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There are a lot of ABA therapy providers. What separates On Target ABA is not just clinical excellence — it is the culture that makes that excellence possible. This blog tells the story of how On Target ABA was built, the values that guide every interaction, what smaller caseloads actually mean for your child and your family, and why the team at On Target ABA believes that great therapy begins with genuinely seeing the child in front of you. This is not a marketing page. It is an honest account of who we are and how we show up — for children, for families, and for each other.

We Saw a Problem. We Built Something Different.

When the founders of On Target ABA looked at the ABA therapy industry, they saw something that troubled them.

They saw families waiting months — sometimes a year or more — to access services while their children missed critical developmental windows. They saw BCBAs stretched across caseloads of twenty, thirty, forty families — trying to provide individualized, relationship-based care while consulting a chart just to remember where a child was up to. They saw a system where the demand for ABA therapy had grown far faster than the infrastructure to deliver it well.

And they saw children — real children, with real families who loved them fiercely — falling through the gaps.

So they built something different.

On Target ABA was founded on three core commitments: making space for your child, giving space for BCBAs to genuinely care, and creating space for real progress. Not as a tagline. As a structural decision — embedded in every aspect of how the company operates, how it hires, how it manages caseloads, and how it measures success.

This blog is the story of what that decision looks like in practice. Of what it produces for the children and families we serve. And of why we believe, deeply and without reservation, that the way we do things matters as much as what we do.

The Waitlist Problem — and Why We Refused to Accept It

For many autism families, the journey to ABA therapy begins not with a phone call that leads to services, but with a phone call that leads to a waitlist.

Six months. Eight months. Twelve months or more. Families who have received a diagnosis, who understand that earlier intervention produces better outcomes, who are ready to begin — waiting. While their child grows. While developmental windows open and close. While the anxiety of not knowing what to do next compounds with every passing week.

We built our model so that your child initiates ABA therapy within weeks of evaluation — not months.

This is not magic. It is a deliberate structural choice — to grow at a pace that ensures every child who comes to us can be served well, rather than growing as fast as demand allows and asking families to wait in line.

It means turning away business we could have taken. It means building more slowly than we might have. It means the people who call us can hear, in the first conversation, that we will be ready for their child soon — not someday.

We believe that timeliness is a clinical value, not just an operational one. Every week that a child waits for services is a week of development happening without support. We take that seriously.

Smaller Caseloads: What It Means for Your Child

The second structural choice that defines On Target ABA is smaller caseloads for BCBAs.

In much of the ABA industry, BCBAs carry caseloads of fifteen to twenty-five or more families simultaneously. At that scale, a BCBA’s relationship with any individual child is necessarily more distant. Data is reviewed less frequently. Program adjustments happen more slowly. And the quality of the relationship — the one between a child and the clinician designing their program — becomes harder to sustain.

At On Target ABA, smaller caseloads mean something specific: when your child walks in, their BCBA lights up. Remembers yesterday’s win. Catches today’s struggle. Does not need to consult a chart to remember where your child is up to.

This is not just a nice thing to say. It is a clinical differentiator.

The therapeutic relationship — the genuine, specific, knowing relationship between a child and the clinical team supporting them — is one of the strongest predictors of outcomes in ABA therapy. A child who is known, in all their particular specificity, by a clinician who cares about them as an individual responds differently than a child whose therapist is managing a very large caseload.

And for families, the difference is equally palpable. When you call with a concern, the person you reach knows your child’s name, knows this week’s program, knows what was hard last Tuesday. The conversation starts from a place of shared knowledge, not from a place of searching for a file.

Smaller caseloads are not a nice-to-have. They are the mechanism by which everything else we do becomes possible.

Our Values: Not Perks. The Way We Show Up.

Every company has values written somewhere. At On Target ABA, we try to live ours in every interaction — from the way we answer the phone to the way we structure a clinical program.

Compassion
We see the overwhelmed parent, the lost child, the struggling family. Every interaction — from the intake call to the last session of the week — is guided by genuine empathy. Not the performed version of empathy that shows up in mission statements. The actual thing: the recognition that the people who come to us are navigating something genuinely hard, and that how we make them feel matters as much as what we do for them.

Compassion at On Target ABA looks like a front desk team that knows your family’s situation. A BCBA who follows up after a hard week without being asked. An RBT who notices that a child is having an off day before the session starts and adjusts accordingly. Small moments, every day, that add up to a family that feels genuinely supported.

Excellence

Mediocre ABA therapy means lost time. We are all about quick access, proven methods, and continuous training.

Excellence at On Target ABA begins with clinical rigor — individualized assessments, data-driven program design, frequent review and adjustment, and fidelity to evidence-based practices. It continues with a commitment to staff development: investing in training, supervision, and professional growth so that every RBT and BCBA on our team is operating at the top of their knowledge and skill.

And it extends to the honest acknowledgment that excellence requires honesty. When something is not working, we say so and we change it. We do not protect a failing approach because we designed it. We adjust because your child’s progress matters more than our being right.

Collaboration

Real progress requires all hands on deck. Parents who reinforce skills at home. Siblings who understand and support. Teachers who implement consistent strategies at school. We don’t just treat your child — we partner with the people in their world so they can achieve real-world success.

Collaboration at On Target ABA looks like family training that is substantive and ongoing — not a one-time orientation but a continuing investment in your capacity to be a therapeutic partner for your child. It looks like BCBAs who attend IEP meetings, share data with speech therapists and occupational therapists, and communicate with school teams. It looks like a culture of genuine openness to family input — where the parent’s observations are treated as clinical data, not anecdote.

Collaboration

You will never be left wondering. We share updates before you ask and answer calls the same day.

Responsiveness is a value that shows up most clearly in the small moments: the follow-up message after a hard session, the same-day call back when a parent has a concern, the proactive communication about a change in the program before the parent has noticed anything different. These are the moments that build or erode trust — and we take them seriously.

The Team That Makes It Happen

Values are only as real as the people who hold them. At On Target ABA, the clinical leadership team embodies everything described above.

Brittany Baird, Director of Operations, has been a BCBA since 2016 and working in the field since 2011. She holds degrees from Ohio State and Western Michigan University. Brittany keeps On Target running smoothly — and is deeply committed to mentoring the next generation of BCBAs through coaching, supervision, and genuine investment in their professional development. What she loves most about On Target? The people. A team where everyone shows up with the same purpose.

Cerys Owen, Worthington Center Director, started as an RBT eight years ago — which means she understands exactly what her team navigates every single day, not in the abstract but from lived experience. Ukeru-certified in trauma-informed care, with degrees from Ohio State and the University of Cincinnati. Her superpower is connecting families to resources beyond therapy and problem-solving collaboratively with her team.

Alycia Jensen, Community Director, grew with On Target ABA from RBT to BCBA to Lead BCBA to Community Director — a trajectory that speaks to the kind of organization that invests in its people. With degrees from Xavier and Arizona State, she oversees community-based BCBAs, conducts intake assessments, and trains new clinicians. Her strength is relationship-building: engaging parents as active partners, mentoring RBTs to recognize their potential, connecting with every client in meaningful, individualized ways.

Erin Mitchell, Center Director, leads with calm, clarity, and care. Ukeru-certified, with degrees from Ohio University and the University of Cincinnati, she earned her BCBA in 2021 and brings both high clinical standards and genuine flexibility and empathy to her leadership. She creates environments where families feel supported, staff feel valued, and children thrive.

These are not people who ended up in autism therapy by accident. They are people who chose this work, who have grown within it, and who show up every day with the same purpose: helping kids succeed.These are not people who ended up in autism therapy by accident. They are people who chose this work, who have grown within it, and who show up every day with the same purpose: helping kids succeed.

What Families Say

The clearest measure of any culture is what the people it serves say about it.

“This is a phenomenal ABA center. Everyone at the center is really kind and patient with my son. I have seen a huge improvement with him. I’m truly grateful for everyone at On Target. Thank you.” — Andreana Tadaj

“The rate of her improvement is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t found this program. I would recommend On Target ABA to any family without hesitation.” — Sarah O’Brien, Scarlet’s mom

These are not cherry-picked testimonials from a marketing database. They are the words of real families — families who came to us worried, uncertain, and hoping that this would be the place that could help their child. And whose children made progress that surprised even them.

When a family says that we are kind and patient and that they have seen a huge improvement — they are describing the direct result of the culture described in this blog. The values. The smaller caseloads. The genuine investment in knowing their child. The responsiveness that means they never wonder if we care.

This is what the culture produces. Not just for the families we serve — but as the proof that the model works.

A Note on What We Are Building

On Target ABA is not finished. We are growing — carefully and deliberately, at a pace that ensures every family who chooses us can be served well. We are expanding our footprint in Ohio and Utah. We are building the team, the culture, and the systems that allow great therapy to scale without losing what makes it great.

We are building something we are proud of. Something that our team is proud to be part of. Something that, when a parent calls us for the first time — tired and scared and hoping — can honestly say: you are in the right place. Your child will be seen here. We have space for them. And we are going to do this together.

That is the culture of On Target ABA. Not a set of words on a wall. A set of choices, made every day, by a team that believes that every child deserves more than a spot on a waitlist

They deserve a spot where they are truly seen.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How quickly can my child start ABA therapy at On Target ABA?
In most cases, children begin therapy within weeks of their evaluation — not months. This is a deliberate structural choice we have made to ensure families don’t lose critical time on a waitlist.

Q: What does a smaller caseload mean for my child?
It means your child’s BCBA knows them — specifically, in detail, as an individual. It means program adjustments happen frequently rather than at quarterly reviews. And it means the relationship between your child and their clinical team is genuine, not administrative.

Q: What locations does On Target ABA serve?
We serve families across Ohio and Utah through center-based, home-based, and school-based ABA therapy.

Q: Does On Target ABA accept insurance?
Yes. We accept most major insurance plans and Medicaid in Ohio and Utah. Our intake team handles insurance verification and prior authorization on your behalf.

Q: How do I get started?
Reach out — by phone, by the contact form on our website, or by email. The first conversation is always free, and our intake team will walk you through everything from there. No referral required.

At On Target ABA, we serve children ages 2–12 across Ohio and Utah with center-based, home-based, and school-based ABA therapy. We accept most major insurance plans and Medicaid.

→ Contact us to take the first step
→ Read: How to get started with ABA therapy — a step-by-step guide
→ Read: When it comes to your child’s progress, we move mountains
→ Read: What is ABA therapy? A complete guide for families
→ Read: Real progress — what milestones look like in ABA therapy