Many parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have heard of applied behavior analysis, also known as ABA. Maybe your child has just been diagnosed with autism and you were told that your child qualifies for ABA. Maybe you are exploring interventions that could help your child with important life skills like potty training or reducing challenging behaviors and you happened to come across an article online about ABA. Or maybe you know someone else who has a child with autism and their child receives ABA services.
If you aren’t familiar with ABA or want to know more about what ABA is really like, especially what an ABA session for your child would look like, keep reading. We’ll be sharing information about what happens in an ABA session for children who have autism.
Before we discuss what happens in a typical ABA session, let’s understand why ABA therapy is important. ABA, or applied behavior analysis, is the leading evidence-based therapy for autism spectrum disorder. It is known as the best practice treatment for autism as recommended by the U.S. Surgeon General and the American Psychiatric Association. ABA is considered an evidence-based therapy and a best practice for children with autism because the intervention has been studied through extensive and credible scientific research. This research has led to the finding that ABA is effective at helping children with autism in a variety of ways from reducing challenging behaviors, improving self-care and life skills, and supporting the child’s social and communication skills to help them improve their overall quality of life.
ABA is an effective intervention for children with autism, but what does it look like? What will your child be doing in an ABA session?
There really isn’t one answer to this question. Every child has their own strengths, needs, preferences and thus their treatment plan. ABA sessions will be individualized to their unique traits. No two children will have the exact same ABA session.
A child could also have different types of ABA sessions from one session to the next. For instance, one day a child might work mostly in a one-on-one setting and then another day he or she might have a social skills group that he attends as part of his ABA session. Another ABA session might involve working on communication skills, or behavior.
Additionally, as your child learns new skills and challenging behaviors become less frequent, your child’s ABA sessions might change again. For instance, a child who does not have an effective way of communicating might receive intensive training on developing functional communication skills and then once the child has a good foundation of communication skills, the ABA session might become more flexible and might include more natural experiences and less intensive training, using less discrete trial training. ABA sessions include a variety of activities and approaches to learning to best meet your child’s treatment needs.
An ABA session varies in length from one child to another. Some children might have an ABA session for one hour while another child might have an ABA session that lasts four hours. Despite the length of the ABA session, children in ABA are provided with a variety of activities to help them learn new things and to help them generalize their skills and behaviors in new ways which helps them to maintain their progress.
ABA sessions are designed carefully and compassionately so that your child’s time is used in an appropriate and effective manner and in a way that respects both their time and their well-being.
There are a variety of approaches to providing ABA intervention. Two of the most common approaches to providing ABA therapy include the use of discrete trial training (or DTT) and natural environment training (or NET). DTT and NET will be used in different ways and in different amounts for your child, depending on your child’s needs.
DTT is often provided at a desk or table. It’s a more formal interaction, where each opportunity to teach the skill has a discrete beginning and end. The therapist will work one-on-one with your child in an intensive manner to help your child get access to a high number of learning opportunities on very specific learning goals. The use of positive reinforcement is a big part of DTT.
NET is an approach that often uses situations that your child would experience in their everyday life to help them learn new things. For example, the use of NET in your child’s ABA session might look like your child is just playing with toys or that they are eating lunch but, in fact, your ABA therapist has a strategic plan for why these activities are part of your child’s treatment. Specific goals are being worked on within these activities.
DTT helps your child master skills more quickly and efficiently because the child receives reinforcement after every trial. Then, NET helps your child more easily generalize the skills so he or she can use them outside of therapy. Both types of training are important. We refer to them as the “dream team” because they help your child more quickly master skills and apply them in real-life situations.
An ABA session might include any of the following activities:
Desk learning time : This is sometimes referred to as discrete trial training or DTT.
ABA is a scientific field which offers services to people to help them achieve meaningful goals and make positive changes in their lives. There are some things that are often found within each ABA session that you should be familiar with. These include:
This is an example of an ABA session for a child with limited verbal language skills and difficulty with social interactions. Assuming he attends a four-hour ABA session five days per week and his sessions are from 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm. Please note that this is only an example. Actual session will vary depending on several factors.
The professional BCBA’s and therapists at Behavioral Innovations will work with you and your child to design the best ABA sessions for your child. We will base our plans and recommendations on your child’s unique needs, their strengths, and their personality and preferences as well as what is known to be effective and supportive of quality ABA services while always keeping in mind what is in the best interest of your child’s quality of life.
Behavioral Innovations therapy sessions can help your child learn new skills and manage challenging behaviors in a way that helps improve their functioning now while also building a foundation that will support your child’s future well-being. To find out more, contact us at 855.782.7822 or fill out a short form and our team will contact you shortly.