ABA Monthly Newsletter – May 2025
Summary of the Month
May saw continued geographic expansion among ABA providers, new acquisitions, fresh capital flowing into autism-care software, and legislative momentum around Medicaid work requirements – with some behavioral-health carve-outs preserved. New centers were opened in Iowa, New Mexico, New York, Ohio and Texas. In M&A, Alongside ABA and ABA Unlimited each closed bolt-on deals, while Passage Health and Dazos raised Series A rounds totaling approximately $33 million for ABA and behavioral-health platforms. Regulatory action advanced Medicaid “community engagement” mandates for 2026, with key exemptions intact. LinusBio’s ClearStrand-ASD™ screening tool is now live in California. Finally, 5.9% of school-aged children in Northern Ireland are identified with autism according to official statistics. Below is a categorized recap of May’s top ABA, autism-care, and related mental health news.
Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism-Focused News
New Center Openings & Diagnostic Clinics
- Behavioral Innovations (Conroe, Kingwood & Missouri City, TX)
Opened three new facilities across North Houston and Missouri City, offering early-intervention ABA, structured one-on-one sessions, after-school social-skills programs, diagnostic evaluations, and family-prep services—with no waitlists, including for Medicaid clients.
Source: Community Impact Newspaper; ABA AI Feed - Autism Learning Partners (Albany, NY)
Launched a new clinic on May 5, featuring individualized ABA therapy rooms, school-readiness suites, sensory-motor areas, and partnerships with local schools and medical providers.
Source: PR Newswire - Proud Moments ABA (Las Cruces, NM)
Debuted a play-based ABA clinic offering up to 40 hours/week of one-on-one therapy, parent-training, and collaborative care with schools, all in a sensory-friendly environment.
Source: KFOX TV - Stride Autism Centers (Cedar Rapids, IA)
Opened its 12th Iowa location in Cedar Rapids, extending its clinic-based ABA model – focused on structured one-on-one therapy and social-skills groups – to underserved communities across Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Source: Autism Business News - Bierman Autism Centers (Columbus, OH)
Will debut its 23rd nationwide location this fall in Columbus, staffed by 50+ clinicians delivering ABA, speech-language pathology, and occupational therapies in a play-based environment.
Source: Behavioral Health Business
Investments and Acquisitions
Investments
- Passage Health – $8 Million Series A
NYC-based Passage Health closed an $8 M round led by Telescope Partners to build out its unified ABA practice-management and EHR platform – complete with scheduling, billing, interactive graphing, and analytics tools for over 150 provider organizations.
Source: Applied Behavior Analysis - CentralReach Hits 200,000 Daily Users, $175 Million TTM Revenue
On its latest earnings call, Roper disclosed that CentralReach now serves roughly 200K daily users, is on pace for $175 M in revenue over the 12 months ending June, and operates in “a market with strong sustainable tailwinds.”
Source: Autism Business News - Q1 Deal Volume Surges to Highest Since 2021
The Braff Group reports 14 deals in Q1 2025 – up 133% vs. Q1 2024 and 180% vs. Q1 2023 – while Mertz Taggart tallied 12 transactions (+71% YoY), marking the biggest quarterly M&A haul in nearly four years.
Source: Behavioral Health Business
Aquisitions
- Alongside ABA/San Diego ABA
Fullerton-based Alongside acquired San Diego ABA to extend its home-, school-, and clinic-based autism-therapy network. Co-owner Nicholas Ascolese will remain to lead the San Diego region.
Source: Behavioral Health Business - ABA Unlimited/BehaviorWise
New Jersey’s ABA Unlimited purchased BehaviorWise in Short Hills – adding a decade-old practice specializing in ABA for autism, anxiety, and ADHD to its portfolio.
Source: Behavioral Health Business
Regulatory and Policy
- House Advances Accelerated Medicaid Work Requirements
The U.S. House passed an amendment moving up federal Medicaid “community engagement” rules to end-2026, requiring 80 hours/month of work, volunteer service, or education – but preserving health-based exemptions for those with serious mental-health or developmental conditions, veterans with disabilities, caregivers, and “medically frail” individuals. The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate.
Source: Behavioral Health Business
Other ABA & Autism Updates
- ClearStrand-ASD™ Now in California
LinusBio’s first-of-its-kind biochemical autism screening test for earlier ASD identification – leveraging robotics and laser-based assays – is now available in California, extending its availability to 48 states nationwide..
Source: Business Wire - Northern Ireland Autism Prevalence Climbs to 5.9%
Official 2025 data show 5.9% of school-aged children in Northern Ireland are identified with autism (up from 5% in 2023), including 8.3% of boys (versus 7.3% in 2023).
Source: Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency - ASD Linked to Fourfold Rise in Early-Onset Parkinson’s
A Swedish life-course cohort study found individuals with ASD face a 4.4× greater risk of Parkinsonian disorders in early adulthood, hinting at shared dopaminergic dysfunction.
Source: Medscape - Netflix Renews “Love on the Spectrum”
The Emmy-winning reality series following autistic adults on the dating scene was picked up for a fourth season after ranking in Netflix’s global top 10 for two weeks.
Source: Disability Scoop
Related Mental Health News
Investor appetite for mainstream behavioral-health platforms stayed strong in May, even as policy debates over accelerated Medicaid work mandates and redeterminations intensified. Nautic Partners–backed Nystrom & Associates agreed to acquire Ellie Mental Health’s 25 Minnesota clinics – growing its network from 59 to 84 sites across five states and serving some 1.4 million appointments annually – a deal that shifts Ellie’s Minnesota arm toward a pure-play franchise model. Private-equity ownership of freestanding psychiatric hospitals climbed to 14.1% in 2021 from 8% in 2013, with PE-backed facilities reporting lower restraint use and readmissions but mixed outcomes on staffing levels. Meanwhile, tech funding stayed brisk as Dazos closed a $25 million Series A to build out its behavioral-health CRM, AI-driven billing analytics, and marketing automation suite. Together, these moves underscore that capital continues to flow into scalable, measurement-based mental-health solutions, even amid reimbursement and regulatory uncertainty.
For questions or feedback on this newsletter, please contact us at [email protected].
Best regards,
The Bixpli Team