ABA assessment (VB-MAPP, ABLLS-R)

An applied behavior analysis (ABA) assessment is a close look at your child's skills. Your Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) does it before writing a plan. It looks at your child's strengths, the skills they still need and anything that gets in the way of progress. It can include records, parent interviews, rating forms, watching your child and skills tests. The results go in writing and set the starting point for goals.

One skills tool is the Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Program (VB-MAPP). Another is the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills, Revised (ABLLS-R). The VB-MAPP covers 170 language and learning milestones in three levels, from birth to 48 months of typical development. The ABLLS-R reviews 544 skills in 25 areas, such as language, social, self-help and motor skills. These are skills most children learn before kindergarten. Both track which skills a child has, and neither one diagnoses autism.

The BCBA may ask about your child's history and routines and give you rating forms to fill out. They'll also watch your child play and ask them to try tasks, like naming objects or following directions. Parts of the assessment are repeated later to measure progress. Medicaid programs may require a standard tool for that. A single score from one test, such as an intelligence test, shouldn't decide on its own whether ABA continues.

• Which tools you'll use: Ask which skills assessment fits your child and why.
• The written results: Ask for a copy of the written summary and how it shapes the goals.
• When it's repeated: Ask when parts of the assessment will be done again to check progress.