than assuming every practice has the same legal coverage or resources.

Safety, privacy, progress, and transition

When a practice is a HIPAA covered health care provider, its Notice of Privacy Practices explains permitted information uses, privacy duties, individual rights, complaint routes, and a privacy contact. HIPAA does not cover every person or organization that handles health information. Ask which privacy rules apply, who can see recordings and records, and how the practice handles an access or correction request.

Pause for these unresolved red flags

A red flag calls for clarification, written evidence, escalation, or another option. It does not establish misconduct by itself.

• The practice will not identify the clinically responsible professional or provide credentials for verification.
• “We take your insurance” is the only network evidence, without the exact product, legal entity, location, clinicians when required, and ABA service.
• An early assessment appointment is presented as a treatment start while treatment staffing remains unknown.
• Staff plan to remove, withhold, or make access to the child's communication system contingent on performance.
• Goals emphasize appearance, quiet hands, eye contact, or compliance without a clear daily-life benefit chosen with the child and family.
• The provider cannot explain how staff respond to a request to stop, distress, withdrawal, or a safety concern.
• Proposed procedures, risks, alternatives, consent, stopping rules, or prohibited procedures remain unavailable in understandable written form.
• The practice guarantees clinical outcomes, insurance coverage, authorization, or an exact start date that depends on unverified conditions.
• Fees, cancellation terms, record access, privacy contacts, incident routes, or complaint routes stay unclear after follow-up.

Immediate danger, suspected abuse, or an acute medical problem needs the applicable emergency, protective-services, or medical route. An intake worksheet cannot assess or manage a crisis.

Track every promised follow-up

Move verbal answers into the evidence column only after the promised document or independent confirmation arrives.

Recheck information after a plan-year change, new location, different responsible BCBA, staffing change, revised schedule, or material treatment-plan change. Save the version of each document that supported the choice.

Synthetic comparison: two promising providers, two open gates

This fictional example shows how the worksheet prevents a quick total from hiding a practical barrier. Amari uses speech and a tablet AAC system. The family marks four must-haves: after-school sessions three days a week, AAC available throughout care, a location within 30 minutes, and confirmed participation in the exact employer-plan network.

Cedar has the stronger network evidence and the faster assessment, yet its current schedule does not fit. Harbor appears closer to a workable treatment path, with network and written communication-policy evidence still open. The family records Cedar as a current schedule mismatch and asks Harbor's plan for exact network confirmation. Harbor becomes ready for a decision only if those must-haves resolve and the assessment supports an appropriate service plan.

The worksheet compares provider readiness and family fit. It does not predict clinical outcomes, prescribe ABA, or replace an individualized assessment. Availability, credentials, state requirements, plan rules, and the child's needs can change.