About Ability Avenues
We're a BCBA-led ABA therapy provider with a center in Golden Valley and in-home services across most of Minnesota, working with children ages 2–12. Our job is two things at once: help your child build real skills through play, and make Minnesota's funding maze survivable for you.
This page is about how we work — what we believe, how we're structured, and the lines we draw. Everything on it is something you can check or hold us to.
Who we're built for
Coverage is the first thing most families ask about, so here's the whole answer before anything else — not four clicks into a form.
For most families we work with, that means EIDBI — Minnesota's Medicaid autism benefit — covers your child's therapy, often at no cost to you.
Not sure what you have? TEFRA and MinnesotaCare are both paths into MA coverage, and each has its own requirements worth understanding. Have your card handy on the first call and we'll read it with you — or start with our full coverage guide.
What we accept
Straight MA
Fee-for-service Medical Assistance, billed directly to the state.
Blue Plus
Medical Assistance delivered through Blue Cross's managed-care plan — it's the name printed on your card, and it covers both the MA and MinnesotaCare products.
That's the complete list. We don't bill commercial insurance plans — the reason why is below.
What we believe
Stated as things we do, not words we like — so you can tell whether we're actually doing them.
Parents are on the team
You know your child better than any assessment does. You help shape the goals in their treatment plan, you get progress reviews in plain language, and you get coaching you can actually use at home on a Tuesday night.
Play is the work
When a session looks like playing, that's not a break from the therapy — it is the therapy. Much of our teaching is natural environment teaching (NET): skills practiced inside real play and real routines, because that's where they have to hold up.
Honesty about the process
We'll give you a current timeline when you call, tell you plainly what EIDBI does and doesn't cover, and tell you if we're not the right fit for your family. None of that is a comfortable sales conversation. All of it saves you months.
How we're structured
Credentials belong to the team, not to a headshot grid. This is the clinical structure behind every session.
BCBA-led, all the way down
Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) design and supervise every treatment plan. Behavior technicians deliver the day-to-day sessions, and all services are BCBA-supervised. You'll meet your child's BCBA during intake.
An enrolled EIDBI provider
Ability Avenues is enrolled with Minnesota DHS as an EIDBI provider. That enrollment is the thing that lets the benefit pay for your child's therapy here — without it, none of the rest applies.
One plan, written for one child
Every child gets an individualized treatment plan (ITP) built from their own evaluation — their goals, their strengths, their hard moments. Progress is measured against that plan, not against another child's.
Three lines we draw
Each of these costs us something. Each one is also checkable — follow the link and hold us to it.
We don't perform CMDEs
So no one profits from the answer.
Your child's Comprehensive Multi-Disciplinary Evaluation — the assessment that opens EIDBI — is run by an independent partner agency, never by us. We facilitate it during intake and then stay out of it. The people deciding how much therapy your child needs shouldn't be the people billing for those hours.
We'd rather lose you on the first call
So you never spend an intake finding out.
Medical Assistance is Minnesota's payer of last resort, so a commercial plan stays primary — and we don't bill commercial plans. If that's your family, we're likely not your provider today, and you'll hear it in the first five minutes rather than after an intake, a form, and a wait.
We don't decide by your ZIP code
So where you live never limits your options.
The Golden Valley center is open to any family who can bring their child there and home again. A Lakeville family — ~40 min each way — is as welcome as a Robbinsdale one at ~5 min. That drive is a real thing to weigh twice a day, but it's yours to weigh, not ours to rule on. We'll never tell you you're too far.
Our home base
Our center sits on the Golden Valley–Minneapolis border, with access from Highways 100, 55, and I-394. That puts it within reach of the north and west metro and minutes from Minneapolis itself — which is most of why it's there.
It's open to any family who can get their child to it. Distance is yours to weigh, not our rule — see center-based therapy for what a day there actually looks like.
We also deliver the same BCBA-led therapy in homes across most of Minnesota. In-home availability outside the Twin Cities metro is confirmed case by case — we'll discuss your location during your first call.
Our Golden Valley center
1415 Lilac Dr N, Suite 140Golden Valley, MN 55422
Mon–Fri 8:00am–5:00pm
Not sure where to start? That's okay. Most families aren't.
Call us. We'll help you figure out eligibility, coverage, and next steps. The first conversation needs no paperwork at all.