What to Expect on Your Child’s First Day at bitKIDS
Your child’s first day of ABA therapy can bring a lot of questions.
What do we bring? Where do we go? Who will meet my child? What will they do during the session?
Knowing what to expect can make the first day feel much less overwhelming—for both you and your child.
Here’s what your first day at bitKIDS may look like.
Before You Arrive
A little preparation can help your child’s first day go smoothly.
Please bring:
- A snack and drink
- Indoor shoes
- A change of clothes
- Diapers and wipes, if needed
- Seasonal outdoor clothing
- A charged communication device, if applicable
Your Intake Form is an important part of preparing for the first day. It gives our team an opportunity to learn about your child’s strengths, anticipated challenges, communication needs, routines, and highly preferred items or activities.
If there are particular items from home that are especially motivating or comforting for your child, this is a great place to tell us about them. Sharing this information ahead of time allows the clinical team to consider how those preferences might support your child’s transition and early sessions.
You don’t need to anticipate every possible challenge or know exactly what your child will need on their first day. That’s part of what we’re here to help with.
Please also review our current clinic allergen and food guidelines before bringing snacks into the clinic, as these requirements may change from time to time.
Arriving at bitKIDS
When you arrive, please:
- Park in a designated parking space—not the fire route.
- Enter the clinic close to your child’s scheduled start time.
- Wait with your child in the foyer.
- Your child’s therapist will greet you and support the transition into the clinic.
You don’t need to worry about knowing exactly where to go or what to do. We’ll guide you through the process.
The Transition Into the Clinic
For some children, walking into a new environment with a new therapist will be easy. For others, it may take some time.
Your child may be excited, curious, hesitant, or even upset. They may want to stay close to you or explore the environment on their own.
That’s okay.
There are a few things you can do before the first day to help make the clinic feel more familiar.
Visit the Clinic Ahead of Time
Our optional clinic tours are a great opportunity for your child to see the environment before their first therapy session. They can become familiar with the entrance, therapy spaces, and the people and surroundings they’ll encounter.
A familiar place can feel a little less new on the first day.
Introduce the Team Before You Arrive
You can also use the bitKIDS website and Team page to introduce your child to the people they may meet at the clinic.
Looking at photos together can help your child begin to recognize familiar faces before they arrive.
You might say:
“This is your therapist. You’ll get to meet them at bitKIDS.”
You can revisit the photos over several days rather than making it a big activity the night before.
Tell Us What Works
If you already know that certain situations are challenging for your child—such as separating from a parent, transitioning between activities, entering unfamiliar spaces, or changes in routine—please tell us on the Intake Form.
Likewise, let us know what has helped in the past.
Follow Your Child’s Lead
You don’t need to rehearse exactly what your child should do when they arrive.
Instead, focus on creating familiarity and positive expectations.
Your child may want to talk about the clinic, look at pictures, ask questions—or they may not show much interest at all.
That’s okay too.
The goal isn’t to make your child excited about their first day. It’s simply to make the environment and people a little more familiar before they arrive.
Once your child is at the clinic, our team will support the transition and adjust our approach based on what your child needs.
What Will My Child Do During the First Session?
You may be surprised by how much of the first session looks like exploration and play—but this is an intentional part of starting ABA.
Your child’s first sessions may include:
- Exploring the clinic
- Playing with toys
- Participating in favourite activities
- Getting to know their therapist and peers
- Practicing transitions
- Making choices
- Communicating wants and needs
- Exploring new activities
- Beginning age-appropriate learning opportunities
Some of this may look like play—and that’s intentional.
Your child’s therapist is getting to know them while creating positive experiences in the clinic.
Getting to Know Your Child
One of the most important things happening during the first sessions is relationship building.
Your therapist will be learning:
- What your child enjoys
- What captures their attention
- How they communicate
- What helps them feel comfortable
- How they respond to different activities
- What motivates them
- How they interact with their environment
This process helps the therapist learn how to create meaningful learning opportunities for your child.
You may hear the clinical team refer to this as pairing.
We’ll talk more about pairing—and why it is such an important part of beginning ABA—in an upcoming blog.
What About the Assessment?
Assessment is also an important part of starting ABA services.
The clinical team will gather information about your child’s current skills, strengths, needs, and priorities to help determine appropriate programming.
But assessment isn’t necessarily something that looks like a formal test on your child’s first day.
Depending on your child’s needs and the information already available, assessment may occur through observation, interaction, caregiver input, and other clinical activities over the course of the initial stage of services.
We’ll be dedicating a future blog to what the ABA assessment process looks like at bitKIDS, including what we look at, why we collect this information, and how it helps shape your child’s individualized programming.
What Happens at Pick-Up?
Please arrive approximately 5 minutes before your child’s session ends.
At pick-up, your therapist will provide a brief update about the session.
This may include information about:
- How your child transitioned
- Activities they enjoyed
- Skills they demonstrated
- Anything the therapist would like you to know
If you have a question that requires more privacy or discussion, you can always email the RBA.
You Don’t Have to Have It All Figured Out
You may not know exactly how to prepare your child for their first day—and that’s okay. Here are three simple ways to help:
1. Share openly on the Intake Form
Tell us about your child’s strengths, preferences, anticipated challenges, communication, and what works well for them. This helps our team plan ahead.
2. Visit the clinic
Take advantage of an optional clinic tour so your child can become familiar with the space before their first session. Alternatively, photos of our indoor and outdoor spaces are available on our website.
3. Preview the team
Visit our Team page with your child to look at photos of the people they may meet.
You know your child best. Sharing what you know helps us prepare for a positive start.
We’ll take it from there.
Your child’s first day is the beginning of our relationship with your family. We’ll use what we learn during those first sessions, along with the assessment process and your family’s priorities, to build individualized programming that makes sense for your child.
What’s Next?
In our next blog, we’ll take a closer look at the ABA assessment process—what our clinical team is looking for, what information we gather, and how assessment helps us decide where to begin.
Because before we can decide where we’re going, we need to understand where we’re starting.
