Frequently asked questions

Stridesy is a skill-building app for parents of autistic children. It uses methods drawn from applied behavior analysis (ABA) to help parents run structured practice sessions at home — with guided assessments, evidence-based skill goals, step-by-step session instructions, and progress tracking. Stridesy is designed for parents, not clinicians, and requires no professional training to use.

No. Stridesy is not a substitute for professional ABA therapy, speech-language therapy, or any other clinical service. It is a tool that helps parents implement structured, evidence-based practice at home — which research consistently shows improves outcomes for children who are also receiving professional support. For families on waitlists or without access to professional services, Stridesy provides a structured starting point, not a clinical replacement.

Stridesy is for parents and caregivers of autistic children who want to support their child's development at home using structured, research-backed methods. It is most commonly used by families who are on waitlists for ABA therapy, families supplementing existing professional services with home practice, and families in areas with limited access to autism services.

Most autism apps are passive — videos to watch, games to play, content to consume. Stridesy is active: it generates a personalized skill plan based on your child's assessment results, gives you step-by-step instructions for running practice sessions, and tracks your child's progress across sessions so you can see what's working. The structure is based on the same data-driven, goal-directed framework used in professional ABA programs.

Stridesy is designed primarily for young children — toddlers through early school age (roughly 18 months to 10 years). The skill areas and goal library are built around early communication, social, play, and daily living skills. The assessment framework is calibrated to this developmental range, though some goals are appropriate for older children who are working on foundational skills.

When you create an account, Stridesy guides you through a structured intake assessment — a series of questions about your child's current skills, challenges, and daily context. The assessment covers communication, social interaction, play, imitation, and daily living skills. Based on your answers, Stridesy generates a personalized skill profile and a prioritized goal plan tailored to where your child currently is and what skills are within reach.

A typical Stridesy session is 10–20 minutes. The app guides you through your child's active skill goals, providing specific instructions for each goal: what to say, how to prompt, what to reinforce, and how to record results. After each session, you log how it went, and Stridesy tracks trends across sessions to show you progress over time. Sessions are designed to work anywhere — at a table, during play, or embedded into daily routines.

It varies by child, goal, and consistency of practice. Many parents notice changes in engagement and skill performance within the first few weeks of consistent daily practice. Measurable skill acquisition — a child reliably performing a new skill independently — typically takes weeks to months depending on the skill and the child. Research on parent-implemented ABA consistently shows that consistency matters more than session length: 15 minutes daily outperforms 60 minutes once a week.

No. Stridesy is designed to be used by parents without clinical training. The session instructions are written in plain language, not clinical jargon. The assessment and goal system walk you through everything step by step. If you can follow a recipe, you can run a Stridesy session. For parents who want to go deeper, the Learn section of the site provides comprehensive guides on ABA techniques, reinforcement, data collection, and more.

Yes. Stridesy takes data privacy seriously. We do not sell your data. We do not share your child's information with third parties for advertising purposes. We follow HIPAA-aligned data handling practices for health-related information. For full details, see our Privacy Policy.

Visit the app to see current pricing. Stridesy offers a free trial so you can try the full experience before committing.

Yes — and we encourage it. Stridesy is designed to complement professional services, not compete with them. You can share your progress data and session logs with your child's behavior analyst or therapist to give them a window into what's happening at home. Many families use Stridesy to practice and generalize the same goals their therapist is working on in clinic sessions.

Stridesy currently covers the core developmental areas most relevant for autistic children: communication and language (requesting, labeling, following directions, conversation), social skills (eye contact, joint attention, greeting, turn-taking), play skills (functional play, pretend play, peer play), imitation, and daily living skills (self-care, routines, independence). The goal library is built on a framework drawn from validated ABA assessment tools.

Yes. Stridesy includes goals and strategies for children at all communication levels — including children who are not yet using words. For non-verbal and minimally verbal children, the focus is on foundational communication skills: joint attention, imitation, gesture use, and early requesting. The app does not assume spoken language as a prerequisite for any of the core skill areas.