About Us
We are a compassionate team of human beings who feel called to spend all or part of our life’s journeys in service to others. We use our expertise in Childhood Development and Behavior Management to help kids become more independent, happier people. We want to help your child’s light shine and help your family feel the joy that comes with watching your child grow and thrive.
Behavior Techs
We have different levels of professionals who provide Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) intervention to help your child acquire the critical skills needed for ongoing development, communication, social relationships, and self-regulation of emotions and behaviors.
The professionals who typically provide the most direct and greatest quantity of service to your child are called, ‘Behavior Techs’ or ‘ABA Therapists’. You may also see them referred to more officially as a “Behavioral Health Technician – ABA” or “BHT-ABA” as defined by our PA state regulations.
At Swank Early Skills Development, Behavior Techs receive 50 – 80 hours of training on ABA intervention techniques and strategies before ever working directly with your child including training with clients in our center and the clients to which they are ultimately assigned. Our Behavior Techs have to meet specific mastery criteria on the skills they need to provide effective ABA intervention to our clients. This is consistently and on-goingly assessed by their supervisors through direct supervision when the Behavior Tech is working with their assigned clients.
Additionally, Behavior Techs receive additional training throughout the year through formal topic training and on-site training from a master’s level clinician.
Master’s Level Clinicians
Our master’s level clinicians are the next level of professionals who serve your child. These professionals have additional and specific education in ABA as well as supervised experience that is necessary to become a master’s level clinician in ABA.
Our master’s level clinicians must hold either their professional certification as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) or their Pennsylvania Behavior Specialist License (LBS); however, over 90% of our master’s level clinicians have already obtained both professional certification and state licensure. Those who have one or the other are actively working to obtain the second.
Similar to a student teacher or psychology intern, our clinicians have specific skills that they must be taught, must demonstrate, and must be approved by a senior-level clinician before they can sit for board certification or obtain their state license. For the ABA field, this amounts to 2,000 hours of supervised experience.
Support Team
In our Lancaster offices, there is a bigger support team that includes a Clinical Director, Clinical Supervisor, Operations Manager, Client Services Coordinator, Business Director, and more.
The Clinical Director oversees the clinical nature of services being delivered, managing that clients are receiving the most effective intervention based on the most up to date research and training in our field. The Clinical Supervisor assists the Clinical Director in supervising the other master’s level clinicians to ensure that Quality ABA Services are being provided across all clients.
Our Business Director heads up the backend operations that it takes to run the business and support the staff who provide clinical services to our clients. The Clinical Operations Manager ensures that we are complying with all state regulations that govern our field and works with our Assistant Clinical Operations Manager and Billing Specialist to make sure that clients have insurance coverage for services and work with the insurance companies. They also ensure that we are complying with your health insurance company’s requirements so that we make sure your services will be covered to the fullest extent that your insurance plan/s allow.
You’ll meet and work with these compassionate individuals and many more folks who have all chosen this path to serve others through working at Swank Early Skills Development.