How effective is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy?

Just how effective is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy? Several studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of this therapy since it gained popularity via the Lovaas method. The great thing about this therapy is it is so comprehensively tested most insurances cover it for children with Autism. ABA is proven to be extremely beneficial.

Here are several sources that state just how crucial ABA is for children with autism:

Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 2011; Vol 23: pp 616–620: Found that behavioral interventions are effective for cognitive abilities, language, adaptive behaviors, social skills and reduced anxiety/aggression.

American Journal on Mental Retardation, 1993; Vol. 97, No. 4: pp 359-372: Children who received ABA were tested again at an older age and were found to have benefited from long-term progress.

Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1987; Vol. 55, No. 1: pp3-9: 9 out of 19 children attained average functioning after 40 hours a week of ABA.

Pediatrics 2012; Vol. 130; S186: Forty-eight autistic patients received ABA at the age of 2, their IQ and communication improved significantly.

Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism, National Research Council: States; 40 years of testing ABA has shown that it decreases problem behaviors and teaches new skills to those with autism.

American Psychological Association website: “Since medications on their own rarely improve behavior, behavioral interventions are crucial.”

ABA is not an experimental therapy that pokes and prods at your child in hopes of finding a ‘cure’ or something that might help. ABA is a proven method that will help your child with autism reach a level of skills and functioning you may never have thought possible.

Echolalia in Autistic children

A lot of children who have autism will start their speech journey with something called echolalia. Echolalia is when a child repeats what you have just said back to you. It is done for many purposes, but the main reason a child does this is because they have a hard time with fluent or creative spoken language.

Some good news about echolalia is it can be a sign your child is trying to speak and they may grow out of it. In some cases however, the child never fully overcomes echolalia.  There are some classic examples of this, as some children began with echolalic speech which slowly filters out as they speak more fluently, but rears its head again when they are under stress.

Some parents are told their child would always use echolalia and never speak but through ABA they can form fluent sentences and communicate effectively.

Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy often works with a child's speech. After-all, speech is used for everyday functioning. The way they go about this is by modeling the correct response. As a child can already repeat what has been said this is quite easy to implement. For example;

Therapist: Do you want a cookie?

Child: Want a cookie? (Whilst holding out their hand indicating yes)

Therapist: Yes, please.

Child: Yes, please.

Therapists: (gives the child the cookie)

Basically, this teaches the child that when they say yes to this question, they receive a cookie.

You may notice once this is put in place your child uses an echoic response first and THEN the correct response. For e.g. “Want a cookie? Yes, please.” This is wonderful news as the child is now using the echolalia to process the question before they answer it. Much the same way we do.

Have you ever been in a situation where you weren’t quite sure what somebody said and you repeated it in your head to understand it? This is the function for an echolalic response in this circumstance. It’s quite normal really, and remarkably intelligent problem solving for a child who's having trouble processing the outside world.

ABA can help in so many ways! Echolalia is just one of the many struggles a child with autism faces. ABA looks at the behavior your child uses and normalizes it, trying to both understand it and change it so they still receive the benefits they are looking for.

7 dimensions of ABA

Applied Behavioral Analyses (ABA) is based on 7 core dimensions. Any interventions your therapist uses with your child will fall within or be defined by these 7 categories. Therapists use the anagram GET A CAB to remember each part of the therapy.

G is for Generalization: This is moving skills from one situation to another. Sometimes your child with autism may perform certain skills like using the potty in one location but not in another. Generalization is the process of moving this skill from one place to another.

E is for Effective interventions: All interventions are monitored to ensure effectiveness and to see how they impact the behavior you are trying to change. They must be strong changes that affect something for the better.

T is for Technological: Where interventions and procedures are described thoroughly enough that anyone trained can implement them.

A is for Applied: Socially significant behaviors are worked on, more so than others.  

C is for Conceptually Systematic: The concept of the interventions is chosen from a specific theoretical base, rather than just a trick.

A is for Analytic: All decisions for an intervention or anything within the therapy must be data related.

B is for Behavioral: Only behavior that can be observed and measured should be targeted.

In ABA when measurable behaviors are targeted based on how well it will help your child cope in society, data is collected and explainable interventions are tried and tested, then your child will go far. ABA is a therapy where you record the changes in your child for the better, or worse leaving nothing to chance. This is why this therapy is so effective and gets results more often than any other intervention.

Reinforces: How to make them effective

We talked about token boards and how they help reinforce good behavior during Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) therapy sessions. But there is a way you can improve on the token boards and other reinforces to make them as effective as possible. Your therapist should use some of the following methods to help your child move forward through their skills quickly.

When offering a token or sticker for each completed task, your therapist will ensure it is given as soon as the child completes the task. It is here reinforcement will be the most powerful, mostly due to instant gratification. If you promise a treat later for doing something they were asked to do, the behavior change will not be as rapid. This is why stickers and tokens on hand are such an amazing tool, there’s no wait period.

The stickers, token or reward must also mean something to the child/teenager. If the reward isn’t very exciting, then it’s not motivating. Sure they might do it for the benefit of getting a sticker, but they’d do it with more gusto and energy if that sticker was of their favorite cartoon character and not a gold star.

The therapist should give the treat frequently. It would be a little ineffective to tell your child, ‘if you behave all day you can get a sticker.’ Not only is that unrealistic (who doesn’t make mistakes? What child doesn’t misbehave once or twice?) but the goal is out of reach, and the reward isn’t tangible. It’s not something they can easily imagine themselves receiving. Giving your reward frequently reminds your child how awesome it feels to get it.

The therapist should also make the reward exciting with the use of social engagement. Compliments, hyping up the gift, and being as positive about the reward as possible are some examples.

Another mistake newer ABA therapists make is turning the reward into a negative. Instead of saying, ‘if you don’t do X you won’t get this’, the therapist should say, ‘if you do X you will get this cool sticker!’ In an upbeat happy tone. Now the sticker is exciting, the praise is rewarding, and the outcome is something they want to work towards.

Just think about how it feels when someone tells you that you can’t have something unless you do as they say. Instantly we evaluate if we want that thing anyway, which makes us less likely to be happy about getting it. This is just human nature. One simple change in language can do a lot for any child.

ABA therapy is such a simple therapy really when broken down. From the outside it can be confusing and even a little scary at first, but when we look at it from a common sense angle, it’s little wonder why this therapy is so vastly used in all sorts of fields. Tokens, and stickers are nothing new, and if you ever have any issues with how they are used you can always ask the advice of your BCBA certified analyst or therapist.

Parenting Styles: Techniques can influence an autistic child in many ways

When it comes to Applied Behavioral Analyses (ABA) therapy consistency is key. This is true for all parenting styles; Autistic children are no different from every other child in the world. If they can find a way to get what they want, then they will utilize it.

For instance, if a toddler wants a lolly-pop and you say no, then they ask somebody else and they say yes, they may ask different people until they get candy because it worked before. It’s important that all parents and those raising a child (because it takes a village) are on the same page.

An ABA therapist in effect helps you to raise and teach a child who doesn’t respond as well to traditional teaching methods we as caregivers see in our own families and mainstream media. Because consistency is paramount, it’s imperative you keep constant communication with your therapist. Moreover, all parents involved are on the same page. I say this because one parent, one caregiver, or one daycare/school can undermine an entire week of ABA therapy if they aren’t clued in to how everyone is reacting to a behavior in a child.

It’s the two steps forward one step back issue. If you want ABA to run smoothly and quickly, allowing anyone to take the child a step back will make the process much longer.

If your child attends a daycare, goes to school, has separate households and more than one set of parents, every single person needs information on what techniques are used in certain situations.

ABA is a very effective but easily undermined therapy. This is why having a therapist you trust enough to implement all of their ideas, will make your ABA journey smoother. This is why communication across all platforms will ensure ABA works as well as it should.

If you ever feel that ABA isn’t getting the results you expect, you need to investigate and ensure that everyone is on the same page, and has followed through with the techniques correctly before changing them up or ending ABA all together.

The Benefits of Getting Your Autistic Child ABA Services Before the Age of Three.

If you’re a parent of a child who has recently received a diagnosis of Autism under the age of 2, you will consider what therapies can help them. After all, they may not be verbal right now, they may have little comprehension of the world around them – you may wonder how on earth anyone could teach them socialization and if therapy is even worth it. I know I had many of those thoughts myself; especially since many parents spend countless hours trying to teach my Autistic sons skills with little progress.

One of the first therapies you will likely hear about is Applied Behavioral Analyses (ABA). That sounds like a formidable name by itself, but ABA is simple teaching your Autistic child skills they can use in the world, be it social, verbal, play or correct behaviors.  You may also visualize this as your one-year-old sitting attentively at a desk and ask yourself “how will that work?”

Actually, you’d be surprised what little things a one-year-old with Autism needs to learn that will heavily impact them later on – and a lot of it doesn’t involve desks at all. Like the ability to point, the ability to engage for short amounts of time, and most importantly, the ability to play. Teaching a child these simple age appropriate skills will help them build up to more intense things later on. If a child can point to something, they can communicate better and reduce frustration as they grow. If a child can engage for a short amount of time, then your relationship will grow and you will bond. If a child is taught to play with toys appropriately, then they can learn from these toys (as children learn through play).

According to a study performed by researchers at the New England Center for Children 90% of children under the age of 2 made significant social and communication skill gains within a year, when enrolled in an early intervention program. 90% is a big deal, and this drops to 30% if a child begins after the age of 2 and a half. So ABA is almost guaranteed to help your child, and should definitely be a therapy you look into.

ABA is always aimed at a child as an individual; it isn’t a step-by-step program that can be followed out of a book. This is a complex therapy that takes therapists years of study to master, so you can rest assured your little one won’t be put under any learning regiment they are not ready for.

 visit our website at www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Find Out How Rote Learning Allows Children to Comprehend Without Boring or Upsetting Them

Often Analytical Behavioral Therapy (ABA) uses tools every child needs to learn and intensifies them for the Autistic child. This can look strange when you watch a session, but when you understand the underlying reasons it makes total sense. There are many different ways this can be seen, but one way is with Rote learning.

Many children learn through the process of Rote learning; Rote learning is the act of memorizing. Sometimes with Analytical Behavioral Therapy (ABA) things are repeated to our child many times, over and over again in the first stage of learning to facilitate Rote learning. It may seem alien to watch a therapist repetitively teach something to your child, but we as parents do this too. We repeat numbers, songs, objects and request many times a day.

One example of this is to repeat numbers often. Once a child learns the basics of counting, they can apply that in an abstract way perhaps to objects; how many marbles are in a bag? For example, the same process is intensified in ABA therapy so your child can quickly learn concepts on a basic and then advanced level.

The reason an ABA model does this is because conceptual learning is often confusing for an Autistic child. Once they learn one rule, they will think it’s a ‘hard and fast’ rule and have a hard time applying extra rules to it; at least until that rule is solid in their mind. For example, a tree can be big or small. But what if you taught your child the trees were big, and they didn’t have time to memorize this concretely before you told them some trees are short?  Autistic minds, being very literal, may think that now all trees are short. This is why it is important for a concept to be burned into their minds before they are able to understand new concepts.

However, this doesn’t mean your therapist should be repeating concepts such as this is blue, until your child is bored or even upset. This won’t give your child a positive experience or allow them to learn anything at all. Often you will see things repeated depending on the child, this could be four times or eight times or more. ABA is always a very individualized therapy that should be just challenging enough to teach your child but not too challenging or boring to upset them.

visit our website at www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Why New Skills Using ABA Are Taught in Different Scenarios

When a child has Autism they often have difficulty generalizing behaviors. This means they can act a certain way in a certain situation, but not in others. This could mean that if a routine is not followed the child cannot demonstrate a specific skill, which is not helpful in real-life situations that are often random.

Most children with Autism cannot learn a skill and automatically generalize; this is normal and should not concern you right away. That is why new skills in Applied Behavioral Analyses therapy are taught in many situations, with varied tones of voice, and multiple materials, as well as multiple correct responses. This is called adding ‘discrimination’ components and why ABA therapy is so great for Autistic children.

The wrong way to teach with ABA is to give a child a specific thing they must say whenever something is asked. For example, when somebody asks ‘did you have fun’, the child always responds with, ‘yes thank you’. This is not generalizing and causes issues. What if the child didn’t have fun, and the adult doesn’t know they were taught a specific way to respond? This is why it is so important as a parent and therapy team to carry out skills across different platforms. If your child is taught to say goodbye to their therapist, then this should be encouraged in other scenarios, like when a family member leaves for work.

When a new skill will be taught to your child, ask about generalization. As a Therapist any goal that is taught to the child will first be thought about in ‘the bigger picture’. For example, if a child needs to sit still during lessons, where else will this need to be applied? How can we transition it to other scenarios? This should always be looked at first before the lesson begins, so the therapist knows how to expand on the lesson to give your child the best success. And this is something you can help your therapist with, to ultimately help your child.

ABA is not meant to teach robotic responses to situations, it is not meant to teach your child how to act appropriately only within limited situations. It is meant to help a child blend in with their peers, achieve the goals their classmates will and have a happier healthier life as an adult.

Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for All Ages

Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy is a great therapy for young Autistic children, and what most people associate the therapy with. But if you have an older child or teenager, they too can benefit from ABA. ABA isn’t only an early intervention therapy, it teaches children how to learn and change behaviors and can be started at any age.

In fact, ABA isn’t just for Autistic children; it is simply famous for helping Autistic children. But ABA is also used in business, sports and education to name a few. For example, ABA can be applied using antecedents and consequences to help somebody achieve more in their area of sports, be it track, baseball or anything you could think of.

ABA also doesn’t only help with negative behaviors in children and teenagers; if you want your teenager or older child to have more freedom it can provide it. For example, if your child is unable to turn the channel to their favorite television show, it can teach them how to do this. For the higher functioning children, it can help with their organization skills. Using visual charts is a part of ABA and implementing these to set schedules so your child can remember to complete homework on time is just one example of many. It can improve the quality of life so you can have a happier child.

ABA helps older children to function in a more positive way, to learn at a rate that their peers are learning, to be happier in life and achieve the needs that they crave. It is excellent for children and teenagers of all ages, even adults and it is never too late to start your child in an ABA program.

Please visit our website at www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for All Ages

Applied behavioral analysis (ABA) therapy is a great therapy for young Autistic children, and what most people associate the therapy with. But if you have an older child or teenager, they too can benefit from ABA. ABA isn’t only an early intervention therapy, it teaches children how to learn and change behaviors and can be started at any age.

In fact, ABA isn’t just for Autistic children; it is simply famous for helping Autistic children. But ABA is also used in business, sports and education to name a few. For example, ABA can be applied using antecedents and consequences to help somebody achieve more in their area of sports, be it track, baseball or anything you could think of.

ABA also doesn’t only help with negative behaviors in children and teenagers; if you want your teenager or older child to have more freedom it can provide it. For example, if your child is unable to turn the channel to their favorite television show, it can teach them how to do this. For the higher functioning children, it can help with their organization skills. Using visual charts is a part of ABA and implementing these to set schedules so your child can remember to complete homework on time is just one example of many. It can improve the quality of life so you can have a happier child.

ABA helps older children to function in a more positive way, to learn at a rate that their peers are learning, to be happier in life and achieve the needs that they crave. It is excellent for children and teenagers of all ages, even adults and it is never too late to start your child in an ABA program.

Please visit our website at www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Applied Behavioral Analyses (ABA) Helps a Child to Catch Up!

Children with Autism often lose years of learning, other times an Autistic child stays on the same level of learning, so it seems as if they will never gain new skills. This can cause parents a lot of anxieties about what exactly is going to happen when school comes. We may wonder things such as, ‘if our child is struggling to even speak, how will they have basic knowledge in shapes, numbers and letters?’

Applied Behavioral Analyses (ABA) helps a child to catch up.

It may seem without ABA they struggled to progress at all, but with it, their learning will take off like a rocket. ABA teaches rapid-learning (learning through observation and step-by-steps or DTT), so your Autistic child not only gains more skills and knowledge but catches up to other children their age. And ultimately they learn how to learn efficiently.

In the first year, it may seem this will never happen. Your child has to learn the basics in ABA and they may not generalize much (meaning what they do in class they may not do at home).  This is because it takes time for your Autistic child to learn the skills of basic learning. But once they have this mastered, their progress will seem to come out of nowhere.  (Of course, it hasn’t, your child’s therapist has helped implement it!)

Your child will have the opportunity to catch up to their peers through ABA, the research and science have proved this. And because of this, your little two, three or four years old who seems so behind may well be the top of his/her class one day.

Using Data to Determine the Best Course of Action

When it comes to your Autistic child and applied behavioral analyses (ABA), it’s important that all sorts of factors are measured. This means your therapist will be using charts, data and numbers to determine the best course of action. But why would they do this?

One reason is a prediction. When a child needs to reduce problematic behavior it’s measured rather clinically so the therapist can work towards a realistic goal. Some measurements to achieve this are; when a behavior happens, where, with whom, and how often.

Measurements can also be a great help for the parent as we see changes we wouldn’t otherwise have noticed. For instance, a child does something once not three times, or for two minutes less. Predictions predict where a child will be in a few months time. Measurement lets us see how far they have come.

Another great thing about observing and measuring behavior is we start to see patterns emerging. Patterns tell us why the child is behaving the way they are so we can form a hypothesis. This is therapy jargon that means ‘we can understand the reason behind an action’. Once we know why we can replace the behavior with something more appropriate, or reduce the stimuli causing the issue.

Behavior isn’t random, it’s used to receive a need, or avoid/escape something painful. With Autism the painful thing a child could be avoiding can be surprising as many things stimulate them in ways stimuli usually wouldn’t. For example, a child could be tantrumming every time they start to walk into a store because of the bright lights. Measurements and keen observation catch these things quickly so your child can work towards a realistic goal.  

Measuring, graphs, numbers and data are just another tool in the therapist’s box to steer, guide and teach your child how to navigate the world.

Visit our website at www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Finding The Right Therapist

Before your child starts Applied Behavioral Analyses (ABA) therapy there may be many things you need to know about ABA and your therapist. ABA therapy can increase your child’s learning abilities which helps in all areas of their life, so it’s important to find the right therapist.

But what questions can parents ask to get the right results?

What are your qualifications?

A good response would be – somebody with a BA in fields pertaining to psychology and child care, and a certificate in ABA.

What experience do you have? Can you refer me to other parents you have worked with?

A good therapist for your child is one who has worked with Autistic children before. You can discover a lot by calling other parents who have worked with the therapist.

What happens during an ABA session?

A therapist who is re-assuring, kind, and takes time to explain how a session will be for your child is a good therapist. This will also tell you what your child is likely to go through and allow you to agree with their methods.

How many hours per week will my child need to be in therapy?

It’s good to know this so you can build your schedule around therapy.

How often can you update me on my child’s progress?

It’s important to know if ABA is working well for your child and as parents sometimes we can be impatient. A therapist knows how well ABA is working for your child and can give frequent updates to help you feel settled in your child’s progress.

Can you work with my child’s school?

Having a therapist who can keep your Autistic child’s teachers up to date on methods to help your child is a bonus.

Do you provide training or support for family, so that ABA can continue from home?

Children whose parents continue ABA at home succeed more often.

For more information, visit our website at www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Applied Behavioral Therapy Is Proven To Work

The number one form of therapy showing the most improvement for children with autism is applied behavioral analyses therapy (ABA). It is sometimes referred to as Lovaas treatment, which is one brand of ABA. Success was first recorded in 1967 but became wide spread in 1993. This is a thoroughly tested therapy with a lot of proven success stories behind it. When ABA therapy is done right many parents see it’s similar to one-on-one tutoring that any child of a young age goes through. Sometimes a child with autism needs an extra bit of love and care ABA provides. What is ABA? ABA is simply an intense teaching program that will help your child’s behavior. A child is presented with a stimulus and is taught to act appropriately. This is often something that a child with autism struggles with, especially if they have sensory processing disorder. What is Sensory Processing Disorder? Sensory processing disorder is when a child is unable to process surrounding senses correctly, leading to under or over stimulation. This can show in all forms of behavior from not reacting to pain, to becoming unusually frightened by sounds; such as a toilet flushing. What ABA is not… A way to punish a child for bad behaviors associated with autism, or to ‘get rid’ of certain behaviors such as stimming. A child is redirected not punished. Another concern is your child will become a robot, but this doesn’t happen. Your child will remain the same lovable, emotional human they always were. How intense is ABA? ABA consists of 40-hour week therapy sessions, which is a lot of time and effort for the therapist, but mostly fun and play for the child. The length of this therapy is likely why it works so well.   How long will my child be doing ABA? Some children do as little as 20 hours a week. The most success is found between 30-40 hours a week, for about two years. This isn’t that intensive because the child is mostly playing like they would in the real world -- but with a little bit of help. Visit our website for more blogs, information about ABA Therapy, autism, and more. www.buildingblockresolutions.com

Get The Best Therapy From a Smaller Agency

Sometimes bigger is better, but when it comes to choosing the right therapist for your child. Bigger may not always be better. There are pros and cons to every decision and Applied Behavior Analysis, ABA therapy may be one of the biggest investments you make in your child with autism’s life. For this reason, here are a few simple things to consider when choosing a small versus a big ABA agency.

With a small agency you can always get to the top person in charge. With the larger agencies there are usually several people you have to go through before getting to anyone who can actually help you. With a smaller agency you have probably met the owner and be getting personalized ABA therapy.

With a smaller agency, the likelihood of turnover is usually less because of the direct 1:1 mentoring each employee gets, they are treated as team members instead of just another number. They may even get paid more because of decreased overhead.

With a smaller agency, you’ll have better quality people. Because a smaller agency can afford to make less mistakes than a larger agency, you can probably bet on more quality ABA therapy.

To be fair, I’ve listed some of the challenges you may face with a smaller agency.

One of the things to be aware of is that it make take longer to find the right therapist for your child with autism because fit will be more important. They may have fewer on call therapists and may have to look for one.

Paperwork may be slower because only a handful of people are wearing several hats. Billing may arrive late and graphs and data sheets may take longer to get.  

Overall when choosing an ABA agency for your child, it really doesn’t matter which ABA agency you go with as long as the BCBA working with your child is competent, has a good team of therapists, and is passionate about helping your child.

Check out Building Block Resolutions, Inc. in Los Angeles for ABA therapy for your child with Autism.