What is ABA and how does it work?

Applied behavior analysis is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991).

These improvements in behavior are accomplished by breaking behaviors down in their component parts of Discriminantive Stimulus (Sd), Response (R), and Reinforcing Stimulus (Sr) and tapping into motivation to adjust behaviors step by step so that over time desirable behaviors are increased and undesirable behaviors are decreased. Good ABA is done by reducing the prompts so that the Sd’s and Sr’s become more and more natural over time.

Who is a BCBA and why would I need one?

A Board Certified Behavior Analyst is a trained behavior analyst who holds a masters degree in behavior therapy and has passed the national BCBA board certification examination. A BCBA conducts descriptive and systematic (e.g., analogue) behavioral assessments, including functional analyses, and provides behavior analytic interpretations of the results.

A BCBA designs and supervises behavior analytic interventions. BCBAs effectively develop and implement appropriate assessments and intervention methods for use in unfamiliar situations and for a range of cases. The BCBA teaches others including parents to carry out ethical and effective behavior analytic interventions based on published research and designs and delivers instruction in behavior analysis.

Kids Life Solutions BCBAs supervise the work of Care Team Members to assure that effective interventions are being performed, appropriate methodologies are being used, and progress is being made. By having a BCBA, you are assuring that your ABA program is professionally designed and managed.

What does an ABA session look like?

An ABA session is typically a high energy interaction between the client and the therapist.

ABA sessions include some discrete trial work which might occur at the table, lots of positive reinforcement using whatever is motivating for the child: praise, tickles, hugs, high-fives, opportunities to play, sometimes edibles. Often there will be a mix of tasks that the therapist is practicing in order to assure that there is focus and mastery vs. rote repetition or boredom.

In order to be successful, the therapist must develop rapport with the client. A process of pairing with reinforcement will take place during a portion of the session. Generalization is very important for children with autism as well. A portion of the session will be spent in the natural environment, away from the table, doing incidental teaching of skills. If the child doesn’t like the therapist, he or she won’t do what the therapist directs them to do, so establishing that relationship is a critical first step.

Does ABA help language and communication?

ABA therapy stresses receptive, and expressive language skills by working on structured programs to measure vocabulary and expand capabilities in matching features and functions.

ABA goes beyond what a speech therapist does by mixing language programs with play programs, academic programs, motor skills, and activities of daily living such as toileting. ABA teaches all of the verbal operants or functional units of language as described by Skinner in his book Verbal Behavior.

When these units of language are systematically taught using principles of ABA, a child with autism benefits through an increase in receptive and expressive language, including communication, or requesting.

Is ABA the same as VB?

Verbal Behavior (VB) is ABA with a focus on B.F. Skinner’s analysis of verbal behavior; it is the application of the science of behavior analysis to teaching verbal behavior. In his study of Verbal Behavior, B.F. Skinner describes a group of verbal operants, or functional units of language including:

a. echoics – saying what you have heard

b. mands – requesting

c. tacts – labeling something you have seen

d. intraverbals – discussing things which aren’t present

Another principle of VB is capturing a child’s motivation to develop a connection between the meaning or value of a word and the word or label. Therefore, the key is teaching the child that “words” are valuable and lead them to getting their wants and needs met.