ABA Therapy
What Is ABA Therapy
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a research-based therapy that works to increase positive behaviors and decrease negative behaviors. It is most commonly a therapy prescribed for children and adolescents with autism.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, ABA therapy is a type of behavioral therapy for people with autism and other developmental disorders. It’s based on the idea that if you reward certain behaviors then children will repeat those behaviors. In other words, when you reinforce specific behaviors, those behaviors will increase. When you don’t reinforce certain behaviors, those behaviors will decrease and may eventually go away altogether. ABA may help people with autism:
- Improve social interactions.
- Learn new skills.
- Increase positive behaviors.
- Lessen challenging behavior.
What is not ABA?
- Forcing those with developmental delays to be “normal” or change who they are. In practice, the primary focus of ABA is to address socially significant behaviors: those that impact the safety and learning of your child.
- Focuses only on behavior problems: While ABA does aim to reduce challenging behaviors, effective ABA programs focus on socially significant behaviors and work to reduce dangerous and disruptive behaviors and replace them with behaviors that are safe and less disruptive.
- ABA uses bribery to teach kids: those who oppose ABA suggest that children are bribed into “being good.” ABA uses positive reinforcement, your child is presented with the expectations in advance. With bribery, your child is often already engaged in challenging behavior when a reward is offered.