What to Ask Before a New ABA Teaching Procedure Starts

Ask for a plain-language walkthrough

Request the exact sequence from setup through completion. Ask what adults say or do, what materials are used, what response is expected, how long an opportunity lasts, and what happens after success, error, refusal, distress, or no response.

The CDC service-access page offers general service-navigation guidance. It does not validate an individual procedure.

Connect it to assessment and goals

Ask which assessment evidence and current goal support the procedure. Find out whether a simpler or less burdensome option was considered and why the clinician selected this approach.

The CASP ABA Practice Guidelines Version 3.0 public summary places implementation within individualized planning and evaluation. Its public page does not prescribe a particular teaching method.

Review prompts and consequences

Ask which prompts may occur, their intensity, how they will fade, and how errors are handled. Ask what the person receives or accesses after the response and whether the arrangement limits ordinary access to communication, relationships, activities, food, rest, or other needs.

Request examples of acceptable variation. Effective communication and accessible response forms should remain recognized.

Protect communication, choice, and withdrawal

The ASHA AAC portal says AAC users should always have access to their tools or devices. Identify the person's messages for yes, no, stop, help, break, pain, finished, and change.

Ask how staff respond to assent, dissent, distress, fatigue, or a request to leave. A procedure should never expand a staff member's scope or emergency authority.

Ask about risk and competence

The BACB Ethics Code addresses competence, assessment-based intervention, risk, restrictive procedures, documentation, data, consent and assent when applicable, and evaluation for covered certificants and applicants.

Ask who trains staff, checks implementation, observes the person, reviews side effects, and changes or stops the procedure. Medical, feeding, trauma, mental-health, or other specialized issues may need another qualified professional.

A fictional procedure review

Mae's family is fictional. A proposed procedure has 10 review fields. Eight are complete. Staff training and the early-review date remain open, so release readiness is 8 of 10, or 80%.

The clinical owner delays implementation, completes training, and schedules observation during the first week. The count describes readiness fields and does not establish that the procedure will be effective.

Define data and review

Ask what is measured for the learner, staff implementation, access, withdrawal, and unwanted effects. Request raw counts, denominators, dates, settings, and plan changes. Agree on when the family sees the information.

Before a new ABA teaching procedure begins, record the approved version, author, trained roles, materials, start date, review date, and stop conditions. Ask how the family reports a concern between reviews.

Ask to see the procedure in a low-pressure example

Request a demonstration using neutral materials or role-play when appropriate. The example should show instructions, wait time, prompts, reinforcement, error response, break response, data collection, and how the person ends the activity. It should never recreate danger, pain, severe distress, or an unauthorized restrictive event.

Ask staff to explain which parts must stay consistent and which can adapt to communication, setting, culture, or preference. Record the approved version so later changes remain visible.

Check implementation readiness

Confirm materials, communication, trained staff, supervision, setting, consent, payer conditions, and data forms before release. Ask how the supervisor checks fidelity and how an error is corrected without blaming the learner.

For caregiver participation, define whether the adult observes, practices, reports, or implements a step. Specify training and support. Family members should not discover a new assigned role during the session.

Plan for feedback between reviews

Give the child and family a direct contact and accessible way to report confusion, discomfort, access failure, or unwanted effects. Record who responds and how soon.

At review, compare learner outcomes, staff implementation, child feedback, family burden, and any change in context. A procedure can be implemented accurately and still need revision because the goal, fit, or effect changed.

Keep a version and training record

Save the procedure title, version date, clinical author, trained staff, training dates, materials, allowed variations, data form, and next observation. Ask how substitute or new staff become qualified. When a step changes, record the reason and effective date. The clinical record and staff instructions should show the same current version before implementation continues.

Before the first live use, verify that materials, communication, trained staff, supervision, and the current written procedure are all present in the planned setting.