3 Things Parents Most Often Say About Us

To truly know AZA is to absorb our mission, “To help as many families as possible with individualized supports.” We are committed to treating each family and each situation as unique, and we tailor our supports to align with those goals. We are unwilling to churn through our families with a “one-size-fits-all” approach, as we do our jobs with our core value to “be of service” always front of mind.  We gather parent feedback every month by sending out surveys to all our families specific to the services we provide. We ask these key questions with a rating option of up to 5 stars and invite them to add further comments and explanation to each answer:

1. What does AZA do well?  
2. How likely is it that you would recommend this program?  
3. Overall, how has our program met your needs? 
4. How would you rate the quality of our program? 
5. How well would you rate the support of our administrative staff? 
6. What should AZA do better? 

Based on this ongoing parent feedback, here are the 3 things that parents tells us all the time:  

1. Communication, Communication, Communication 

A direct quote from a recent survey from a family receiving ABA Therapy emphatically stated that what we do well is, “communicate, communicate, communicate.” 

We, as Team AZA, pride ourselves on our communication among service providers, our family support team, and our client families to ensure that treatment plans are cohesive. Another facet of our successful communication is our ability to collaborate. We don’t operate in silos with each therapist and tech working alone when the client may need multiple services. What makes our team shine, as evidenced by the feedback, is the holistic view we take and how well we include families and all connected AZA staff to ensure everyone has more than enough information and data to guide and plan for the best possible success for our clients.  

We are delighted when our clients provide specific feedback on the strength of our communication with comments like these:  

• Understanding and listening to families 
• Explaining what and why of treatment plans 
• Communicating with parents, making sure the whole team is on the same page, listening to parents, showing kindness with clients, attending to our greatest needs 
• Communicating and teaching both the child and family 
• Always answering emails in a timely manner 

2. Consistent, quality service 

In the autism services world, two clinical professionals may have the exact same qualifications, but that doesn’t mean their quality of care of commitment to excellence is equal. When we bring on new therapists, clinicians, care providers or other support staff, we are looking for the right fit for our culture of excellence, not just another person for our employee pool.   

Included in our vision statement is our intention and goal, “To be a model of excellence for autism organizations by providing comprehensive services across the lifespan.”  

Because of this focus on quality and exemplary communication (see number 1 above), the result is a scientifically-based, effective and professional application of our services across the board.  Some parent comments in a recent feedback survey include: 

1. Effective, science-based strategies to help our children succeed 
2. Explaining methods and how the small steps will lead to the big goals 
3. Modeling what the parent needs to learn to do with and say to their child 
4. Setting attainable goals 
5. Consistency in attendance, promptness, professionalism 
6. Developing and executing programs to improve skills 

3. Connecting and working with the family 

We understand that when families come into the world of an autism diagnosis, with new challenges like qualifying for DDD and starting new therapies, it can be all be very overwhelming and difficult to deal with alone.   

We always recommend that families begin this journey with their first stop being our Family Support Team.  These experienced and knowledgeable parents are available for calls with families throughout the day (which can be booked online here).  There is no charge for this service, and parents can contact us with any question they have.  Part admin, coordinator, resource provider and sympathetic ear, this team handles any and all inquiries related to autism. There’s virtually nothing they can’t help with because they’re willing to do what it takes to help the family, even if that means doing research, making connections, and circling back to the family in question. Their purpose is to provide “support, answers, and guidance for many challenges that families face.” So outstanding is this team that in a recent feedback survey where they were rated out of 5, they received a 100% rating and received numerous comments like, “Friendly and understanding” and “They go above and beyond.” We have found that, based on these surveys, our support staff in all programs we offer receive similar comments and kudos.  

When it comes to our therapists and technicians, a similar theme emerges. We strive to ensure our clients’ families are as involved as they wish to be, as we have seen this have a positive impact on progress. We love seeing confidence in our parents grow as they incorporate the techniques they are learning at home.  

Here are just a few of the comments we have received in reference to how we connect and work with our families:  

• Modeling what the parent needs to learn to do with and say to their child 
• Encouragement 
• Compassion when things are hard for anyone in the family 
• Making sure the whole team is on the same page 
• Listening to parents 
• AZA is always very involved and a great team that keeps things on track!  

In fact, we believe that involving families at all levels is the key to improving service delivery systems and child outcomes, both now and for the future. You can read more about our history and how we started AZA with this intention here.  

As AZA fulfills our mission to expand our ability to provide families services throughout the state of Arizona, Team AZA has no intention of changing our goals, values, client care, communication, and commitment to excellence. We have seen firsthand in family feedback that we have a winning combination which brings about the best outcomes for our clients, their families and the autism community.

AZA United's Family Support Team provides support and guidance for families facing any number of challenges as they navigate the Autism journey. This service is available at no charge to all members of the autism and developmental disability community. You may make a phone appointment that works with your schedule by visiting azaunited.org/supportcall  

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