Autism Behavioral Services are intended to improve the functional behavior of the enrollee by integrating multidisciplinary clinical and medical services with the behavioral treatment protocol to increase the enrollee’s adaptive functioning and communicative abilities.
Family training and counseling related to the implementation of Autism behavioral treatment is included as part of the service. The service goal is to ensure that the enrollee’s family is trained to successfully manage clinically designed behavioral modification strategies in the home setting. The family involvement in treatment is meant to increase the child’s adaptive functioning by training the family in effective methods of behavioral modification strategies.
The individual is eligible for behavioral treatment when all the following are met:
- The individual is medically stable and needs systematic behavioral treatment interventions to increase adaptive behavioral functioning and increase communication abilities. The individual requires treatment from one or more other disciplines to enhance and promote effective behavioral treatment.
- The individual’s treatment needs cannot be adequately met in the home setting unless family training effectively integrates the behavioral modification strategies that will be implemented so that successful treatment will include the family members and/or caregivers who are able to participate in the behavioral modification strategies.
- It has been documented that the individual would not achieve a demonstrable clinical improvement using traditional outpatient treatment modalities in a clinic setting.
To qualify for ABS, the individual must have demonstrated difficulties in three of the following areas:
- Demonstrates physical aggression, self-abuse with significant frequency, duration, intensity
- Demonstrates significant pragmatic communication deficits
- Demonstrates disruptive behaviors such as tics, elopement, repetitive or ritualized behaviors with significant frequency, duration, intensity
- Requires continued clinical oversight and services after being transitioned to the home from an out-of-home placement due to prior documented clinical and/or medical needs of the child