--- title: "ABA intake forms: what to include (+ free template)." url: "https://carelu.com/resources/aba-intake-forms" description: "Everything an ABA intake packet should cover — client and caregiver details, insurance, clinical history, availability, and consents — plus a free printable template." updated: 2026-07-19 --- # ABA intake forms: what to include (+ free template). **Short answer:** An ABA intake packet needs seven sections: client information, caregiver and contacts, insurance and funding, diagnosis and clinical history, goals and concerns, availability and logistics, and consents and policies. Keep it short enough to finish in 15–20 minutes on a phone, prefill anything the family already told you, and collect it with a HIPAA-compliant tool under a signed BAA. A good intake form collects everything your clinical and billing teams need to start services — without exhausting a family that is already stretched thin. Most packets fail in one of two directions: so short that staff spend a week chasing missing details, or so long that parents abandon them halfway. Here's what actually belongs in an ABA intake packet, section by section — and a free template you can adapt. ## The seven sections every packet needs - **1 · Client information:** Child's legal name, date of birth, address, primary language, school/daycare placement. - **2 · Caregiver & contacts:** Parent/guardian names, relationship, phone, email, preferred contact method and times, emergency contact. - **3 · Insurance & funding:** Payer, member and group IDs, subscriber details, secondary coverage, and a photo of the card — enough to run verification without a follow-up call. - **4 · Diagnosis & clinical history:** Diagnosis, date, diagnosing provider, and the report itself; current and past therapies (ABA, OT, speech); medications; medical conditions relevant to care. - **5 · Goals & concerns:** What the family most wants help with, in their own words — behaviors of concern, safety issues, skills to build. This is clinical gold for the assessment. - **6 · Availability & logistics:** Days and times the child is available, preferred setting (home, center, school), transportation constraints. - **7 · Consents & policies:** Consent to treat, HIPAA acknowledgment, release of information for records requests, financial policy, and cancellation policy — each a separate signature. ## The mistakes that kill completion - **One giant PDF:** A 15-page packet emailed as an attachment gets printed, half-finished, and lost. Break it into short digital steps a parent can finish on a phone. - **Asking twice:** If the family gave a detail on the first call, it should be pre-filled in the packet. Every repeated question erodes trust. - **No follow-up:** Most incomplete packets just need a nudge. Automatic reminders at day 2 and day 5 recover a large share of stalled families. - **Collecting everything before saying anything:** Don't gate a first conversation behind the full packet. Qualify with five questions, then collect the rest while verification runs in parallel. ## Paper, PDF, or digital? Digital, always — with paper as the exception for families who need it. Digital forms can be completed on a phone, validated as they're filled (no missing member IDs), fed straight into your systems without retyping, and chased automatically when they stall. Whatever tool you use, it must be HIPAA-compliant with a BAA — intake data is PHI from the first field. ## Beyond the form The form is one step of a larger funnel — what happens around it (response speed, verification, reminders, scheduling) decides whether the family ever reaches a first session. Carelu turns the whole packet into a conversation: families answer naturally by chat, phone, or text; the record fills itself; and nothing is ever asked twice. [Download the free ABA intake form template (PDF)](https://carelu.com/downloads/aba-intake-form-template.pdf): All seven sections, ready to print or rebuild in your forms tool. Free to adapt for your practice. ## Frequently asked questions ### How long should an ABA intake form be? Long enough to cover the seven core sections, short enough to finish in 15–20 minutes on a phone. Anything the family already told you should be pre-filled. ### Do intake forms need to be HIPAA-compliant? Yes. Intake responses are PHI, so the collection tool needs HIPAA compliance and a signed BAA — a standard web-form builder without one doesn't qualify. ### Can I use this template as-is? Yes — it's free to use and adapt. Have your compliance or legal reviewer confirm the consent language matches your state and payer requirements. ## How Carelu turns your packet into a form families finish The seven sections still have to be collected. The four mistakes on this page are what Carelu takes away: no giant PDF, nothing asked twice, no packet left without a reminder, and no first conversation held back until the paperwork is done. Your consent language stays yours, reviewed by your own compliance team, and your staff still review what comes in. The difference is that it arrives complete, signed, and filed. - **Prefilled from the conversation:** Whatever the family told you by phone, chat or text is already on the form. They confirm it instead of typing it again. - **Short steps on a phone, with resume:** A hosted intake built for a phone at 10pm. A family who stops halfway picks up where they left off, not at page one. - **Every signature becomes a document:** Consents, policies and releases are e-signed, and each signed document is generated as a PDF in the family’s packet the moment it is signed. - **Uploads without a scanner:** Families send the insurance card and diagnosis report by text or upload them on the form. - **Reminders, and a BAA:** Follow-up flows nudge unfinished forms and missing documents until the family responds or opts out. Carelu is HIPAA compliant, SOC 2 Type II, and signs a BAA. ## Keep reading - [Follow-up that reads human](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-follow-up-sequences): Chasing a half-finished packet without sounding like a robot. - [Records requests that come back](https://carelu.com/resources/aba-records-request): The release that belongs in the packet. - [The full growth playbook](https://carelu.com/resources/how-to-grow-an-aba-practice): Why paperwork is a growth constraint. - [After-hours coverage](https://carelu.com/resources/after-hours-intake-coverage): Most packets get opened at night. Source: Carelu — https://carelu.com/resources/aba-intake-forms. Free to cite with attribution.