Our Story

It all Began in 2015...

ABA Connections is a private Ottawa therapy center that specializes in providing evidence-based and innovative assessments and interventions based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to children and youth. Founded in 2015 by Leigh Giles, M.ADS, BABA, ABA Connections served as a response to the ever growing wait list for ABA therapy and the need for high quality, early intervention services that were affordable, safe, and ethical.

At the beginning, ABA Connections solely provided home-based services to clients however quickly discovered the need for a more structured, sanitized, and professional environment for conducting therapy, parent training and consultations. As such, ABA Connections leased its first office space; a one room private office with a shared gross motor room and art area.  With this, ABA Connections officially began offering both in home and in center services in the east end of Ottawa.

As the list of clientele grew, so did the need for an office that could provide the quality of service that ABA Connections strived to provide. In the Fall of 2016, ABA Connections opened a second center-based location in Nepean. In December of 2016, just as ABA Connections turned one, the east end location was closed in order to grow and enhance services in its new central location.

In the summer of 2017 ABA Connections expanded further and temporarily moved to a larger location to provide summer services to new and returning clientele. That summer also brought forth the creation of our School Skills program, a transition program for clients exiting intensive therapy and returning to the school environment full time.  Throughout the summer of 2017, ABA Connections searched for a more permanent location that would meet the needs of both clients and an ever growing staff which now included ABA Therapists, Lead Therapists, and Senior Therapists. This home was found at Unit 15, 190 Colonnade Street in Nepean! Our growth wasn’t complete though! In the summer of 2018, ABA Connections took over a neighbouring unit and expanded to the front on Unit 16. With this ABA Connections added 6 additional therapy room, a larger area for gross motor programming and larger boardroom for parent meetings and inter-professional collaboration.  The following summer ABA Connections expanded once more, this time to the back of Unit 16. With this expansion a new and much larger snack room, a complete classroom were created as well as a dedicated art and sensory room. In addition, the expansion allowed ABA Connections to begin providing a larger variety of services including social groups, youth services and life skills programming.

In the Spring of 2020, following the guidelines of the Government of Ontario and the State of Emergency in regards to COVID-19, ABA Connections temporarily closed its doors to in-person services. However, due to the dedication and commitment of our amazing staff, telehealth services were quickly launched allowing our clients to access parent training, family supports, social groups, materials, resources and direct therapy. The summer of 2020 saw ABA Connection reopen to in-person services and introduced a number of new services and supports such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Accept. Identify. Move. (AIM) and Practical Functional Assessments (PFAs). Shortly after, in the Fall of 2020, ABA Connections opened its second location in Carleton Place, Ontario for both in-person and in-home services.

The winter of 2020 focused on the development of new programming that specialized in complex interfering behaviours, feeding and sleep. In the Spring of 2021 ABA Connections launched its in-house Registered Behaviour Technician®  training program that meets the 40-hour training requirement for credentialing with the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. At the same time, our Strategic Solutions for Complex Interfering Behaviours (SSCIB) program was launched after over a year of research, training, supervisions and direct implementation.

As of now, ABA Connections continues to grow and develop as it meets new milestones and achieves goals. A large part of our success is due to the wonderful clientele we serve and our amazing employees. Our plans for 2022 and beyond include the launch of new services which include feeding and intensive toileting programming as well as a greater focus on youth and adult services, a wider selection of assessments and programming, a focus on mental health services through AIM and ACT and the continued support of our staff through training, credentialing and supervision.