What is ABA therapy, and is it right for your child?
If you are a parent of a child with autism, chances are you have heard about applied behavioral analysis or ABA therapy. But what is ABA therapy, how does it work, and why is it considered a gold standard in the treatment for autism? Let’s find out on another edition of ABA Answered.
Autism or autism spectrum disorder affects 1 in 44 children in the u.s and over 70 million people worldwide. Applied behavioral analysis, also known as ABA therapy, is a scientific approach of deriving tactics from principles of behavior and applying these to improve socially significant performance.
Behavior analysis is the science of behavior, with its roots dating back to the early 20th century. ABA as a discipline began to gain momentum in the 1960s with the Lovas method. After successfully implementing principles of behavior to treat autism, Lovas was able to show a remarkable improvement in 90% of the children in the study group. Since then, ABA therapy has continued to evolve and focus on individualized treatment based on the needs of a specific individual.
But how does aba therapy work in the treatment of autism, depending on specific needs? ABA focuses largely on improving specific behaviors like daily living skills, self-care, social interaction, self-management, family relationships, etc. Since asd is a spectrum, no two individuals with autism are alike. Hence, ABA therapy focuses on specific strengths that increase helpful behaviors while decreasing unwanted or harmful behaviors.
Technically speaking, ABA identifies antecedent behavior and consequences for each scenario that helps the therapists come up with the best approach. For example, let’s say a therapist asks a child to finish his homework, the child throws a tantrum and refuses, the child moves to play without completing the task. Here, the therapist’s request is the antecedent, the child’s tantrum is the behavior and playing with his toys is the consequence. If the therapist has collected significant data to establish this as a pattern, they can then make calculated changes to attempt a change in the behavior.
Similar to this, experts in the aba field who work with individuals on the autism spectrum collect hundreds of data points specific to address several unwanted behaviors and encourage healthy interactions. When considering ABA therapy for a child, it is important to keep in mind a few things.
Is the therapy provided at home or in center?
What kind of training does the therapy team have?
Will parent training be involved?
And, perhaps most importantly, how do you know if the therapy is working
Depending on your family routine, at-home therapy might suit you. Home-based therapy might provide a way for children to learn skills required to function in a home setting. However, center-based therapy helps children learn a wide range of skills by engaging in more forms of social interaction. Children typically have fewer distractions, and it gives them an opportunity to become more familiar with the outside world. In-center setting also better helps the therapists to apply generalization technique. These help with using behaviors children learn during their therapy in a variety of settings with different people and in new ways, so they can be more successful in their daily lives.
ABA services are typically supervised by a board-certified behavior analyst or a bcba who has received advanced college coursework in applied behavioral analysis, as well as supervised field experience working with children with autism. Direct service providers may have the credential known as a registered behavior technician or an RBT. If they have not yet obtained their RBT certification, these therapists should still have received at least 40 hours of ABA training.
Parent training is an essential component of quality ABA training as it can help parents learn about effective ways to improve their child’s skills, manage challenging behaviors, and support their child’s growth and development. A typical ABA session might include the use of discrete trial training DTT and natural environment training NET. DTT and NET will be used in different ways in different amounts depending on the needs of the child.
Professional BCBA or board-certified behavior analysts and therapists will work with you to design the best ABA sessions specific to the goals in place. Autism is a complex journey. The team at Behavioral Innovations is trained and experienced to walk with you at every step. Contact Behavioral Innovations today to see if ABA therapy for autism is the right fit for your child and your family.
