I had a very concerning experience with this ABA clinic, mainly around safety, supervision, and the…read moreconsistency of care being provided. When I first enrolled my son, I was clearly told that they follow a 2:1 bathroom rule (2 RBTs to 1 child) for safety. The 2 owners, husband and wife, confirmed to me multiple times that everyone was following that rule. That was something that gave me peace of mind. However, I had a gut feeling that something wasn't right, so I asked them to review the cameras. When I saw the footage myself, it showed that this rule was not being followed and not just by one staff member, but by multiple RBTs. That made it feel less like a one-time mistake and more like a bigger issue within the clinic. While watching the cameras, I also noticed my son was spending a lot of time just running around playing with a ball, while the RBT assigned to him was on their phone. That was really hard to see, especially knowing he's supposed to be there receiving structured therapy.
Another concern was that the owner, who is the licensed professional and told me she would be overseeing my son's case, was almost never there. I didn't see her involved at all until I brought it up directly. After I said something, she did start scheduling weekly meetings with me, which I did appreciate, but it raised questions about the level of oversight before that point.
There were also issues with security that made me uncomfortable. There were times when the front door wasn't locked when I arrived. On one occasion, I saw a teenager who was no longer a patient just walking around freely among the children. That's not something you would expect in a setting like this, and it made me question who is allowed to be in the clinic and how closely that's being monitored.
In terms of the actual therapy overall, my first day observing was disappointing. I stayed for about 7 hours, and during that time I watched one child receive no structured therapy at all. He spent the day eating snacks, on a tablet, and napping, with no visible programs being run. It felt more like a daycare environment than a place providing consistent ABA therapy.
I moved my son to another clinic and the difference has been huge. The new clinic is much more structured. The kids first work in smaller rooms with minimal distractions, only like 3 kids in there with their rbts, and they go through their individual programs with their 1:1 RBTs. Then after that, they all come together into a larger classroom setting where the teacher mimics a real classroom, works on school readiness skills, and helps them practice generalizing what they just learned in those smaller sessions. It feels intentional and actually geared toward preparing them for a real classroom environment.
At Project Mind, it was the complete opposite. They had large rooms with a lot of kids and RBTs all together, all working on their programs 1:1 and it just felt chaotic. There were so many auditory and visual distractions, it was honestly overwhelming and didn't seem like an environment that supports focused learning.
I do believe there are good intentions there, but there seems to be a disconnect between what is communicated to parents and what is actually happening day to day. As a parent, it's hard to feel confident and comfortable leaving your child in that kind of environment without more consistency, accountability, and oversight.
