What to expect in your child's first weeks

Starting ABA therapy is a big step, and the beginning has a few moving parts. This article walks you through what usually happens in the first weeks: activating your parent portal, finishing your paperwork, the assessment, getting a schedule, meeting your care team, and what those early sessions are really for. Every family's path is a little different, so think of this as a friendly map rather than a fixed timeline. Your care team will guide you at each step.

First, activate your parent portal

Almost everything happens in your Alpaca Health parent portal, so the first step is getting in. Your clinic sends you an invitation by email; open it, set your password, and you're in. For the full walkthrough, see Create your account and accept your invite.

When you sign in, you land on your Overview page. This is your home base. While your family is getting ready to start care, the Overview gathers up anything that still needs your attention, so you always know what to do next.

Completing your paperwork and consent

Before therapy can begin, your clinic needs a few things on file: signed consent and agreement documents, and sometimes supporting documents like an insurance card, a diagnosis report, or a referral. Getting these in place is what makes your child ready to move forward, so it's worth handling early.

You'll find these tasks right on your Overview page, listed as clearly labeled to-dos. When a document needs your signature or an upload is requested, it shows up there. As you complete each item, it stops appearing, so a shorter list means you're getting closer. For the step-by-step on signing, see Sign your consent and treatment plan.

If you're ever unsure whether something is waiting on you, the Overview page is the place to check first.

The consultation and assessment phase

Early on, you'll typically have a consultation and then an initial assessment. When it's time to book these, your Overview page shows a scheduling card (for example, Schedule Consultation or Schedule Initial Assessment) where you can pick a time that works for you.

The assessment is where a BCBA (a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, the clinician who leads your child's care) gets to know your child, understands their needs, and builds an individualized plan. After the assessment, your BCBA creates a treatment plan that describes your child's goals and the recommended therapy.

This is an important one to watch for: your child's treatment plan is not sent to your insurance until you sign it. When it's ready, a signature request appears on your Overview. Signing it lets your clinic submit the plan to your insurer for approval so ongoing therapy can be authorized, so signing promptly helps keep things moving. Again, Sign your consent and treatment plan has the details.

Getting a schedule and meeting your care team

Once therapy is authorized, your child's regular sessions get scheduled. You can see them anytime in the portal's left-hand menu under Patient Progress, by selecting Schedule. Each appointment shows the date and time, who it's for, the clinician providing it, and the session type. For more, see View your child's schedule.

Your child is supported by a team, not just one person. On your Overview page, a Your support team section lists the people involved in your child's care, including the supervising clinician (your BCBA) and other care team members. In ABA, day-to-day therapy sessions are often delivered by an RBT (a Registered Behavior Technician) who works directly with your child, while the BCBA designs the plan, oversees progress, and supervises the team.

If your child has been matched with a provider, you'll also see a Your Provider card on the Overview with a short introduction, so you know who you'll be working with before your first session.

What early sessions focus on

The first sessions may look different from what you picture when you think of "therapy," and that's intentional. Early on, the team is focused on two things:

• Building rapport. Your child's therapist spends time getting to know your child and helping them feel comfortable and safe. A strong relationship is the foundation everything else is built on.

• Gathering baseline information. The team observes and records where your child is starting from across their goals. This baseline is what future progress is measured against.

If the first weeks feel like they're moving gently, that's a good sign, not a delay. Taking time to build trust and understand your child sets up better, more lasting progress. If you ever have questions about what's happening in a session, your care team is happy to explain.

Parent training is part of the plan

You are part of the care team too. Parent training (sometimes called caregiver training) is time your clinician spends working with you, helping you understand your child's goals and learn the same strategies the team uses, so you can support your child at home and in everyday routines. It's a planned, standard part of high-quality ABA care, not an extra.

You may see a Parent Training Session on your child's schedule. To learn what to expect from these sessions, see Parent training sessions and what 97156 is.

Where to keep an eye in your portal

As you settle in, these are the parts of the portal worth checking:

• Overview is your home page. It surfaces anything that needs you, including documents to sign and information to upload. When you're not sure what's next, start here.

• Schedule (under Patient Progress) shows your child's upcoming and past sessions. Your care team manages it, and the portal keeps your view up to date. If it's empty at first, that's normal; sessions appear once treatment begins.

• Billing & Payments (under Parent Tools) is where you review your family's share of the cost after insurance and pay any balance. See Understand your invoice for how to read it.

• Signatures matter most in the early weeks. Keep an eye on your Overview for consent documents and, after the assessment, your child's treatment plan, since these steps unlock the next stage of care.

As therapy gets going, you can also follow along through Session Notes and Charts under Patient Progress, depending on what your clinic shares.

A few reassurances

Starting care involves several steps, and some of them depend on things like insurance approval, so the exact pace varies from family to family. That's completely normal. The most helpful things you can do are to complete your paperwork and signatures promptly and to keep an eye on your Overview page.

If anything is unclear or you're waiting longer than you expected, reach out to your care team or contact Alpaca support at support@alpacahealth.io or (917) 341-1803. We're glad to help.