Elevate ABA

🤗MODELING

Modeling is the best teaching method for AAC. Being able to see the AAC being used in real life scenarios as they occur is the most natural and strongest way to make those connections.

Research shows that young children hear about 125,000 words per week, needed to develop their language skills. Well… typically AAC users are only accessing 24,000 words per week which was reported as a high estimate.

In order for our AAC users to become proficient in their language use, we must MODEL MODEL MODEL!!📱💻

Reach out to learn more!!

Meet Bethany🥳

⭐️How long have you been with Elevate?
4 months

⭐️What is the best advice you ever received?
If you’re the smartest person in the room, go to another room. There is always something more to learn.

⭐️Tell us about your career path
I stumbled upon ABA therapy when I did an internship for my counseling degree. I absolutely loved working with the kids and learning something new every day. I was an RBT for 5 years prior to deciding I wanted to be a BCBA. I’ve been in a BCBA role for 3 years now and loving every bit of the journey. My hope is to one day become a clinical director and share my love and passion for helping children with autism with my whole team.

⭐️What do you love most about what you do?
There’s never a day that I don’t laugh or smile when I’m at work.

⭐️What’s a fun fact about you?
After hours, I’m a fitness instructor. I was born to entertain but a fitness studio was the only place that gave me a microphone😂

🚩Red Flags for ABA🚩

❗️At the end of the day, our goal is to teach caregivers the skills and tools needed to take on anything and manage their child’s behavior. If we don’t allow them into sessions, we are not aiding in the long-term goal.

❗️Hand-over-hand prompting does not align with the assent based model and in most cases, there is a less intrusive prompt you could use that would be successful.

❗️Earning a sensory break does not teach our clients to recognize their body’s needs in the moment and communicate them. Those essential needs are not things that should be withheld and earned. Imagine if you were in a room with a glarring bright light that made an unbearable noise and you couldn’t just ask to leave, you had to “earn” it.

❗️Therapy goals should not work to repress stimming behaviors. Stimming is our clients’ way of regulating and coping with different feelings and emotions (i.e. being nervous or anxious, excited, over or under-stimulated, etc.). Repressing these behaviors is harmful!

❗️Relying so heavily on tokens and rewards doesn’t set our clients up for the real world contingencies and the natural environment. There should be a solid mix with play and naturalistic-based interventions.

To learn more, head to www.elevate-aba.com!

⭐️ Behavior Is Communication

All behavior occurs to get a need met. Once we are able to recognize what need our child is trying to meet, we can teach them the communication skills to replace those undesirable behaviors (like hitting or crying) with the words that achieve the same need.

With time and practice, the words will become easier than those behaviors and they will begin to communicate their needs on their own instead of exhibiting those behaviors!

Reach out to learn more!!

Meet Lexi🤗

⭐️How long have you been with Elevate?
I’ve been with Elevate since its inception. Melissa, Aaron, and I have been working behind the scenes on creating Elevate since the end of 2022.

⭐️What is the best advice you ever received?
 “Don’t set yourself on fire to keep others warm.”

⭐️Tell us about your career path
I found the field of ABA while doing my student teaching rotation during undergrad at UT 🤘I found it fascinating and went on to get my masters in Autism and Developmental Disabilities. After passing my BCBA exam, I worked for an amazing company for about 4 years. I met Melissa and Aaron at this job while working with their incredible son, Ace. After we both moved on to other companies, they reached out to me about starting Elevate together… and here we are!

⭐️What do you love most about what you do?
I love being there for the “firsts”— a client’s first word, first time using the toilet, first time eating a new food, etc.

⭐️What’s a fun fact about you?
I could watch How I Met Your Mother over and over again and never get sick of it.

Get in touch today to schedule your tour or reserve your spot for the new year!! 📢

🎄The holiday season is full of fun and family time yet we find our kids melting down more than usual and wonder WHAT IS HAPPENING!?

🧠Think about it from your toddler’s perspective. Toddler brains love and thrive off of stability, routine, and being able to anticipate what’s coming next.

☃️Holidays, while fun and exciting, can be overwhelming for our toddlers where they are thrown into days filled with unknown.

📝The key to avoiding meltdowns is PREP!

☑️Whatever you will be doing that is out of the normal routine, prep your child by talking through the day with them. The more details the better! Visuals are also a great tool that can help them understand the new things you are describing.

🎅🏻“Tomorrow we are going to wake up and eat breakfast, go in the car and drive to grandmas, then we will open presents at grandmas house, eat dinner, and drive home and go to sleep!”

📢Provide lots of reminders and repeat this new schedule to them often.

☺️A tip for parents during these crazy times is although prep is extremely helpful, lower your expectations a bit and expect that these meltdowns are going to happen and give yourself some grace!!

Follow along for more parenting tips and reach out to learn more on our Parent Training Academy program!

Did you know that the connections in a child’s brain are most adaptable in the first 3 years of life?
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Starting ABA therapy during the early developmental stages can yield remarkable results in a child’s growth and learning. It lays a solid foundation for their future success and can even change their developmental path. Early intervention is proven to be more effective than when provided later in life.
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So, if you asked us whether ABA therapy is most effective when started at a young age, we’d say: TOTALLY!⁠
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At Elevate ABA, we specialize in tailored ABA therapy for toddlers and kids aged 6 and under. We’re passionate about kickstarting progress, maximizing potential, and ensuring every child receives the support they deserve.⁠
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Curious to learn more about our specialized ABA services? Send us a message and let’s connect!

Schedule a tour.

SHARE AND FOLLOW DFW

Happy to help!

On behalf of our United Rocks climbers, profound thanks to Elevate ABA for supporting our upcoming fundraiser. You are making it possible for us to hold this event that will enable us to continue and grow in 2024. We count you as an exceptional friend to United Rocks!

Elevate ABA was founded by the parents of an autistic child, Melissa and Aaron Rocha. Their son, Ace, was diagnosed with autism, ADHD, and sensory processing disorder at age 3 in 2018.

After that diagnosis came the whirlwind of trying to get him into all the necessary therapies. They struggled to find an ABA company that really shared their family's values and the goals and dreams they had for their son. This is where the idea for Elevate began.

Soon after, they met their BCBA, Lexi. Lexi's philosophy encompassed family-focused ABA, where the whole family unit was involved in therapy. Lexi always believed family participation was crucial to her clients' success and that those families who were heavily involved in therapy yielded much more efficient results than those families who did not participate.

Together, the Rochas and Lexi created Elevate ABA. Our mission is to provide the highest quality ABA therapy with a family focus at its core. This means our families will receive the ongoing support, training, and tools needed to elevate their lives and take on anything autism throws their way!

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6501 Preston Rd Plano Tx

We are here for you! 🤝
Reach out today to schedule your free consultation and see if Elevate is right for your family!

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6501 Preston Rd Plano TX 75024

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✨CHOOSING A PROVIDER✨

It can be an overwhelming process to choose an ABA company that is the best fit for you and your child. Nobody knows what is best for your child more than you, so look for a place that feels like home.

Here are some tips:

📝Your BCBA should be someone you see weekly and can contact directly.

📗The RBTs working with your child should be receiving ongoing education in addition to the weekly hands-on coaching and training with the BCBA during supervision sessions.

📈Your ABA Company should provide and review with you your child’s progress in the form of ongoing data. Progress reports should be shared with all the data collected for each goal that’s been mastered, is currently in acquisition, and all behavior reduction goals. Remember, in ABA, data drives all decisions so you have the right to see and understand the data so that you can be an equal partner in decision making for your child.

👭Collaboration is key! It takes a village and everyone across fields should be working together for your child’s success!

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦You want an ABA provider that requires caregiver involvement and takes it seriously! What is the point of your child learning all these wonderful skills if they then come home and don’t exhibit any of those skills and behaviors for you? Your involvement and participation is critical to both the child and whole family’s success.

✅ABA should always be reinforcement focused as opposed to using punishment. Research has shown that positive reinforcement is much more effective in behavior change than punishment and the side effects that stem from it. If an ABA company mentions using punishment based procedures… run.

🤗Most importantly, is your child happy and having fun? It is so important to remember that your child is a child. And although they may be needing 30+ hours of therapy per week, that therapy should be fun. Your child should want to go to therapy and enjoy time spent there. Yes, they are learning hard things but these difficult skills should be embedded seamlessly into play and mimic the natural world and not consist of sitting at a table learning from flashcards all day.

Reach out today to learn more about Elevate’s ABA program!

Join us for Toddler Tuesday fun at WRTS!! 🐷🐐🐴🐓🐖🐄🚜

TRICK OR TREAT!!🎃👻🧛‍♂️💀🦇🍭🖤