From a few focused hours to full EIBI schedules: what each intensity level is for, and how a BCBA actually picks the number.
Definition Updated
ABA intensity is the number of therapy hours a week, from a few hours for focused goals to a full-time comprehensive schedule; a BCBA sets it after the assessment, based on clinical need.
Also called ABA hours; comprehensive and focused ABA are the two ends.
ABA therapy runs anywhere from a few hours a week to a full-time schedule, and the right number is a clinical decision, not a sales pitch. This page maps the intensity levels, what each one is for, and how a BCBA actually picks. At Budding Futures, hours are set by clinical need after assessment, and Rachel Blackburn, BCBA reviews every recommendation. In-home, statewide across Colorado.
Insurers work from two models. Focused ABA goes after one or two goals, a behavior to replace or a skill to build, and usually lands around 10 to 25 hours a week. Comprehensive ABA is the wide version. It works communication, social, adaptive, and emotional ground at the same time, which is why it needs 26 to 40 hours to do its job. Our comparison of focused vs comprehensive ABA therapy walks through choosing between them, and it's the decision most families actually face first.
At the top sits Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention, EIBI, which is just the comprehensive model applied young, usually before five, when broad teaching compounds fastest. Our early intensive behavioral intervention page covers when it makes sense.
Most school-age kids don't live there. They live in focused, mid-intensity territory, with therapy shaped around the school day and pointed at specific goals, a dangerous behavior, communication, school skills.
Then there's the taper. When skills are holding, hours come down and parent coaching carries more of the load. Stepping down without losing ground is genuinely hard to do well, and our low-intensity ABA therapy page explains how we fade on data instead of hope.
One thing never changes across the ladder: sessions are one-on-one, one trained RBT with your child and a BCBA supervising at roughly 20 percent. The one-on-one ABA therapy page covers why we won't budge on that ratio.
A VB-MAPP or ABLLS-R assessment shows where your child is. Medical necessity, your child's age, the goals, your family's capacity, and what insurance authorizes all feed the recommendation. Anyone quoting hours before assessing is guessing. Two of our guides go deeper: how many hours for Level 1 autism and whether 40 hours is the right move.
Hours also change over time. Plans step up when goals stack, and step down as skills hold. Parents worry most about being locked in, so it helps to know the number is revisited at every authorization, with your input and the data on the table.
Colorado requires state-regulated health plans to cover ABA therapy, and Health First Colorado usually covers it at $0 under Provider Types 83 and 84. Commercial plans typically run $0 to $500 out of pocket. We verify benefits before any recommendation becomes a schedule, and there is no waitlist right now. Tell us about your child, and we will tell you honestly which intensity the assessment is likely to point toward. We serve ages 18 months through 18 years, in every Colorado city, 8AM to 8PM.
She writes and reviews every treatment plan, and supervises the therapists who work in your home.
Read Rachel's profile
He founded Budding Futures and runs the day to day, from a family's first phone call onward.
Read Mark's profileThe dose-response research has an answer, with caveats. See whether intensive ABA works better than fewer hours and our plain-English guide to effective ABA therapy.
More questions parents ask
EIBI is the comprehensive form of ABA for young children, usually under five, delivered at higher weekly hours across many skills at once.
Low-intensity ABA, usually under 10 to 15 hours a week, serves children whose needs are narrow enough to start small and children stepping down after a bigger program.
At Budding Futures, a BCBA sets the hours after the assessment and Rachel Blackburn, BCBA reviews every recommendation; sessions run weekdays, after school, evenings until 8 PM and weekends.
Tell us about your child, and we will tell you which intensity the assessment is likely to point toward. Honestly, and before any schedule exists.
