ABA therapy for children in Georgia: online support instead of months of waiting
Georgia has become one of the major emigration hubs in recent years, and along with that, a place where many families are rebuilding a support system for a child with developmental differences almost from scratch. ABA therapy for children is officially available only to a limited extent in Georgia, and most families specifically looking for a certified applied behavior analysis specialist end up having to consider formats outside the local market.
What's available locally
Tbilisi has several international schools that offer certain support measures, including elements of behavioral plans — but this is limited to specific schools and isn't a system available to all families in the city, let alone beyond it. The country's public system of early intervention and specialized behavioral help is developed considerably less than in countries with a long tradition of funding this kind of care, and in practice most families who've recently moved to Georgia look for help either through private specialists in related fields (speech therapists, psychologists) or through remote formats.
Why there's practically no certified BCBA specialist locally
The official registry of certified behavior analysts shows that outside the US and Canada, certificates are spread across 67 countries, and even the countries with the most notable presence of such specialists (the UK, Italy, Ireland) count no more than a few hundred. Georgia isn't among the countries with a documented notable presence of BCBA specialists — that doesn't mean help doesn't exist at all, but it does mean finding a specialist with an actual international certification physically in the country will be objectively difficult.
What to do if you're moving to Georgia with a child who needs behavioral help
- Don't put off assessing your child's skills until a local specialist is found — remote VB-MAPP/ABLLS-R testing can start right after the move, regardless of what's happening with local paperwork.
- Use local resources for related support where a specialist's physical presence is necessary — for certain kinds of sensory work, for example — and build the systematic behavioral program remotely as the main line.
- Lean on diaspora and parent communities in Tbilisi and other major cities — they often know about the resources that exist on the ground, not just the formally announced ones, faster than official sources do.
What is known about the child support system in Georgia
Little documented information is available about how Georgia supports children with developmental delays, far less than for Germany or Poland. So this article has no figures or program names we could not verify. If you live in Georgia and have dealt with local specialists or government programs, write to us and we will add the verified details.
We work with families in Georgia online: a skills assessment, an individual plan and regular supervision by a specialist. There is no need to wait for a certified specialist to appear in the country. If you are choosing a country to move to with a child who needs behavioral support, compare Serbia too, because our article ABA therapy in Serbia and Montenegro describes how to look for help when there are almost no specialists. At the time of writing, in October and November 2026, our specialists hold sessions there in Belgrade and Novi Sad.