Meet Cristina Busu of Help, Hope, Solutions in Plano

Today we’d like to introduce you to Cristina Busu.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Cristina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I loved kids for as long as I remember. I attended Constantin Bratescu Pedagogical College in Constanta, Romania, a school that allows high school students to earn a teaching degree for grades 1st -4th. Following high school, I earned my undergraduate degree in Psychology from Bucharest University in 2000 with the intention of becoming a school psychologist. Through a very lucky turn of events I learned about, and got admitted into the Human Development and Early Childhood Disorders graduate program at UTD. During my graduate classes I loved learning about, and working with a variety of children with different abilities and disabilities and I found my passion for autism intervention.

After learning more about the most effective treatments for autism I decided to get more training in ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis). I earned a post graduate certification in Behavior Analysis and became a Board Certified Behavior Analyst in 2007.

I opened Help, Hope, Solutions in August 2007 and started providing individualized therapy in both 1:1 and group settings. After almost 10 years we have 2 locations in the DFW area, one in Plano and one in Southlake. We provide services to children, adolescents and adults and our approach targets building language, cognitive, play, and social skills. We help children learn how to talk, play, problem solve and interact with peers and adults. The most rewarding part of my job is seeing a parent’s face when their child says their first word or has the first ever successful day in a mainstream school. Nothing is better than that feeling!

Has it been a smooth road?
Owning a business has its challenges. When we first opened there was no insurance coverage for our services which meant not a lot of children got access to effective intervention. In the last years, insurance companies started covering our services which made ABA Therapy accessible to more children. The down side of this was the fact that I had to learn how to bill insurance, preauthorize services, deal with lots and lots for claim denials – a completely new job I had to learn on the go.

In addition, finding and keeping qualified staff can be difficult as the demand is huge but there are very few trained therapists available.

Staff management can be difficult at times as well but at the end of the day, I love what Help, Hope, Solutions stands for, what we accomplished and how many children we helped along the way.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Help, Hope, Solutions story. Tell us more about the business.
Help, Hope Solutions provides ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapy. Our curriculum is individualized and carefully developed to address the needs of children, adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders ADD/ADHD, Nonverbal Learning Disability, and other social, language and cognitive deficits. WE target a wide variety of needs such as functional language, independent and interactive play, cognitive processing, initiating and maintaining conversations and social interactions, fine/gross motor skills, self help and pre-academic skills. Our high-quality treatment programming and implementation is geared towards maximizing treatment outcomes and client satisfaction.

According to our clients, we are known for providing high quality intervention that targets both teaching children skills that they missed but also teaching them how to use those skills outside of the therapy sessions, in their home and community. Our specific focus on contextual language skills, conversation, and play skills sets us apart from other providers. I am most proud of creating a company that is known for great commitment to improving the symptoms of autism in children, and improving the quality of their lives. I am also very proud when I see our therapists wanting to pursue a career in behavior analysis because they see the impact that our work has on a child’s and his/her family’s live.

How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
As the rates of autism continue to grow, I do believe that ABA therapy is going to continue to grow and be in huge demand both in the private sector and in the public school system.

I do hope that our funding sources (such as insurance companies) will continue to provide ABA coverage for our clients so that all children can have access to effective early intervention.

Contact Info:

• Address: 6101 Windcom Court, Suite 600, Plano TX 75035
  MOVING TO 7800 Preston Road, Suite 202, Plano 75024
  2615 E Southlake BLVD, Suite 190, Plano TX 76262
• Website: www.helphopesolutions.com
• Phone: 972-403-0100
• Email: cristina@helphopesolutions.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Help-Hope-Solutions-117804938254030/

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