ABA and adaptive skills training do different jobs, and different places pay for them. ABA works on behavior that gets in the way, and health insurance or Medi-Cal usually pays. Adaptive skills training teaches the skills of daily life, like dressing, cooking, money and getting around, and your Regional Center pays. Choose ABA when behavior is what stops the day. Choose adaptive skills training when your child can do a lot but still can't run their own day. Many families have both.
We provide adaptive skills training, not ABA, so weigh this page with that in mind.
| What to compare | ABA | Adaptive skills training |
|---|---|---|
| What it works on | Behavior that gets in the way, plus talking, play and learning | Daily living: dressing, washing up, cooking, money, getting around |
| Who pays | Usually health insurance or Medi-Cal, and your plan's copays can apply | Your Regional Center, so your family pays $0 |
| Who comes | Mostly a behavior technician, with a behavior analyst writing the plan | A trainer with a bachelor's or master's degree |
| Where it happens | A clinic, your home or school | Your home, and the places the skill gets used |
| Hours a week | Often 10 to 25 for a few goals, 30 to 40 for a full program | Set by your Regional Center after an assessment at home |
| Ages | Any age, but Medi-Cal pays for it only under 21 | Age 3 and up, with no upper limit |
| How to start | A doctor or psychologist recommends it, then your health plan approves it | Once your child is a Regional Center client, email your service coordinator |
What ABA and adaptive skills training each work on
ABA works on behavior first, and a full program covers much more. The field's own guidelines describe full programs that work on talking, social skills, daily living and behavior all at once. Those often run 30 to 40 hours a week. Smaller programs aim at a few goals, like toileting or one dangerous behavior, for 10 to 25 hours.
ABA has decades of research behind it. For a young child with many needs at once, that reach is its strength.
Adaptive skills training does one job: the skills a person needs to run their own day. Showering without a reminder. Making lunch. Paying at the register and checking the change. Getting to the bus stop and back.
Those skills don't show up on their own, even in bright kids. In a study of 417 autistic teens with average or higher IQ, about half had daily living skills below average. IQ and age did little to predict which teens would struggle.
Some of the teenagers we teach can recite the whole bus route and have never ridden it alone. Their report cards say "capable." Their mornings still run on a parent's voice.
Who pays for ABA and adaptive skills training?
Health insurance or Medi-Cal usually pays for ABA. California law makes most health plans cover it for autism. Medi-Cal covers it under age 21 when a doctor or psychologist says it's needed. Your plan's copays and deductibles can apply.
Your Regional Center pays for adaptive skills training, and your family pays $0. The Regional Center pays for ABA only when insurance and Medi-Cal won't, because the law makes it use those first.
A lot of parents hold back because they believe adaptive skills training will eat into their IHSS or respite hours. It's one of the biggest misconceptions we hear, and it isn't true. IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services) pays someone, often a parent, to help with care at home. Respite pays a worker to watch your child so you get a break. Starting adaptive skills training takes nothing away from either one. For IHSS, the state put it in writing in 1998. Counties have to size IHSS as if your Regional Center services didn't exist.
Who comes to your house?
The person in your living room matters more than the name of the service. Ask about them before anything else.
In most ABA programs, a behavior technician runs the weekly hours. The national credential for that job asks for a high school education, 40 hours of training and a test. A board-certified behavior analyst, who has a master's degree, writes the plan and supervises.
Adaptive skills training starts higher in California. The state lets only trainers with a bachelor's or master's degree provide it. A trainer with a bachelor's works under someone with a master's.
A degree doesn't make anyone kind, and a technician with five years in the job can be excellent. The floor just tells you what to ask any agency. Who exactly will come? What training do they have? How many years have they done this work?
Where does the teaching happen?
Adaptive skills training happens where the skill gets used: your kitchen, your bathroom, the grocery store, the bus stop. ABA can happen at home too, or at a clinic or school.
The place matters more than it sounds. A skill learned in one room doesn't always leave it. In 1977, behavior researchers sorted the ways around that problem. The first one on their list had a blunt name: train and hope. Teach the skill in one place, then hope it shows up somewhere else.
Parents of kids in clinic programs tell us the same thing, almost word for word. "They do it there. They won't do it for me."
If your child's ABA already happens at home, that gap is smaller. Either way, ask where each goal gets practiced, and ask to see it done in your own house.
Can you have both ABA and adaptive skills training?
Yes. Plenty of families have both, because different places pay for them and they aim at different goals.
There is one catch. Your Regional Center won't pay twice for the same goal. So when you ask, say what ABA covers now and what nobody is teaching yet: "ABA is working on hitting. Nobody is teaching them to shower or make lunch."
You don't have to drop ABA to add adaptive skills training, and you don't have to wait for your yearly meeting. Our guide to asking your Regional Center for adaptive skills training has the exact email to send.
Once both are running, tell each team what the other is working on. Use the same words for the same step, from every adult. That's how a skill learned with one person starts showing up for everyone.
How to choose between ABA and adaptive skills training
- Behavior first. Choose ABA if your child hurts themselves or others, runs off, or melts down so often that nothing else can be taught.
- A young child with many needs. Choose a full ABA program if your child needs many hours a week across talking, play and behavior.
- Knows it, can't run it. Choose adaptive skills training if your child knows the steps of a routine but still can't do it alone.
- Teens and adults. Choose adaptive skills training for self-care, cooking, money and getting around. It has no upper age limit.
- Both at once. Ask for both, with different goals for each.
That third case wears parents down the most. Your child knows every step of getting ready and still waits for you to say go. So you teach the same morning again, every morning, on top of everything else.
Picture someone else running that morning teaching for a while. They'd be a caring professional with a master's degree and 9.3 years of experience on average. We'd match them to your child because they've already helped people who wait at that same step. Through your Regional Center, your family pays $0. Start with the step that stalls, and see whether your child could benefit from adaptive skills training.
Questions parents actually ask
Is ABA harmful?
It's debated, and a lot depends on how it's run. Some autistic adults say the ABA they had as kids hurt them, and others say it helped. Ask any provider what happens when your child says no, and watch a session before you sign.
Is adaptive skills training just ABA under another name?
No. ABA is a method, and adaptive skills training is a Regional Center service named for its goal: the skills of daily life. Some trainers borrow teaching tools from ABA, but the target is always something your child does at home or in town.
Could adaptive skills training cut our IHSS or respite hours?
No. It won't shrink your IHSS, and it won't shrink your respite. The state says counties must work out IHSS hours without counting your Regional Center help. See the letter.
Does my child need an autism diagnosis for either one?
For ABA through private insurance, usually yes, and Medi-Cal needs a doctor or psychologist to say it's needed. Adaptive skills training needs your child to be a Regional Center client, which covers autism and some other developmental disabilities. Our eligibility check shows where to start.
My child is an adult now. Is it too late?
No. Adaptive skills training starts at age 3 and has no upper age limit. Grown children work on things like cooking dinner, paying bills, taking transit and handling their own doctor visits.
Which one has more research behind it?
ABA, by a long way. Adaptive skills training is a service built around a goal, not one branded method. So ask any provider how they'll show you it's working. The answer should be a skill your child does without being told.
