Child Behavior Coaches in Chicago

A Chicago child behavior coach works with the parent, not the child. They help you read what is driving a behavior, then give you concrete things to say and do — around tantrums, boundaries, transitions, sibling conflict, bedtime resistance, and big feelings. They are coaches and educators, not clinicians, and they do not diagnose or treat.

No, and this directory deliberately excludes them. BCBAs and ABA providers deliver a clinical behavioral intervention, usually to the child. The coaches here work with parents on everyday parenting and are not licensed to treat. If you are specifically looking for a clinical behavioral assessment, ask your pediatrician for a referral rather than using this page.

Speak to your pediatrician first if your child’s behavior is unsafe to themselves or others, if it appeared suddenly or changed sharply, if it is badly affecting eating or sleeping, if school or daycare has raised a formal concern, or if you suspect a developmental or mental-health condition. In Illinois that is also the route into an Early Intervention evaluation before age three, and into a school district evaluation after it. A coach can complement clinical care but is not a substitute for an assessment.

Two of the six coaches here publish their rates in full. Dana Hirt lists $200 for a single fifty-minute strategy session, packages from $720 to $1,080, and a ten-session package at $1,700; her group coaching runs $40 to $50 per participant per session. Rachael Fritz lists $150 for a single live session, $1,500 for a full curriculum with nine sessions, and $47 for an on-demand support session. The rest do not post pricing, so those fields are left blank here rather than estimated — ask on an introductory call.

Four of the six state or evidence it. Beth Miller’s site says sessions run “in person (for clients in the Chicago area) or by phone, Zoom, or FaceTime”. Cara Pollard’s practice serves clients nationwide and a published client account describes weekly remote sessions from San Francisco. Dana Hirt’s published client accounts come from Massachusetts and Ohio. Rachael Fritz sells live one-to-one sessions plus an on-demand session needing no appointment. Sheryl Stoller and Beth Kurtzweil publish no delivery statement we could verify, so we have left that blank rather than assume it — ask them directly.

PCI is the Parent Coaching Institute, whose certified coaches complete a graduate-level programme in parent coaching. Its public directory lists exactly six certified coaches in the whole state of Illinois, and all six are in the Chicago metro — that registry is the backbone of this page. It is a training credential in coaching parents, not a clinical licence.