ABA Therapy

Reply to ABA Therapy on Mon, 16 Sep 2019 10:41:45 GMT

meghna31 — Mon, 16 Sep 2019 10:41:45 GMT

Excellent thread…!!

Reply to ABA Therapy on Thu, 07 Feb 2019 03:22:59 GMT

healisadmin — Thu, 07 Feb 2019 03:22:59 GMT

“Why is ABA Crucial as a Treatment for Autism?” And “What is the Verbal Behavioral Approach?”

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1. What is ABA?

ABA stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. It is a scientific discipline built on behavioral principles that are applied with the purpose of changing behavior, usually used in therapy, such as interventions and treatment programs for autism, or in therapeutic modules such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in counselling and psychotherapy.

Behaviorism is a systematic way of understanding the way we behave. Prominent figures who have been involved in the development of behaviorism include John Watson and B. F. Skinner. In 1957, Skinner published a book titled “Verbal Behavior” in which he outlined a theoretical construct of functional language.

Later, in 1987, Dr. Ivar Lovass at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), became the first person to use Skinner’s principles to treat autism. He went on to develop the “Lovass Method”, a method known as an early intensive behavioral intervention. Following that, other methods of ABA, such as ABA-VB (Verbal Behavior), were developed with similar purposes to improve conditions of autism and other developmental delays.

2. What is the Verbal Behavioral approach (ABA-VB)?

Based on Skinner’s analysis of Verbal Behavior, ABA-VB is the application of behavioral principles to language, specifically the functional use of language. And in 1998, Sundberg and Partington created an assessment (ABLLS) and program (ABA-VB) based on these principles.

ABLLS is an useful tool that is easy to administer and hence facilitates the planning for teaching programs especially in their early stages. ABA-VB works on the assumption that every individual has needs and motivations and uses such inherent motivations to shape the learning of effective communication. The emphasis on motivational factors (also referred to as establishing operants, EOs), greatly determine the tendencies of the child to make requests. This was something that most other language programs have failed to address.

Sundburg and Partington believe that EOs are the first area to work on if a child displays behaviors that interferes with following of instructions or cooperation.

3. What are Skinner’s principles?

Skinner believed that language is a behavior that can be taught as it is not innate, and that the manipulation of environmental factors can therefore influence language acquisition. This runs counter against Chomsky’s belief (Language and Mind, 1972) that syntactic knowledge is at least partially innate. Additionally, Skinner proposed four verbal and one non-verbal operant in his book Verbal Behavior: Echoics, Manding, Tacting, Intraverbals, and Receptive (non-verbal).

Echoics: Imitation of sounds

Manding: A request for something, either verbal/non-verbal. Eg. “I want…” This is greatly influenced by motivation levels of the child, earlier mentioned as establishing operants (EOs).

Tacting: The labelling of something. For eg. Verbally labelling a chair as “chair”.

Intraverbals: Verbal behavior in response to what someone else has said. Eg. Answering a question “What is something you can eat?”

Receptive (non-verbal): Understanding words and language. Eg. Responding to an imperative, such as “Give me the apple”.

4. Why is ABA therapy the go-to treatment for autism and ASD?

ABA works on shaping behavior and strengthening motivation through the principles of conditioning. Essentially, the idea that behaviour that is rewarded or “reinforced” would increase, while behaviour that goes unrewarded would diminish or “extinct”.

Behaviour is an aspect of all individuals, not just children with autism. To some degree, all parents apply behavioural principles, such as rewarding children when they get good grades or punishing them when they do badly. Such methods are used especially when the child is young as cognitive reasoning might be too difficult for younger children or those with slower intellectual development to grasp.

On the other hand, behavioural therapy is an extremely direct method of addressing behaviour by showing the immediate results of an action. Instead of reasoning with the child to let them understand it is not a good action, they are presented with a result that runs counter to what they desire, allowing them to conclude that the action is not beneficial to them. As such, this can result in changes in their mindset about how they should act to gain the desired results. Consequently, behavioural therapy as an early intervention for children with autism can be very effective. This is true also for correcting behaviours in neurotypical children and adults.

While Speech Therapy (ST) and Occupational Therapy (OT) are very helpful tools for children with autism, disruptive behaviors if not addressed, often hinder therapy results. As such, ST and OT are typically paired with ABA therapy to manage disruptive behaviours exacerbating speech or sensory issues.

However, not all ABA programs are created or implemented the same way. The Verbal Behavioral Approach (VB or ABA-VB) is currently the most preferred form of ABA due to its focus on motivation and functions of language. If a child lacks motivation to use language, there will be no functional speech even if he or she has the vocal skills. And over time, the child may lose the ability to communicate. This is why working on the motivation to speak is crucial. Furthermore, VB programs tend to be more lively and naturalistic.

5. Who provides ABA-VB therapy in Singapore?

Currently, Healis Autism Centre is a provider of ABA-VB in Singapore. Children we have worked with have shown remarkable results possible only because of the tenacity of both child and therapist in sessions. Kayler, a 4 year-old boy then, did not use to respond to his name and made no sounds during play. Two years after sessions began, his parents are happy to report that he now behaves like any other child. Not only is he able to initiate and sustain a proper conversation, he is integrating in a mainstream primary school well. Jerald, who was previously labelled as non-verbal, started making verbal requests for desired items after two months of intensive therapy. RenHong who enjoys being around people, is now better at communicating his wants and expressing his needs, which helped him to form meaningful relationships with others.

Source of article: https://www.healisautism.com/articles/why-is-aba-crucial-as-a-treatment-for-autism-and-what-is-the-verbal-behavioral-approach

Reply to ABA Therapy on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:43:07 GMT

PlatypusAsia — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 13:43:07 GMT

Smoothie,

children who have been diagnosed with ASD and/or ADD can have an extremely broad spectrum of needs. Different types and interventions and supports will work better in different situations and with different children. In your situation, it appears that a targeted approach is possible. It will be useful to find a special needs consultant or therapist or professional who is highly reputable and who has worked with your child and family to identify the most critical gaps to bridge. This professional can be a psychologist, an occupational therapist, an education therapist or even a speech and language therapist. He/she will work with your child and your over a period of time as you navigate your ways around supporting your child’s ASD and ADD needs. Some of these consultants have been trained in ABA and will use this mode of intervention when they evaluate that the situation demands it. They also have other intervention modalities to offer. In contrast, ABA therapists use ABA as their primary mode of intervention. If I recall correctly, Austism Partnership offers ABA as their primary mode of intervention.

Reply to ABA Therapy on Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:11:27 GMT

Smoochie — Thu, 10 Dec 2015 10:11:27 GMT

Can you please share the contact with me? Thanks a bunch.

We got all reports from psy and doc. high IQ ( as expected) and ASD but he needs supports.

Reply to ABA Therapy on Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:08:05 GMT

limhc — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:08:05 GMT

my therapist use this secret agent programme with my elder son which works quite well for his social skill. But if i remember correctly she said the evidence for the programme is currently for older children i think 7 or 8 and above. But if your child language is very good maybe you can try too

Reply to ABA Therapy on Thu, 17 Sep 2015 08:29:31 GMT

Smoochie — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 08:29:31 GMT

May I know roughly how long and how intensive is the programme is needed to see improvement?

The ABA therapy charges are really high. My son is going to Mainstream next year, high functioning and we just found out he has strong traits of it. A/W assessment and IQ test, guess the consultant is looking at Pathlight but did not say a thing yet. Besides ASD, he also has traits of ADD, which the doc mentioned the medication may be helpful for his behavioural issues as well as impulsiveness. He is smart, can express very well but lack of social skill.
our plan
- private OT (work on sensory, regulation, behavioural) on weekly basis
- Behavioural OT - 2 times a month arranged by CDU
- Private social skill group using ABA method - 2 hourly weekly

Any suggestions or recommendations are welcomed, do share more information with me.

Reply to ABA Therapy on Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:46:26 GMT

fruitpunch23 — Tue, 04 Nov 2014 10:46:26 GMT

Thanks for sharing peopler

Reply to ABA Therapy on Fri, 10 Oct 2014 14:33:10 GMT

Liyuan — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 14:33:10 GMT

Do realized that this is a old thread. Hope my information will still benefit those that have similar questions.

I started off as a ABA therapist. ABA stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis. In Psychology, there are many school of thoughts. For example, we have cognitive psychology, behavioral psychology, evolution psychology, bio psychology and so on. The same behavior can be explained in different ways by different theories, depending on which is your school of thought. Take for example, the habit of smoking. A cognitive psychologist may argue that it is because one think that it is cool, and thus he or she continue to smoke. A biology psychologist may argue that it is because of the addictives within the cigarette that is causing the addiction.

In ABA, it uses the methodology of behaviorism. To summarize behaviorism, it works by pairing up behaviors with positive and negative rewards and punishment. I believe you can google it and it will give you a more in depth understanding. ABA happens daily. Addiction to gambling is ABA at work through partial reinforcement. ABA is also the most researched on method. If you are interested, i have posted a journal article on ABA in this link.
http://www.autismstep.com/articles-and-journals/aba-review/

I think many parents will have this question of is ABA the best or a good intervention for my child or children with autism? I have been practising ABA for the last 8 years and i have seen great results. However, there is no one best method. It is just like there is no one explanation for smoking (the example i quoted earlier). It depends on who are we talking about. ABA is good for behavioral management and teaching concrete concepts. For children that are higher functioning, a mix of cognition and behavioral therapy (CBT) will work better. I have personally move from practicing solely ABA to CBT as i seen how the cognitive part can benefit some children. So there is no clear cut answer until your child is being seen by a professional.

Feel free to ask me anymore questions
Hope it helps

Liyuan
http://www.autismSTEP.com

Reply to ABA Therapy on Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:18:15 GMT

david.09547lct — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 16:18:15 GMT

Hi YellowBelt,

Would like to enquire if the same speech/communication program is available in Singapore?

Thank you
David

Reply to ABA Therapy on Fri, 18 Jan 2013 05:24:49 GMT

Rosey02 — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 05:24:49 GMT

Hello,

I came across this thread and wanted to share a few things… I have heard of the ABA approach not being very effective. Not being a professional, I am not giving a medical opinion. However, I have a friend in the Klang Valley, who’s son is in a speech/communication program, and they come to their home. He has improved a lot in just a short amount of time. If you would like more info, please let me know!

Reply to ABA Therapy on Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:47:24 GMT

Tamama — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:47:24 GMT

It is suitable for high functioning ASD kids. Google for ABA more and you will learn that ABA is very effective to train an autistic kid to perform more functionally. If the kid is already high functioning, the better cognition they have can make them leap faster. Not saying the other forms of therapies are useless, I think that some of them are working good too. However my boy now is sticking to ABA first, together with a special kindergarten programme. ABA is on 1-1 basis, and the kindy he goes is 1-2 or 1-3sometimes. At home every afternoon i put him to home-schooling cos i want to teach him the subjects that he would learn in the normal kindergarten, using the DTT approach same as in the ABA centre.

He has been in the ABA for 9 months now. He responds to the therapy pretty well and has developed many more expressive skills. He relates to us most of the time. His temper control is so much better. His self help skills also catch up. His social skill is improving. His academic skill improves a lot too. I am glad that it seems like a good decision we have made to let him stop normal school and start this therapy in full strength. Now the gap of delay between typical kid and him is much narrowed down. Thanks to the ABA.

Reply to ABA Therapy on Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:00:00 GMT

ImMeeMee — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 11:00:00 GMT

As far as I know, ABA is one of the earliest therapies used to manage autism in the States. It makes use of a reward system to engage the autistic child to achieve set objectives.

A lot of therapists now use the ABA concept to engage autistic children in some form, ie. making use of what interests them most to engage them and teach. In fact, there is some saying that you can use stimming as a form of reward to engage the child, and as the child learns new things, the stimming will in turn reduce.

I am no expert, there are a lot of self-help books on autism, and most of them talk about this. There is a book by Catherine Maurice ‘Let Me Hear Your Voice’ that is a auto of a mother with two autistic children and speaks of various therapy that the family tried. Quite good resource material.

Hope this helps.

Reply to ABA Therapy on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:29:00 GMT

specialboymum — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:29:00 GMT

sheryl:
Anyone heard of ABA (applied behaviour analysis) therapy to treat autism? How does it work? Is it suitable for high functioning special need children?

My boy went through ABA when he was first diagnose with autism. They use strategy like token economy to get him to comply. He improved a lot in term of learning ability, compliance and eye contact.

However, bear in mind that you need to cut your kid off ABA and move him/her to more advanced program once you see improvement . I had given my boy too much of ABA (3 years), now he is reliance on 1:1 instruction. He doesn't understand group instruction or other social cue like body language.

I have just moved him to social thinking program. I could have start earlier when he showed the sign that he was ready to move to group setting therapy a year ago. Perhaps that might help to minimize the issues he faced in school now