Family-run, locally rooted, culturally responsive.

Why MCDS exists

Families in South Florida often tell the same story: a child receives an autism diagnosis, a pediatrician recommends applied behavior analysis (ABA), and then the family lands inside a large national ABA company where the intake team, the clinicians, and the treatment plan all feel a step removed from the child in front of them. MCDS was built as a more personal, locally accountable alternative — family-led, BCBA-supervised, and shaped by the neighborhoods it serves.

MCDS is not a franchise. Every family reaches the same small intake team, and every plan of care is coordinated by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst who is accountable for the quality of that plan. That accountability structure is described in more detail on the clinical leadership page.

Rooted in South Florida

South Florida is not one community — it is dozens. Haitian Creole is spoken in Miramar and North Miami. Spanish is spoken by families in Hialeah, Doral, Homestead, and much of Miami-Dade. English-, Portuguese-, and multilingual households live side by side in Broward and Palm Beach neighborhoods. MCDS's leadership grew up in this reality, and it shapes how we listen, how we plan, and how we choose the people who work directly with children.

You can read more about how that shows up in day-to-day care on the cultural responsiveness page, and about the individualized clinical framework on our approach.

Who MCDS serves

MCDS provides applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy for children with autism spectrum disorder and related developmental needs. Care is delivered where children actually learn: at home through in-home ABA therapy, in the community through community-based sessions, alongside classroom teams through school-based ABA support, and — when clinically appropriate — via telehealth.

Geographically, MCDS covers the tri-county area: Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach. If you're not sure whether MCDS currently reaches your specific city, use the service area checker.

A different kind of ABA company

Bigger doesn't always mean better in ABA. National providers sometimes hand each family a different intake coordinator, a different clinical supervisor, and a treatment plan built from a shared template. MCDS's family-run structure means the same small team of adults stays close to each family from the first phone call through active care — the way most families expect it to work when they first hear the word "therapy."

MCDS also stays honest about what it doesn't do. We don't guarantee coverage, we don't overpromise clinical outcomes, and we don't build treatment plans that would only work in someone else's house. Where MCDS can help, it says so; where it can't, it says that too.