About American Behavioral Support Services, LLC

3800 Service & Program Description

American Behavioral Support Services, LLC (ABSS) provides residential services; advocates for and facilitates educational, vocational, and therapeutic services for male adolescents ages 13 to 18 years old with developmental disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, neurological and genetic disorders that result in neurobehavioral challenges. ABSS serves individuals who need help learning appropriate social skills, function-based communication, skills in activities of daily living; and replacement behaviors for challenging behaviors they may engage in. ABSS delivers high-quality, research-based, outcome-driven, therapeutic residential services to its clients; while ensuring through collaboration with other professionals and school districts to ensure access to school based educational and healthcare services in an environment of warmth, care, and respect.

ABSS Residential Home:

American Behavioral Support Services, LLC (ABSS) provides residential placement services in group homes within Philadelphia and Delaware county for youth, ages 13 to 18, whose Individualized Service Program (ISP) objectives require constant supervision, therapeutic and structured learning and living environment. During summer breaks and days when the individuals do not attend any programing with an outside agency or school, they require 24-hour supervision in a therapeutic, structured, and socially enriched environment for living and skills acquisition.

Within our home(s), under the close supervision of well-trained staff, our youth work on self-care, leisure skills, vocational tasks, functional communication, activities of daily living, and community ISP goals in a group home setting. Our youth enjoy outdoor play activities and community recreational activities. Community outings are a regular occurrence and include activities such as trips to the park, movies, outdoor concerts, grocery shopping, and other local attractions. Our programming is based on the principles Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), and ABSS adheres to the highest standard of residential care and supervised supportive services designed to meet each client’s individual needs.

ABSS transports the individuals to school and back to the residence every school day. Supervision and care of the individuals are transferred to the school by our staff upon arrival at the schools on school days. At dismissal, ABSS staff assumes supervision and transport the individuals to the residence. ABSS also serves individuals who do not go to school at all or are not going temporarily; but provides 24-hour residential services.

Evidence Based

Our services at ABSS can be described as individual first, evidence-based, and outcomes-driven. We use Interventions based on Applied Behavior Analysis to reduce challenging behaviors and increase positive replacement behaviors; and teach new skills. ABSS adheres to best practices in assessment, case conceptualization and treatment planning, including Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA), empirically supported clinical and educational intervention, daily data collection, and frequent progress monitoring.

Individuals Served

ABSS serves adolescents ages 13-18 years old. Each individual accesses funding from their county, or private pay funding/insurance. Individuals in the ABSS program have diagnoses of Intellectual Disability and/or Autism and may have other comorbid behavioral health diagnoses and social problems. The individuals accepted in ABSS programs may have a history of suicidal/homicidal ideation, aggression, disruptive behaviors, and property destruction ranging from mild to moderate levels of severity. Please reference the chart below for definition of behaviors and the levels of severity. The individuals may engage in other challenging behaviors such as elopement, PICA, spitting, noncompliance, off-task behaviors, inappropriate social interaction and otherwise not mentioned in this program description. Individuals served in ABSS homes require no more than partial physical assistance (if any needed) for mobility. ABSS currently does not have the capacity to serve individuals whose challenging behaviors require advanced safety care techniques (any type of standing, chair, or floor hold restraints) to de-escalate. ABSS does not use chemical or mechanical restraints at all for de-escalation.

Behavior	Definition	Mild	Moderate	Severe
Suicidal/homicidal Ideation	Also known as suicidal/homicidal thoughts, refers to thinking about, considering, or. planning a homicide.	No more than 1 instance of suicidal/homicidal Statement in last 5 years and none within last 2 years.	No more than 1 instance of suicidal/homicidal Statement in last 5 years and no more than 1 within last 2 years. None within last year. Never practicalized.	1 instance within last year.
Aggression	Aggression (Any instance of a client hitting another person with a closed or opened fist, kicking, or shoving a with an opened or closed pawn.	1-10 instances of aggression per day (requires no advance safety care procedure or mechanical restraints for de-escalation)	5-15 instances of aggression per day (requires no advance safety care procedure or mechanical restraints for de-escalation)	15-30 instances of aggression per day (requires advance safety care procedure for de-escalation)
Property destruction	Any instance of a client damaging personal, public property, or property belonging to ABSS (e.g., breaking an object into two or more pieces, using an object to break other objects, ripping objects or parts of objects from walls, floors, or furniture, and denting objects, or walls.)	Crisis behavior involving property destruction lasting for no more than 10 minutes; and may be directed at another person but without the intent of harming; and client does not require mechanical restraint or advance safety care procedures for de-escalation	Crisis behavior involving property destruction lasting for no more than 15 minutes; and may be directed at another person but without the intent of harming; and client does not require mechanical restraint or advance safety care procedures for de-escalation	Crisis behavior involving property destruction lasting for up to 30 minutes ;may be directed at another person but with the intent of harming; and client require mechanical restraint or advance safety care procedures for de-escalation
Disruptive behaviors.	(Behaviors that interfere with a client’s learning or the learning of those around him/her. Leaving Designated Area/Elopement. Successful and/or unsuccessful attempts to leave the designated area without adult supervision and/or permission.	Fever than 15 attempts and requires no mechanical restraints or advance safety procedure for de-escalation.	Fever than 20 attempts per day and requires no mechanical restraints or advance safety procedure for de-escalation.	Requires mechanical restraints or advance safety care procedures for de-escalation.