ABA Therapy for Speech-Language Therapists

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What is ABA?

Based on the work of B.F. Skinner, applied behavioral analysis is a type of therapy often done with children with autism to shape behaviors that we want them to exhibit.  Through operant conditioning, a skill is broken down into individual components and then built back up into a skill that can be applied into the child’s everyday life.  Tasks are broken down into the antecedent (what happens right before, often a prompt), the behavior (what we want the child to actually do), and the consequence (how the behavior is reinforced).

We all use the principles behind ABA in our therapy every day.  But the true ABA program is often a much more structured program that is used to teach children with autism everything from requesting items to wiping their bottoms.

Source: http://blog.asha.org/2012/02/07/the-abcs-of-aba-in-the-slp-world/

Misconceptions:

Many speech-language therapists make assumptions about ABA therapy based on little snippets they see, which may not be entirely fair.  ABA often seems rigid and unnatural but that is only how the therapy starts.  Once the child begins to understand the skill, a good ABA therapy (just like a good speech-language therapist) will then transition to fading prompts and helping the child do that skill more naturally.  Unfortunately, many therapists assume that the initial phases are all there is and that it leads to very robotic children who don’t do much spontaneously.  That is not necessarily the case!

How We Can Work Together:

  • You can take courses on ABA therapy to have a better idea of how the program works and you’ll quickly see how you can integrate it into your therapy sessions (and probably how you’re already doing much of it).
  • ABA therapy training can help you with those difficult-to-reach children with autism that don’t seem to be responding to other types of therapy.
  • If the child is already working with a BCBA (board-certified behavioral analyst), you can help them select appropriate targets for verbal tasks as we have the expertise in the appropriate development of communication programming.
  • If the child is already working with a BCBA, work together to make sure you’re all using the same prompts and cues and that everyone is on the same page when it comes to how those prompts and cues will be faded to promote more natural communication once the behavior is established