What is ABA?
Applied Behaviour Analysis, also known as ABA, is a scientific approach to helping people improve their lives. It is well known as an evidence-based intervention for different populations; in the corporate world, it is also known as organization behaviour management or performance management.
ABA has proven to be the gold standard for children with developmental delays such as ASD. In the US, ABA is considered an evidence-based best-practice treatment by the US Surgeon General, the American Psychological Association, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
More than 20 independent studies have established that long-term therapy using ABA principles improves results for children with autism, including in the areas of cognitive, language, communication, daily living skills, and social functioning.
Over the past 40 years, several thousand published research studies have documented the effectiveness of ABA across a wide range of:
1. Interventionists: Parents, Teachers, and Staff.
2. Populations: Individuals with mental illness, developmental disabilities, and learning disorders.
3. Settings: Schools, homes, institutions, group homes, hospitals, and business centers.
4. Behaviors: Language, social, academic, leisure, functional life skills, aggression, self-injury, oppositional, and stereotyped behaviors. Research has shown that the best way to help children with developmental disabilities is by helping them to develop positive behaviors and stop the negative behaviors. ABA celebrates and rewards the little steps leading up to the big goals and helps the child reach their full potential.
ABA therapy aims to provide effective therapy, that is, even if an intervention does not work, your team and clinician will continue working with you to find something that will.
A few things that ABA can help with include:
Daily living skills, self-care skills, attention, language and communication skills, speech, social skills, functional academics and behaviours, play and leisure skills, community participation, safety skills, employment skills, stress management, self-management, emotional development, family relationships, aggression and self-injury.
Just like schools, there are agencies that provide good therapy and agencies that provide sub-par therapy. It is a parent’s responsibility to do their research and decide which agency is the best fit for their child.