What Is ABA Therapy? A Parent's Guide to Applied Behavior Analysis

Why I Started Shine & Star Behavioral (And Why I Almost Didn't Become an Behavior Analyst)

By Augusta | Shine & Star Behavioral |

ABA Therapy Seattle, WA

I want to tell you something that might surprise you coming from a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who just opened her own ABA practice:

I used to not like ABA therapy.

Not mildly uncertain. Not a little skeptical. I genuinely didn't like it — and for a while, I wanted nothing to do with it.

I Started in Counseling — in Hong Kong

Before I became a BCBA, before Seattle, before the University of Washington — I was a counseling student in Hong Kong.

I was drawn to the relational side of mental health work. The listening. The connection. The space between two people where something real and healing could happen. So when I first encountered Applied Behavior Analysis, my reaction was swift and uncomfortable: this is not the kind of therapist I want to be.

What I saw — or thought I saw — looked rigid, prescriptive, and clinical in the worst sense of the word. Some older ABA approaches felt like they were focused on changing behavior from the outside rather than understanding the child from the inside.

I almost walked away entirely.

What Changed Everything

But I stayed. I kept learning. And slowly — through training at the University of Washington and real clinical work with real children and families — my understanding shifted completely.

What I discovered was this: the science of ABA and the way it is sometimes applied are two very different things.

At its core, ABA is the science of understanding why people do what they do — and how to support meaningful, lasting change. Done well, it is deeply human work. The warmth I had found in counseling doesn't disappear in ABA. In the best practice, it is the foundation of everything.

My counseling background wasn't in conflict with ABA. It made me better at it.

Why I Started Shine & Star Behavioral

I started Shine & Star Behavioral because I believe every child deserves ABA therapy that looks nothing like the version I almost walked away from — one where:

• Play is the vehicle for learning

• Behavior is understood as communication

• Every child is welcomed, diagnosis or not

• Families are partners, not observers

I named this practice Shine & Star Behavioral — 星光心語 — because every child carries a light that is uniquely their own. Our job is simply to help them find it.

To Parents Who Feel the Way I Once Did

If ABA has ever felt off, or cold, or not quite right for your child — I understand. I felt that way too.

Come see what it looks like when it's done differently.

I'm so glad you're here. 🌟

— Augusta, Founder & Lead BCBA | Shine & Star Behavioral | Seattle, WA

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