Wellspring Learning Centers FAQs

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapy based on the science of learning and behavior. ABA changes the environment to change the behavior. ABA therapy is used to improve behaviors like social skills, reading, academics, and communication as well as learned skills like grooming, hygiene, and fine motor skills.

Our ABA therapy centers are located in the Belle Meade and Antioch neighborhoods and serve the greater Nashville, TN area. Our Belle Meade center address is 4515 Harding Pike Suite 114. Nashville, TN 37205. Our Antioch center address is 5233 Harding Place, Suite 5249, Nashville, TN 37217.

We use a variety of ABA therapy techniques to help your child develop new skills and behaviors. Some of our strategies include shaping, token economy, discrete trial training (DTT), natural environment training (NET), functional communication training, prompting, and fading.

While a formal autism diagnosis isn’t required to enroll in ABA services, it is often a requirement to utilize insurance benefits. Currently, Wellspring Learning Center doesn’t offer diagnostic evaluations, but we can provide a referral to a trusted provider.

At Wellspring Learning Centers we provide both comprehensive and focused ABA therapy programs. Each program is tailored to the individual needs of your child and ranges in intensity from 10 to 40 hours a week.

This means the amount of therapy and level of parent involvement varies as well. Skill training programs involving discrete trial training and natural environment training can require several hours each day. Throughout the day and week, the goal is to create various teaching opportunities through play for your child so that therapists can prompt, shape and reinforce appropriate responses.

Parents will be required to attend bi-weekly family meetings and periodic training sessions to ensure generalization of skills learned during ABA sessions. These training sessions will also help you learn how to better support your child in their daily life.

Positive reinforcement is one of the main strategies used in ABA. When a behavior is followed by something that is valued or highly preferred (a reward), a child is more likely to repeat that behavior. Over time, this encourages positive behavior change.

It’s important to note that what is highly preferred or valued for one child may not be for another. It is only reinforcing if it increases the likelihood of this behavior occurring over time.

ABA therapy provides a variety of skills across developmental domains that would support the treatment of most neurodevelopmental disorders including ADHD and Tourette syndrome. Through individualized, evidence-based treatment plans we ensure we’re meeting the unique needs of your child.

Although punishment is a principle of ABA, we do not incorporate it in our ABA programs. At Wellspring Learning Centers we utilize positive reinforcement and differential reinforcement. Positive reinforcement rewards children for positive behaviors, and differential reinforcement functions by withholding praise/reward for a maladaptive behavior while simultaneously providing praise for a positive behavior.

When we say elevated ABA therapy, it means we are upping the standard of traditional ABA therapy services. Our goal is to ensure we provide the most compassionate and professional care possible so your child can achieve their personal goals.

We set out to create a solid and professional foundation to serve and attract the best clinical talent available. Then, we designed our centers for an ideal ABA experience and filled them with the highest quality furniture and playscapes. Finally, we made a commitment to work with parents to extend ABA’s benefits beyond our center walls. That’s how we are taking ABA to the next level.