06/05/2026
If “independence” feels like one more thing you’re failing at, you’re not.
When people talk about independence in ABA, it can sound like a huge list:
Dress themselves. Brush teeth. Do chores. Follow routines. All with no help.
But its more like much smaller wins.
• Your child putting on one piece of clothing without a fight
• Carrying their own backpack to the door
• Using a picture or a word to ask for help
• You repeating yourself a little less than last month
Independence does not mean you disappear as a parent.
It means you slowly move from doing everything for them, to doing things with them, and then watching them try more on their own while you stay close.
If all that happened this week was one tiny step toward “I can do this with less help,” that still counts.
Those small steps build the kind of independence that lasts.