Play-Based ABA Therapy for Children & Families in Merriam, KS
Finding ABA therapy for your child is about more than checking boxes or choosing the closest provider. You want a team that takes time to understand your child, recognizes their individual strengths, and creates an environment where they can feel comfortable learning and growing.
At The Behavior Project, we provide individualized, play-based ABA therapy for children and families in Merriam, KS. Our approach combines evidence-based strategies with meaningful play and everyday learning opportunities to help young children strengthen communication, social interaction, flexibility, independence, and other skills that matter in daily life.
Your child brings their own personality, interests, strengths, and ways of experiencing the world. We start there.
Serious Learning Doesn't Have to Feel So Serious
Kids learn by doing. They build skills while playing with a favorite toy, interacting with another child, moving through a daily routine, exploring something new, or figuring out what happens when things don't go exactly as planned.
At The Behavior Project, those everyday moments become opportunities for meaningful growth.
Our approach incorporates Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs), allowing our therapists to combine evidence-based ABA principles with developmental learning and child-led interests. Instead of separating learning from play, we thoughtfully bring the two together.
A pretend game might encourage communication. Building something together can create opportunities for collaboration and problem-solving. Taking turns can strengthen social interaction, while moving between activities can provide practice with flexibility.
Your child gets to play, explore, and be a kid while our team stays intentional about the skills we're helping them develop
ABA Therapy Services For Merriam Families
Play-Based ABA Therapy
Using evidence-based NDBI strategies, therapy sessions are designed around your child's interests so learning feels natural, engaging, and enjoyable.
Early Intervention Therapy
Children can benefit from ABA at many ages, but starting earlier provides more opportunities to build these skills during a period of significant development.
Skills & Behavior Assessments
Through play, interaction, and observation, our team gains valuable insight into how your child learns, communicates, and engages with the world around them.
Skills That Matter Long After the Session Ends
ABA therapy shouldn't only help your child succeed while they're with their therapist. We want the skills they're building to become useful during mornings at home, family meals, playtime, preschool or school, community outings, and all the little moments in between.
That looks different for every child.
One child may be working on communicating what they want. Another may be learning how to join a game with another child. Someone else may be practicing getting dressed, handling a change in routine, or completing a familiar task with less assistance.
Those are the kinds of everyday wins we love to celebrate.
Communication That Helps Your Child Be Heard
Communication is about more than words. It's about helping children express what they want, need, think, and feel in ways the people around them can understand.
Individualized goals might include requesting a favorite item, answering questions, expanding language, communicating discomfort, participating in conversations, or learning how to ask for help.
As communication grows, children have more opportunities to connect with the people and experiences around them.
Social Skills Built Through Real Interaction
Children don't develop social skills by memorizing a list of rules. They need opportunities to interact, experiment, play, and practice.
Depending on your child's goals, we may work on shared attention, taking turns, playing alongside peers, joining an activity, initiating an interaction, responding to another child, or participating in cooperative play.
Our play-based approach creates natural opportunities for those skills to develop with support nearby when it's needed.
Flexibility for Life's Unexpected Moments
Childhood doesn't always follow the plan.
Sometimes it's time to stop playing. Someone else chooses the game. A favorite item isn't available. A routine changes. A new environment feels unfamiliar.
Therapy can help children gradually build greater flexibility while developing skills for navigating transitions, waiting, frustration, changing expectations, and unfamiliar experiences.
We aren't trying to eliminate big feelings. We're helping children build more tools for working through them.
Independence That Grows One Step at a Time
Small steps toward independence can create big changes in everyday life.
Depending on your child's developmental goals, ABA therapy may support dressing, feeding, toilet training, cleaning up, following routines, making choices, completing age-appropriate tasks, or communicating when they need assistance.
Each skill creates another opportunity for your child to participate in their day with greater confidence.
Small Steps. Meaningful Progress.
Getting started should feel supportive, not overwhelming. From your first conversation with our team to personalized recommendations and ongoing care, we’re here to help make every step feel clear, comfortable, and designed around your child’s needs.
Fill out our New Patient Inquiry Form to get started.
Connect with our clinical team and schedule a tour.
We verify your insurance and request an assessment.
Your child completes a comprehensive clinical assessment.
Our team develops your child’s personalized treatment plan.
Begin your child’s first day of therapy with our team.
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Why Families Choose The Behavior Project
Locally-Owned
The Behavior Project is a locally owned ABA practice serving families throughout the Kansas City metro. Founded and led by Dr. Kate Lamb, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst at the doctoral level (BCBA-D), our practice is committed to providing individualized, evidence-based care for every child. Her leadership and clinical expertise help ensure the highest quality of care across all locations.
BHCOE Accreditation
The Behavior Project is accredited by the Behavioral Health Center of Excellence (BHCOE), an independent organization that recognizes ABA providers for meeting high standards in clinical quality, staff training, and family satisfaction. This accreditation reflects our ongoing commitment to providing exceptional care and is held by only a small number of ABA providers in the entire Kansas City area.
Experienced & Dedicated
Since opening our doors in 2018, The Behavior Project has had the privilege of serving more than 500 children and their families. We believe our growth has been built on trust, strong relationships, and a commitment to providing individualized care. Every child who walks through our doors is known by name, supported by a dedicated clinical team, and treated with the compassion and attention they deserve.
Why Merriam Families Choose The Behavior Project
We Get to Know the Kid Behind the Goals
Your child's treatment plan matters, but it should never become more important than the child themselves. We want to understand what makes your child laugh, what captures their attention, how they communicate, where they feel confident, and where they could use additional support.
That understanding helps us create therapy that's genuinely individualized rather than simply following the same routine for every child.
Evidence-Based Care with Plenty of Room for Play
Purposeful therapy doesn't have to mean sitting at a table all day. Our NDBI-based approach allows us to incorporate evidence-based ABA strategies into play, movement, exploration, social interaction, and everyday activities.
Children stay engaged in childhood while their therapists intentionally create opportunities for meaningful learning.
Your Family Is Part of the Process
Parents and caregivers know their children in ways no clinical assessment ever could. That's why your perspective matters.
We prioritize family communication and support so you understand what your child is working on, have opportunities to ask questions, and feel connected to their progress beyond the clinic.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does play-based ABA therapy actually look like during a session?
At The Behavior Project, learning happens through play that is meaningful and motivating to the child. For example, while playing in our grocery store, a child might practice requesting items, identifying foods, colors, and shapes, taking turns, engaging in functional play, following directions, and transitioning between activities, all within a single play experience.
To a parent, it may look like simple play, but every interaction is purposeful. Each activity is thoughtfully designed to build communication, social, play, and daily living skills based on the child's individualized treatment plan. Every program is supervised by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA), with progress continuously monitored through ongoing data collection.
Is play-based ABA therapy as effective as more structured ABA approaches?
Yes. The Behavior Project uses a play-based approach grounded in Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Interventions (NDBIs), an evidence-based framework that integrates ABA and developmental science. Research supports NDBIs as an effective approach for helping young children develop communication, language, social, and play skills by embedding teaching into natural interactions and everyday routines. Because learning occurs in meaningful contexts, skills are more likely to generalize across people, settings, and activities.
Is play-based ABA therapy covered by insurance?
Yes. ABA therapy, including our play-based approach, is covered by most insurance plans. We will run your insurance benefits to ensure your plan covers these services before getting started.
What age should a child start play-based ABA therapy?
Children can begin ABA therapy as soon as they receive an autism diagnosis. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children receive intervention as early as possible because research shows that early support can improve communication, social engagement, play, and adaptive functioning. Early intervention provides repeated opportunities to build foundational skills that support learning across home, school, and community settings.
How is The Behavior Project different from other ABA clinics in the Overland Park area?
Families often tell us that The Behavior Project feels different the moment they walk through the door. Rather than a traditional therapy clinic, our clinics are designed as engaging, child-sized communities where learning happens through play and everyday experiences.
We specialize in early intervention and provide individualized ABA therapy using a naturalistic, evidence-based approach. Because we're locally owned and led by a doctoral-level Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA-D), clinical decisions stay in the hands of experienced clinicians who know your child personally. Combined with our national BHCOE accreditation, our focus is simple: providing high-quality, compassionate care that helps children and families thrive.
Parent Support is built into every child's program because we believe the most meaningful progress happens when families feel confident using new skills beyond the clinic.
We Accept Most Major Insurance Plans
Our team works directly with your provider to verify coverage and simplify the process, so you can focus on care—not paperwork.
