Applied Behaviour Analysis and Autism Ranking:

Cost and Time

Cost

The costs of applied behaviour analysis vary enormously, depending on the form of ABA/specific techniques being used as well as the number of hours, location of instruction and the qualifications and number of practitioners used.

Some comprehensive, multi-component programmes can be very expensive. For example,

• according to Eikeseth, Hayward and Gale (2011), the UK Young Autism project charges £43-45,000 per year for a full programme – not including any additional transport costs.
• according to the ABA Educational Resources Ltd website, accessed March 2012 and the last occasion on which we were able to find this information, the annual cost of a home-based ABA programme in the USA is approximately $54,000.

Time

The amount of time required to undertake applied behaviour analysis will depend to a large extent on the form of ABA/specific techniques being used.

For example, some home-based programmes of EIBI consist of 40 hours a week of intensive therapy. The therapy is on a 'one-to-one' basis for 6-8 hours per day, 5-7 days a week for 2 or more years. Teaching sessions usually last 2-3 hours with breaks.

However other forms of ABA may only take a few hours each week or be used only when the problem behaviours occur or if a specific teaching opportunity arises.

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Sep 2016

Next Review

01 Dec 2022