ABA comes with a lot of letters. In your first few weeks you may hear BCBA, RBT, FBA, BIP, DTT, NET, VOB and prior auth, sometimes in the same sentence. This glossary explains each term in plain English, including the insurance and Florida school terms that national glossaries leave out. Keep it open during your intake calls. A Spanish version is in our glosario de términos de ABA.
Who are the people on an ABA team?
- ABA (applied behavior analysis): A science-based way of teaching skills and reducing behavior that gets in the way, by studying what happens before and after a behavior and changing the environment. Florida's insurance law defines it in Fla. Stat. 627.6686(2)(a), including "direct observation, measurement, and functional analysis."
- BACB: The Behavior Analyst Certification Board, the national nonprofit that certifies BCBAs, BCaBAs and RBTs and publishes the ethics code they follow. Florida does not issue its own behavior analyst license; it recognizes this certification (Fla. Stat. 393.17).
- BCBA (Board Certified Behavior Analyst): A graduate-level certification. BCBAs assess your child, write the treatment plan, supervise RBTs and train parents. BCBAs do not diagnose autism.
- BCBA-D: An optional designation for BCBAs who also hold a qualifying doctoral degree.
- BCaBA (Board Certified Assistant Behavior Analyst): An undergraduate-level certification. A BCaBA works only under a BCBA's supervision and may supervise RBTs.
- RBT (Registered Behavior Technician): A paraprofessional certification. RBTs deliver most direct sessions under close supervision. Applicants must be at least 18, have at least a high school education, complete 40 hours of training and a competency assessment, and pass an exam.
- Supervision: Required oversight of an RBT's work. The BACB requires supervision of at least 5 percent of an RBT's service hours each month, with at least two real-time contacts.
- Clinical director: The senior clinician who oversees programs. At Hope Center, the clinical director reviews every plan before it goes to insurance.
- Caregiver (parent) training: Sessions where the BCBA teaches you the strategies used in therapy so you can use them at home. Most insurers require it as part of the plan.
- Stakeholder: The BACB's word for people other than the client who are affected by services, such as parents, teachers and funders.
For a side-by-side look at the roles, see BCBA vs RBT vs BCaBA. You can check anyone's certification for free on the BACB's online registry.
What do the clinical terms in my child's plan mean?
- Assessment: The BCBA's evaluation of your child's skills and behavior, using interviews, observation and standardized tools. It sets goals and recommended hours.
- Standardized assessment: A published test with norms or set scoring, such as the Vineland-3, ABAS, VB-MAPP or ABLLS. Insurers ask for one at the start and again at reviews.
- FBA (functional behavior assessment): A process for finding the purpose (function) of a behavior, for example getting attention, escaping a task, getting an item, or sensory input, so a plan can teach a better way to meet that need. See our FBA guide.
- Functional analysis: A more formal, controlled test of what maintains a behavior, done by a BCBA under careful conditions. It is one method within an FBA, not the same thing.
- Function: The reason a behavior keeps happening. Common functions are attention, escape, access to items or activities, and sensory (automatic) reinforcement.
- ABC data: Notes on the Antecedent (what happened just before), the Behavior, and the Consequence (what happened right after). The basic building block of an FBA.
- Antecedent: Anything that happens just before a behavior: an instruction, a noise, a transition, a person leaving.
- Antecedent-based intervention: Changing what happens before a behavior to prevent it, such as giving a warning before a transition or offering choices.
- BIP (behavior intervention plan): A written plan based on an FBA that says how to prevent a behavior, what to teach instead, and how adults should respond. See BIPs explained.
- Replacement behavior: The safer or more useful skill taught to meet the same need, such as asking for a break instead of throwing materials.
- FCT (functional communication training): Teaching a child a way to communicate the need behind a behavior, with words, signs, pictures or a device.
- Reinforcement: A consequence after a behavior that makes the behavior more likely in the future. Positive reinforcement adds something the child values; negative reinforcement removes something unpleasant. Read reinforcement is not bribery.
- Differential reinforcement: Reinforcing one behavior (such as asking politely) while not reinforcing another (such as yelling).
- Extinction: No longer giving the reinforcement that kept a challenging behavior going. A short-term increase, called an extinction burst, can happen first and should be planned for.
- Prompt and prompt fading: Help given so a child can succeed (a gesture, a model, a hint, physical guidance), then reduced step by step so the child does the skill independently.
- DTT (discrete trial training): Structured teaching in short, repeated trials: an instruction, the child's response, a planned consequence, and a short pause. See DTT vs NET.
- NET (natural environment teaching): Teaching inside play and daily routines, following the child's interests. Research calls related approaches naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions (NDBI).
- Task analysis and chaining: Breaking a routine like handwashing into small steps and teaching them in order.
- Generalization: Using a skill with different people, places and materials, not just with the therapist.
- Maintenance: Keeping a skill over time after teaching stops.
- Mastery criteria: The rule for when a goal counts as learned, for example correct on 80 percent of chances across three sessions.
- Assent: A child's willingness to take part, shown with words or behavior, from someone too young to give legal consent. The BACB ethics code requires behavior analysts to obtain assent "when applicable." See assent-based ABA.
- Comprehensive vs focused ABA: Comprehensive programs target many areas at once, usually for young children, at more hours. Focused programs target a few goals at fewer hours. Insurers define the ranges.
- Fading and discharge plan: The written plan for reducing hours and ending services as goals are met. Insurers such as Cigna require it.
What do the insurance terms mean?
- VOB (verification of benefits): A call to your plan to confirm whether ABA is covered, whether prior authorization is needed, and your deductible, copay and coinsurance. Hope Center does this for free.
- Prior authorization: Your plan's approval before services start. Most plans require it for ABA treatment. Florida requires insurers without an electronic process to use a standard state form (Fla. Stat. 627.42392).
- Medical necessity: The plan's test for whether a service is needed and appropriate for your child, set out in its medical policy.
- Reauthorization: Renewed approval, usually about every six months, based on progress data.
- Treatment plan: Under Florida's mandate, it must include a diagnosis, treatment by type, frequency and duration, goals, how often it will be updated, and the treating physician's signature (627.6686(7)).
- Deductible, copay, coinsurance: Your share of costs: the amount you pay before the plan pays, a flat fee per visit, and a percentage of each bill. A provider cannot make a practice of waiving them (Fla. Stat. 817.234(7)(a)).
- Out-of-pocket maximum: The most you pay in a plan year for covered in-network care, after which the plan pays in full.
- In-network: A provider with a contract with your plan. Out-of-network care usually costs you more or is not covered.
- EOB (explanation of benefits): The statement your plan sends after a claim. It is not a bill. ABA claims use CPT codes 97151 through 97158. See ABA billing codes on your EOB.
- Geller Act: Florida's autism insurance law (Fla. Stat. 627.6686 and 641.31098), requiring certain group plans to cover ABA and other therapies for autism and Down syndrome. Read the Geller Act guide.
- Fully insured vs self-funded: A fully insured plan buys coverage from an insurer and follows Florida insurance law. A self-funded plan pays claims itself and follows federal law (ERISA) and its own plan document, so the Geller Act does not apply.
- TPA (third-party administrator): A company that runs a self-funded plan for an employer, such as UMR.
- Appeal and external review: If a claim or authorization is denied, you can ask the plan to reconsider (internal appeal), and in many cases ask an independent reviewer (external review).
What are the Florida school terms?
- ESE (Exceptional Student Education): Florida's name for special education in public schools.
- Child Find: The legal duty to find and evaluate children who may have disabilities. In Florida, school districts evaluate children from age 3; Early Steps serves children from birth to 36 months.
- Evaluation timeline: In Florida, an initial evaluation must be completed within 60 calendar days after the district receives parent consent, with some days excluded (Rule 6A-6.0331).
- ASD eligibility: School eligibility for ESE under Rule 6A-6.03023. It is a school decision, separate from a medical diagnosis, and the evaluation must include an FBA when behavioral concerns are present.
- IEP (individual educational plan): The written plan for a student's special education, goals and services.
- 504 plan: A plan giving accommodations to a student with a disability under federal civil rights law, without specially designed instruction.
- Manifestation determination: A meeting within 10 school days of a decision to change a student's placement for discipline, to decide whether the behavior was caused by the disability (Rule 6A-6.03312).
- Private instructional personnel: Under Fla. Stat. 1003.572, BCBAs, RBTs and other private providers that parents hire may observe, collaborate and provide services in public schools, with teacher and principal consent to time and place.
- FES-UA: The Family Empowerment Scholarship for Students with Unique Abilities, a Florida scholarship whose allowed uses include ABA from approved providers. Families apply through Step Up For Students. Ask any provider directly whether it is approved.
How do I use this glossary with my child's team?
You do not need to learn every word. A few habits help:
- Ask for the plain version. It is always fine to say, "Can you say that without the abbreviation?" Good clinicians are used to it.
- Ask for the goal behind the term. If the plan says "DTT for receptive identification," ask what your child will be able to do at home when the goal is met.
- Keep a page of your own notes. Write the terms your team uses most, with an example from your child's sessions.
- Bring the insurance terms to every call with your plan. Asking "Is prior authorization required for 97151?" gets a faster, clearer answer than "Do you cover ABA?"
Starting out? Our new families page explains Hope Center's intake steps, and we are happy to explain any term on the phone at 561-337-8865. We speak English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Bengali and Russian.