The Institute for Behavior Change was founded in 1997 by Licensed Psychologist and Certified School Psychologist Steven Kossor who created our model for "Behavioral Health Rehabilitation Services" (BHRS) that are funded entirely by the Medicaid EPSDT mandate. Under the direct supervision of licensed professional psychologists, our services are available to disabled children regardless of family income (this is true in at least 36 states as well), as a Civil Right under the Social Security Act. Our staff have delivered these services to more than 600 children throughout four Southeastern Pennsylvania counties.
If a child needs help to address behavioral difficulties at home or in school, our staff can deliver Behavior Specialist Consultation (BSC) services, Mobile Therapy (MT) or Therapeutic Staff Support (TSS) services to support and treat them. We currently employ more than 100 staff, including five Licensed Psychologists and three Certified School Psychologists. When evidence-based BHRS is combined with "wraparound" principles, Effective Treatment in a Wraparound Cup® results. This model multiplies the capacity of a single licensed mental health professional by a factor of more than 30, enabling the delivery of the most effective, cost-efficient mental health treatment services possible to children in rural, suburban and urban settings. For more information about our highly successful treatment model, Medicaid, EPSDT, wraparound services, and advocacy: Click Here
Our Founder and Executive Director has received commendations from the US Congress, both houses of the Pennsylvania legislature, and the President's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health for his creation of a visionary and highly successful community-based model for delivering professional mental health treatment to children in their homes and schools. This model can be implemented throughout the world to help children with Autism spectrum disorders, ADHD and other conditions. Cindy Mann, a Director at the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) commended our Founder and Executive Director in 2011 for creating “an effective approach to serving children and adolescents with developmental disabilities.” Her enthusiastic letter is here.
We are behavioral scientists. We teach the use of evidence-based practices, how to monitor treatment outcomes on an ongoing basis, and how to conduct research to develop new and effective behavioral intervention strategies and techniques. Our licensed psychologists perform state-of-the-art psychodiagnostic evaluations. Our Certified School Psychologists perform school-related evaluations and other consultations. We provide Medicaid eligibility evaluations for Pennsylvania children who have mental disabilities.
Our treatment staff collect outcome data on all of our BHRS treatment programs every week (parental assessment of progress), and modify the child's treatment program accordingly. Since 2002, we have monitored more than 6,000 treatment plans and posted an average "success" rate of 75% (reducing target behavior or stabilizing deteriorating behavior patterns), addressing physical aggression, safety issues, noncompliance with adult prompts, socialization deficits and communication deficits in children between the ages of 2 and 19 diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders, ADHD and other conditions. Independent researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2007) and at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia (2010) have found a statistically significant association between the delivery of our treatment programs and positive changes in the behavior of children with serious behavioral challenges.