Con #1: Time and cost can be prohibitive
Children are usually advised to take as many hours of ABA each week as possible, ideally 40 hours. This amount of therapy is and can be prohibitive because of both the time and cost involved.
The problem is, many school districts don’t have the resources available to provide ABA for that many hours.Therefore, lots of children who are diagnosed with autism who do receive ABA treatment only receive them for a portion of the time suggested.
However, a child doesn’t need 40 hours of therapy for it to be effective. Programs of 20 hours per week (or less) can and are implemented with great results – although they might not be as immediate.
Con #2: Qualified therapists may be hard to find
Although the amount of training the majority of therapists receive is definitely a positive, on the other hand, many states and localities don’t have laws and regulations regarding licensing of ABA professionals.
Therefore, unfortunately, anyone can claim they are an ABA therapist.It’s up to the parents to be aware and to question a therapist’s qualifications, and it’s important to know that there is a Behavior Analyst Certification Board parents can check with to see if a certain therapist has gone through the necessary certification process.