When the Austin Centers for Exceptional Students (ACES) acquired Thrive Autism Services about eight months ago, the organization had a big plan to help as many people on the spectrum as possible.

Since Thrive Autism Services began in 2020, it has provided in-home applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for families and individuals in the East Valley of Phoenix. Its services cover clients across all stages of life, ranging from 18 months into adulthood.

Unlike many organizations, Thrive has no set age limit for treatment. It has also kept its service area small, focusing solely on the Valley to provide the best level of care possible.

Over the last few months, however, that focus has quickly expanded.

Demand for Thrive’s services has grown significantly, according to Martin Favis, president and CEO of The Austin Centers for Exceptional Students. Now, the organization is looking to offer services well beyond the Valley.

“We anticipate opening 10 or 15 autism clinics across Arizona, Colorado and other western states over the next several years,” Favis told Autism Business News.

Thrive’s very first brick-and-mortar autism clinic just opened last month on May 6. The clinic assists children on the spectrum ages 18 months to 10 years old, following a curriculum-based program similar to a day care, according to Madison Williams, director of autism services for Thrive.

The clinic offers kids the academic skills needed to be in the school system, helping them tackle ABA goals of self-care, communication and socialization.

Williams told Autism Business News that the clinic will soon start pre-teen social groups to help older kids build social connections and create the skills needed for interpersonal relationships. They’ll be grouped by age and ability, which has not been previously offered in the area.

“I’ve worked with a couple of different ADA companies in the Valley, and it’s something that almost every parent of pre-teens has asked me for,” Williams said. “So, we really wanted to market it to what people actually needed. What would be effective for them to grow is to be around people of their same age, same interest and same communication abilities.”

Thrive also sets itself apart by offering individualized therapy hours.

“There are some very big-name companies out there that only offer set hours to their clients. So essentially if you’re a parent, you have to sign up for 20 hours a week or 40 hours a week. Those are your two options,” Williams said. “We are catering it to the client. So, we are doing our assessments, giving them the recommended hours that we think are appropriate, and then the parents need to be able to meet at least 80 percent of that for them to come on board.”

Williams said Thrive is also looking to partner with, or employ someone who can diagnose autism because there is a wait list for assessments, as well as for therapy, in the Valley.

Williams, a former special education teacher at ACES, went back to school in 2013 to get a master’s degree in special education for moderate to severe disabilities and a second masters in applied behavioral analysis.

Following graduation, ACES asked her to come on as a consultant to assist with professional development. She taught staff how to implement ABA strategies into their classrooms and helped create a data tracking system to do discrete trial training across all ACES campuses to better examine academic progress.

In 2023, when ACES decided to commit to a full ABA department, Favis asked Williams to oversee the newly acquired Thrive.

Williams oversees Thrive’s clinics and in-home efforts. She directs a team of board-certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) and registered behavior technicians (RBTs) to support the individual receiving services and the family unit as a whole.

All staff are state-licensed and highly trained in the principles and techniques of ABA. Under the Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB), candidates are required to watch a verified 40 hour set of videos, be observed by a BCBA and take an exam.

Thrive has elongated that process. Once someone is hired, they are required to watch a breakdown of videos over 10 days and then demonstrate their skills through a Q&A process, as well as role-playing.

New hires must also shadow other registered, behavioral technicians with clients and pass a skills checklist.

“It’s a little bit more of a more detailed version than what the BACB sets forth for the competency assessment,” Williams said. “We make sure that they can do every single skill on that task analysis before we send them to take their exam.”

At the moment, Thrive employs 15 people for its clinic model and five for its in-home initiatives, but that number is growing.

“We are essentially hiring people as we’re getting clients, so those kiddos don’t have to sit on a wait list for three to five months,” Williams said.

Within the next four months, she predicts Thrive will staff about 35 RBTs in the clinic, four BCBAs and a clinical director.

“We’re trying to grow with our clients instead of overstaffing or understaffing,” Williams said.

As Thrive grows, it faces two big challenges. The first is finding BCBs. Williams said there is a shortage of qualified individuals, not just in Arizona, but everywhere.

To help combat that problem, Thrive is offering supervision to the RBTs completing their master’s program, with the hope that they’ll see more qualified RBTs, as well as candidates who can sit for the BCBA exam.

The second challenge for Thrive is not being able to say yes to every client.

“Some people want to come here and they may not have a diagnosis of autism yet, which makes the funding source very difficult because insurances are only approving ADA services with a diagnosis of autism,” Williams said. “And a bunch of little kids get diagnosed with developmental delay first and then it takes a few years to get that autism diagnosis. We can’t really do a lot to help them if they’re not willing to go that private pay route.”

Services at Thrive are paid for in a variety of ways.

The company partners with all major insurance companies, such as Blue Cross Blue Shield and UniteHealthcare, as well as the state insurances like Access Medicaid.

Williams said Thrive is also open to doing single case agreements.

“Even if we’re not in contract with these providers, we can reach out and can try and get an authorization specifically for [a client]. Each provider might reimburse at a different rate, but we have had good results with reaching out about those,” Williams said.

Thrive’s parent company, The Austin Centers for Exceptional Students, has been around for almost 30 years and currently serves 1,200 students and employs 600 people.

The organization has been steadily expanding its footprint nationally, but now that it’s fully immersed in the ABA world, it is poised to help a lot more people on the spectrum.

“It’s been super exciting to have this place where we can provide our training to both our in-home and clinic staff, and start seeing kiddos on a daily basis,” Williams said. “It’s been wonderful.”

Favis is thrilled by the opportunity to expand the company’s reach, but more importantly, to provide ABA services to people in need.

“We’re progressing and we’re growing by doing the right thing,” Favis said. “It’s been our plan all along to get to this point. Here we are now.”