It’s a beautiful day for learning today at New Heights ABA!
Milestones. We are approaching a milestone in June when we celebrate our fifth year of operations! We could not have done this without each one of you supporting us along the way. Thank you!
Resilience. We would define our steady growth as a locally owned ABA provider as resilient. We’ve learned a great deal operating a small business since opening with a summer camp in 2018. The Covid-19 pandemic also taught us a lot. We managed to survive when others did not. Running a small business is very challenging, however, we’ve learned and grown from our mistakes. We are constantly improving because we can always do better.
Commitment. The one area that won’t change is our commitment to our families and by maintaining a smaller clinic size at each of our locations. We stand by our desire to meet the needs of families in Cuyahoga and surrounding counties by offering flexible scheduling so that our clients can receive other recommended therapies such as speech, occupational, physical or feeding therapies. Due to lengthy wait lists across area providers, we encourage families to take what they can get and we will work around their schedule.
Caregiver Involvement. We’ve come a long way with our parent training and it continues to evolve. Our goal is to address the most meaningful goals that will open up opportunities for our clients across settings. Caregiver involvement is essential for a more positive outcome.
Competition. While new ABA clinics seem to be opening at a higher rate in the Northeast Ohio area, we don’t see this as competition! Even with a saturation of ABA clinics, there are still wait lists at most ABA providers. Statistically, 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with autism. We welcome and support new providers to the area who can also make a difference in the lives of children diagnosed with autism.
Hiring Challenges. We are fortunate and grateful for the staff who have been with us since before the pandemic. Our biggest impediment is staffing. Most ABA companies are constantly looking for quality Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) and experienced Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) to join their teams. Attracting new staff now looks very different than before the pandemic. Through career fairs, job boards and social media, we’ve been able to secure some absolutely amazing staff who are eager to learn and grow with us.
Partnerships. As mentioned above, we could not be where we are today without each one of you. We are also grateful for each organization that we have had the pleasure of partnering with so that we can disseminate ABA to those not familiar with it through community events, resource fairs and fundraisers. Other partnerships have allowed us to bring other therapies to our clinic so we can support our families who may not be able to take a client to several therapies.
Growth. There are many areas where we would like to revisit such as returning to providing ABA therapy in other settings and opening another small clinic in an underserved area. We are hoping these goals will be met during our next five years.
Acknowledgments. We wish we could acknowledge each person and organization who helped us reach this milestone. Internally, we are grateful for our skilled clinical supervisors who have implemented solid programming/training for our clients and caregivers, our dedicated RBTs who deliver the services, and our administrative team for managing the ongoing daily operations from client/staff scheduling to ensuring client and staffing needs are met. Specifically, Rachel Huffman, our Operations Manager, has been an integral part of the growth of New Heights ABA through internal policy development, HR support/talent development, coordination of internal/external events and training, managing communications with caregivers, and most recently, working with developers on our new website. We hope you love it as much as we do! Thank you!
We are looking forward to celebrating our next milestone with you.
-Sandi Lehr
Managing Clinical Director
New Heights ABA
