Every child who starts ABA therapy with us gets a treatment plan written for that child. Not a template with a name typed at the top. Families on Oʻahu sometimes ask what "individualized" actually means in practice, so this is what it looks like at Golden Rule ABA, step by step.
It starts with an assessment, not a checklist
Before a single goal is written, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) spends time with your child. That means observing, connecting, and learning how your child communicates right now, with or without words, and what lights them up. It also means a real conversation with you about what matters most at home: mornings that go smoothly, a sibling who wants to play, a trip to the grocery store without a meltdown.
When a behavior is getting in the way, we want to understand why it happens before we try to change it. Our favorite tool for that is the IISCA, a practical and compassionate kind of functional analysis. The answer it gives us shapes the plan more than anything else.
Goals your family can recognize
A good plan reads like your child's life, not a clinical catalog. The goals in it might include:
- Asking for a break, a snack, or help in a way that works every time
- Following directions and cooperating with everyday routines
- Managing big emotions with fewer and shorter outbursts
- Playing with a sibling or a classmate
- Toileting, dressing, and other self-help skills
Every goal is written so we can measure it. That is not paperwork for its own sake. It is how we can show you, not just tell you, that your child is moving forward, and how we know when something in the plan needs to change.
You review it before anything starts
Your BCBA writes the plan with you, not for you. You read it, ask questions, add what we missed, and sign off before therapy begins. If a goal does not fit your family's priorities, it comes out. If something is missing, it goes in.
The plan follows your child, not the other way around
Therapy can happen in our Liliha Street clinic in Honolulu, in your home, or a mix of both. Many families choose in-home sessions in Aiea, Pearl City, Waipahu, Ewa Beach, Kapolei, Mililani, Kaneohe, or Kailua, so that skills are learned where your child actually uses them. The plan states where sessions happen and how parents take part.
Then the same Registered Behavior Technician (RBT) shows up session after session, building trust one visit at a time, while your BCBA supervises regularly and updates the plan as your child grows.
What the plan does not do
It does not promise a fixed number of hours before we have met your child. It does not copy goals from another child. And it does not stay frozen. Plans are reviewed on a regular schedule, and we have honest conversations with you when the data says a strategy is not working.
Getting started
If you are on Oʻahu and wondering whether ABA is right for your child, here is what the first weeks look like, from your first email to the first session. We are in network with AlohaCare, HMSA, HMSA Quest, Kaiser Permanente, Kaiser Permanente Quest, and TRICARE / TriWest, and private pay is also available.