The Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) approach teaches social, motor, and verbal behaviors as well as reasoning skills. ABA treatment is especially useful in teaching behaviors to children with autism who may otherwise not "pick up" these behaviors on their own as other children would. The ABA approach can be used by a parent, counselor, or certified behavior analyst.
ABA uses careful behavioral observation and positive reinforcement or prompting to teach each step of a behavior. A child's behavior is reinforced with a reward when he or she performs each of the steps correctly. Undesirable behaviors, or those that interfere with learning and social skills, are watched closely. The goal is to determine what happens to trigger a behavior, and what happens after that behavior to reinforce it. The idea is to remove these triggers and reinforcers from the child's environment. New reinforcers are then used to teach the child a different behavior in response to the same trigger.
ABA treatment can include any of several established teaching tools: discrete trial training, incidental teaching, pivotal response training, fluency building, and verbal behavior (VB).
ABA is considered by many researchers and clinicians to be the most effective evidence-based therapeutic approach demonstrated thus far for children with autism.
For more information regarding our Applied Behavior Analysis program contact our office.
