Proud Moments ABA - Teaneck

Teaneck's ABA center is at 1 Degraw Ave. in Bergen County, with Angella Alexander as center leader and 551-363-3303 as the local number. It opens Monday through Friday from 8am to 7pm and closes Saturday and Sunday. New clients are being accepted with no waitlist.

Ages served run infancy through 21, and Proud Moments holds a BHCOE Award of Distinction. The center accepts Horizon, Aetna, Oxford and UnitedHealthcare, along with Medicaid, TRICARE, Cigna and Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Children on the autism spectrum get center-based Applied Behavior Analysis one to one. The process starts with an advocate taking family information and contacting the insurance carrier for authorization. A BCBA assesses the child and produces a comprehensive individualized treatment plan, then a matched BCBA and therapist team implements it. Complex skills are broken into smaller steps and taught with positive reinforcement in naturalistic settings, with a data-driven review process and senior clinician supervision behind it. Parent training and direct supervision of behavior techniques are included.

Programs address communication, including initiating and holding conversation. Social and emotional skills such as understanding social cues, following rules and taking turns are covered, and adaptive daily living skills are covered too. Older clients work on job competence skills. Therapy also reduces tantrums, self-injury and aggression when they interfere with development.