Applied Behavior Analysis

ABA and behavioral interventions have been found to be effective in treating autism given:

• ABA is able to be conducted across client’s different environments including in the home, community, and schools
• Skills are broken down into more manageable and achievable tasks and goals
• Concepts are explained and presented in concrete ways as individuals with autism often struggle with abstract concepts
• Parent training and consultation is provided to help increase clients skills outside of sessions and decrease any problematic behaviors
• Addresses client-specific motivators as individuals with autism may be motivated by different items and activities than their peers
• Motivation is key- we strive to identify effective rewards to increase desired appropriate behaviors and decrease problem behaviors
• Addresses generalization of skills learned across different environments, items or stimuli in the environments, individuals such as therapists, parents and caregivers, siblings and peers, and teachers

Focus on Reducing Problematic Behaviors

Behavior Services, often referred to as ABA services, focus on reducing a client’s problematic behaviors. Problematic behaviors are those that interfere with an individual’s functioning in their home, community and/or school environments. Behavior services serve to determine the purpose the problematic behaviors are serving the client, or what the client is trying to ultimately communicate to others by engaging in problematic behaviors. Behavior strategies are used by therapists and taught to parents and caregivers to decrease the problematic behaviors.