Navigating the Gap: What to Do While Waiting for ABA Therapy to Start This Fall in Springfield, IL

Spring is officially here in Springfield, bringing longer days, warmer weather, and for many of you, a lot of eager anticipation. As we watch the trees start to bud, you might also be counting down the months until Something to Say ABA officially opens our doors this Fall.

But right now, you are in a unique kind of limbo. Our waitlist isn't open yet, and we aren't quite ready to start navigating the maze of insurance paperwork together. You know support is on the horizon, but you can't even check off the administrative boxes to feel like you are actively moving forward towards starting ABA therapy. It is the "pre-waiting" waiting game, and honestly, it can feel incredibly daunting.

Parenting a child on the autism spectrum is a profoundly beautiful journey, but let’s be entirely real for a moment: it is undeniably hard. When you are navigating meltdowns, communication barriers, or rigid routines without a support team fully in place—and without even a spot on a waitlist to anchor your hopes to—it is easy to feel overwhelmed. You might be wondering, “What should I be doing right now? How can I help my child between now and the Fall?”

First, take a deep breath. You are already doing the most important work simply by loving and advocating for your child. While we gear up behind the scenes for our grand opening, here are a few relatable, actionable, and gentle ways to navigate this season of waiting without burning yourself out.

1. Give Yourself Permission to Just Be "Mom" or "Dad"

When you are waiting for professional services to begin, there is a tremendous, heavy temptation to turn your living room into a makeshift clinic. You might find yourself scrolling through the internet late at night, reading complex articles about interventions, and feeling a crushing sense of guilt that you aren't doing enough "work" with your child.

Please, give yourself some grace and put down the heavy expectations. You do not need to act as your child’s therapist right now. Your primary job is to simply be their parent. If a day goes completely off the rails, it is entirely okay to scrap the grand plans, turn on their favorite movie, and just survive until bedtime.

Taking the pressure off yourself to constantly "fix" or "teach" relieves the tension in your home. You are not failing your child by choosing not to run drills or force activities. By prioritizing your own emotional bandwidth and focusing on simple love and safety, you are preserving your energy for the marathon of parenting.

2. Focus on Simple, Demand-Free Connection

Instead of trying to force structured learning, use this waiting period to build trust through simple play. Often, we feel the need to pull our kids into our world to play the "right" way. The secret to connecting with a child on the spectrum is often the exact opposite: you have to step into their world.

Here are a few highly concrete, everyday ways to connect without placing any heavy demands on your child:

• Join Their Repetitive Play: If your child isn't building a tower with blocks, but is instead lining them up end-to-end, sit next to them and gently hand them the next block. If they love spinning the wheels of a toy car upside down, get on the floor and spin a wheel, too. You are showing them that their interests are valid and that you are a safe, fun playmate.

  
  

• Get Face-to-Face: Children with autism often don't naturally look up to check our reactions. Make it easy for them. Position yourself so your child can easily see your eyes and expressions without having to do the work of finding you. Lay on your stomach on the floor or sit opposite them on the carpet.

  
  

• Pause the Endless Questions: It is a natural parenting instinct to constantly ask questions while playing ("What color is that? What does the cow say? Can you say 'car'?"). For a struggling child, this can feel like a pop quiz they didn't study for. Try to replace questions with simple, enthusiastic narration. Just say, "Wow, big red block!" or make a funny "Vroom!" sound. It takes the pressure off while keeping the connection strong.

  
  

3. Build "Mini-Routines" to Lower Anxiety

Children thrive on predictability. The unknown of "what happens next" is often a massive trigger for anxiety and meltdowns. While you absolutely do not need a rigid, minute-by-minute daily schedule, creating small, predictable mini-routines can bring a lot of peace to your home.

Focus only on the bookends of the day: morning wake-ups and bedtime. Keep the order of events for these two times exactly the same every single day. For example: pajamas off, brush teeth, read one specific book, lights out.

To make it even easier, you can draw simple pictures on a piece of paper or a whiteboard (a picture of a toothbrush, a picture of a book, a picture of a bed). Point to the picture before you do the activity. When your child knows exactly what to expect, and has a visual reminder to help them process it, the world feels a little less chaotic and overwhelming.

And here is the most important part: please give yourself and your child grace when the routine completely falls apart. Because it absolutely will. There will be days where a meltdown derails bedtime, the visual schedule gets ignored, and nothing goes as planned. When that happens, take a deep breath and let the routine go for the night. One chaotic evening does not erase your progress. Tomorrow is a brand new day, and you can just pick right back up where you left off. Consistency is about showing up and trying again, not about being perfect.

4. Become a Detective for Your Future ABA Therapy Team

You know your child better than anyone else. Even so, trying to recall every detail of their daily habits, current skills, and unique challenges on the spot during an intake appointment can feel completely overwhelming.

To make that future conversation easier on yourself, you can put on your "detective" hat right now. You don't need to analyze why things are happening—just record what is happening. Keep a cheap notebook on the kitchen counter or use the notes app on your phone to casually track the concrete details of your child's day:

• Track the Hard Moments: Instead of simply writing "bad meltdown," jot down the context, like, "Cried and threw toys immediately after the iPad battery died."

  
  

• Track How They Communicate: Note the exact ways they ask for things. Do they pull you by the hand to the fridge? Point to what they want? Cry until you guess correctly? Do they use words? If so, how many?

  
  

• Track Their Favorites: Write down their absolute favorite snacks, the specific texture of the blanket they love, or the one silly game that always guarantees a laugh.

  
  

Having a running log of these everyday moments does more than just lower your stress during the intake process. It gives the team at Something to Say ABA a beautiful, clear picture of who your child is, allowing us to build a compassionate, personalized plan from day one without having to guess what makes them tick.

Hang in There

The days can feel incredibly long, but the Fall will be here before we know it. You are doing an incredible job navigating a path that doesn't come with a manual. Celebrate the small victories, forgive yourself for the hard days, and remember that you are not alone in this.

We are working hard to get everything ready, and we cannot wait to open our doors, meet your incredible kids, and partner with your family at Something to Say ABA. Until then, take a deep breath, lean into the play, and know that support is on the way.