This is what you need when you hire a tutor or a junior therapist to work one on one with your child.
Some behavior consultants or agencies provide an ABA tutor to work with your child but a lot of the time, parents are left to their own devices to find and hire an ABA tutor.
Whether you are looking for a newbie to train or an experienced ABA tutor, it can be hard to know where to start a search.
To make your job easier, I’ve outlined the top resources to help you find the ideal ABA tutor.
Your Network
Let everyone in the autism community know that you are looking for an ABA tutor to work with your child.
Ask your behavior consultant/analyst, SLP, OT or anyone who is working with your child if they know someone who may be interested in the job.
Do you know other autism parents? ABA tutors working with their children may be looking for more work.
Talk to family members. Ask them if they know anyone that may be interested in working with your child.
Online Classifieds
Do research to find a local online autism forum where you can post a job ad for an ABA tutor. Experienced ABA tutors will know to look for job postings there.
Many parents and agencies use online classified websites such as Craigslist or Gumtree in their city to post the job under the education section. Most ABA tutors check these job listings.
Colleges and Universities
Do you live near a college or university?
If you do, you’re in luck.
A big number of ABA tutors are students that work part time while studying. Most colleges or universities have career or job postings for their students where you can post the job for free.
Look for students who are studying psychology, education, or pre-medicine. These students are more likely to be motivated to work with your child.
Here’s a great idea from a mom, Anna, that helped her to find an experienced and motivated ABA tutor:
Anna sent emails to professors of special education/ABA programs at her local university. They posted her email to students in their classes who were interested in children and special education.
She found the right match for her child after an interview when the students contacted her via email with their resumes attached.
Now that you know where to find an ABA tutor, you can have a say in who works with your child and make sure they are truly qualified.
About Catherine Pascuas
Catherine is the founder of Edx Autism.