August 10, 2021

Parent Involvement Styles

With families often juggling work, children, and extracurricular activities, one may wonder how can one be involved in their child’s treatment while staying on top of everything else? There is no doubt that parent involvement is crucial to treatment success. There are various roles caregivers can take to feel involved without compromising their sanity.

As clinicians, we see two types of teachers:

Intentional teachers, who conduct daily teaching sessions in their home, and
Opportunity teachers, who will have to take advantage of opportunities that may present themselves through a routine, day, or weekend.

Whichever teaching style a parent selects will result with the same outcome: their child will gain when parents participate actively in shaping skills.

Simple things a parent can do if they tend to be working or out of the house during therapy times are:

Prepare snacks or reinforcers to use during session
Have stimuli or teaching material readily available for session (i.e., toys, arts and crafts, extra clothing, or toothbrush used during session)
Leave notes for behavior technicians or supervisors indicating skills the parent targeted outside of session or to report any new behaviors
Report any data they have collected.

Being involved in treatment doesn’t always mean that a parent needs to be present throughout the entire session: some parents choose to target specific skills, assist during tabletop lessons and/or during play sessions. So be involved in any way you can! Your child and clinical team will appreciate the support and consistency you can provide your child.

Elizabeth Gudiel, M.A., BCBA
Clinical Director, Salt Lake City

View Our Previous Blog Posts

September 8, 2026

7 Famous People with Autism Who've Shared Their Diagnosis

An autism diagnosis never determines your success. For many of the most creative, driven, and groundbreaking minds in history, it may have been the very thing that fueled it. An intense focus, pattern recognition, and a willingness to see the world differently are not limitations. They're superpowers. And when a person with autism is given the right support and space to grow, truly incredible things can happen.

September 8, 2026

What Is DRA in ABA Therapy? (Differential Reinforcement of Alternative Behavior)

Every time your child wants to play with a toy, they have big emotions until they get it. At school, when presented with difficult work, they might run away. These are all examples of behaviors your child might exhibit to serve a communicative purpose. They might need something or want your attention. Or maybe they just want access to an opportunity. Whatever the behavior might be—it works, so it continues. Sometimes, we as adults may reinforce these behaviors without realizing it.

September 8, 2026

The 7 Dimensions of ABA Therapy (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968)

What guides every intervention in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy?The 7 dimensions of ABA.Think of ABA therapy like a multi-dimensional figure. It has many angles, perspectives, and ways to evaluate it. That is exactly what the dimensions do. They give clinicians and families a complete way to see how well an intervention is working, from every angle.

September 8, 2026

Errorless Learning in ABA: How and Why Behavior Therapists Use It

In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, errorless learning is a way to teach new skills by giving the right amount of support from the very beginning.When your child with autism is learning something new, mistakes are part of the process. But for some kiddos, too many mistakes too quickly can feel uncomfortable, frustrating, or discouraging. The last thing we want is for your child to shut down, guess, avoid the task, or lose confidence before the skill has a chance to grow. That's where errorless learning can help.

September 8, 2026

Stimming and Autism: What It Is, Why It Happens, and When to Support It

Have you noticed your child rocking, flapping their hands, or making the same sounds on repeat?What you’re observing is called stimming. Stimming (short for self-stimulating behavior) refers to repetitive motions, sounds, or interactions with objects, and it’s far more common than you may think. In fact, close to 44% of people with autism engage in some form of stimming.

September 3, 2026

What Are the Benefits of Center-Based ABA Therapy? What Parents Should Know

If your child recently received an autism diagnosis, the next steps can feel exciting in some ways. Now, your child has access to all the support they need. But after that diagnosis comes a fresh set of questions, one of them being: what's the right next step? To help you understand if your kiddo is a good fit for center-based ABA therapy, we'll cover: the definition of center-based ABA, the benefits of center-based ABA, and the key differences between center-based and in-home ABA.