About ABA

Applied Behaviour Analysis:
(ABA) Therapy, created in the US by Dr Ivar Lovaas, founder of the Lovaas Institute is one of the few therapies for treating autism spectrum disorders to have been subjected to rigorous scientific investigation around the world.  Its positive results have been published in world-recognised journals of psychology, psychiatry and medicine.

"Applied" means practice, rather than research or philosophy.

"Behaviour Analysis" may be read as "learning theory" that is, understanding what leads to (or doesn't lead to) new skills.

ABA is just as much about maintaining and using skills as about learning.

It may seem odd to use the word "behaviour" when talking about learning to talk, play and live as a complex social being, but to a behavourist all these can be taught, so long as there are intact brain functions to learn and practice the skills.

That is the essence of the recovery hypothesis - that for many children, the excesses and deficits of autism result largely from a learning "blockage", which can be overcome by intensive teaching. 

ABA  Therapy involves a home-based program of intensive early intervention, and for younger children incorporating large amounts of play, tailored specifically to each child's individual needs.

ABA relies on repetition, success and positive reinforcement.  Children are never punished for failing to master a task, but every achievement is rewarded with enthusiastic encouragement.

ABA is defined as the science in which tactics derived from the principles of behaviour are applied systematically to improve socially significant behaviour and experimentation is used to identify the variables responsible for change.

Applied: ABA focuses on areas that are of social significance.  In doing this, behaviour scientists must take into consideration more than just the short-term behaviour change, but also look at how behaviour changes can affect the child, those who are close to the child, and how any change will affect the interactions between the two.

Behavioural: ABA must be behavioural i.e. behaviour itself must change, not just what the parent/therapist/clinician SAYS about the behaviour. It is not the goal of the behaviour scientists to get their consumers to stop complaining about behaviour problems, but rather to change the problem behaviour itself.  In addition, behaviour must be objectively measured.  A behaviour scientist cannot resort to the measurement of non-behavioural substitutes.

Empowering: ABA provides tools to practitioners that allow them to effectively change behaviour.  By constantly providing visual feedback to the practitioner on the results of the intervention, this feature of ABA allows clinicians to assess their skill level and builds confidence in their technology.

Research has demonstrated that 30-40 hours a week of intensive ABA therapy resulted in 47% of young children with ASD being indistinguishable from their peers.

ABA is an objective discipline focused on the reliable measurement and objective evaluation of observable behaviour.  Programs based upon ABA methodologies are grounded in the well-established principles of learning and operant conditioning, as influenced by the works of researchers such as Edward L. Thorndike and B.F. Skinner.  The use of single case experimental design to evaluate the effectiveness of individualized interventions is an essential component of ABA programs.  This process includes the following components which outline a reliable and accountable approach to behaviour change (Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991) :

1. selection of interfering behaviour or behavioural skill deficit
2. identification of goals and objectives
3. establishment of a method of measuring target behaviours
4. evaluation of the current levels of performance (baseline)
5. design and implementation of the interventions that teach new skills and/or reduce interfering behaviours
6. continuous measurement of target behaviours to determine the effectivenes of the intervention
7. ongoing evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention, with modifications made as necessary to maintain and/or increase both the effectiveness and the efficiency of the intervention.

Any new behaviour that you and I may try, but is never rewarded, is likely to die out after a while (how often will you dial that busy number?). And, as common sense would have it, a behaviour that results in something unpleasant (an aversive) is even less likely to be repeated.  These are the basics of behavioural learning theory.

ABA uses these principles to set up an environment in which our kids learn as much as they can as quickly as possible.  It is a science, not a "philosophy".

Even the "as quickly as possible" part is based on science, since there is some (not conclusive) evidence that the dvelopmentally disordered brain "learns how to learn"  best if the basic skills are taught in early childhood.

Behavioural learning is not the only type of learning.  Most learning in schools is from an explanation or from a model, what people call "natural" learning.  Typically developing children learn from their environment (other people) at an astounding rate, completely unassisted.

The whole point of ABA is to teach the pre-requisites to make it possible for a child to learn "naturally".

'IF OUR KIDS COULD LEARN WITHOUT ASSISTANCE IN THE FIRST PLACE THEY WOULD NOT HAVE AUTISM"

The most common and distinguishing type of interventon based on applied behaviour analysis is discrete trial teaching. It is what people most often think of when you say "ABA" or "Lovaas Method". This is partly because there are so many hundreds of hours of DT teaching, and partly because it looks so odd.  But it is what it is because that is what works - every aspect has been refined (and is still being refined) to reslt in maximum learning efficiency.

It is a mistake, however, to think of an ABA program as just DT teaching.  Lovaas (among others) notes very clearly that a behavioural program is a comprehensive intervention, carried out in every setting, every available moment. 

The skills that are taught so efficiently in discrete trial drills must be practiced and generalized in "natural" settings.  A child who does not know the difference between "ask"  and "tell" may slowly get a higher and higher percentage of right answers during table-top drills until he is considered to have "mastered" that skill; but he will not go on to use "ask" and "tell" appropriately without additional support in natural situations.

It takes time to go from "mastery" to "ownership".

It takes trained and supportive people - parents, teachers, relatives, even peers - to help reinforce a wide range of appropriate behaviours in a variety of settings, until the level of reinforcement fades to a typical level (such as the smile you get when you greet someone) 

ABA programs are highly individualised and cover all areas of a child’s development including communication, play, social, relationship, academic and motor skills. Therapists continually collect data during a child's therapy session and this determines any changes or improvements that need to be made. In this way ABA programs are tailored to a child's unique configuration of strengths and weaknesses, and thereby allow the child to make the best possible progress. Parents are partners in the ABA process and are encouraged to take an active part in the therapy.

An ABA program should be enjoyable for the child, due to the positive reinforcing environment, positive relationships, and because the child, often for the first time, is successful.

(1) Lovaas, O. (1987). "Behavioral treatment and normal educational and and intellectual functioning in young autistic children". Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol. 55 (1), pp. 3-9.

This is Lovaas's original paper.
http://onrampbranding.com/feat/research1.html

(2) McEachin, J.J., Smtih, T. and Lovaas, O. (1993). "Long-term outcome for children with autism who received early intensive behavioral treatment". American Journal on Mental Retardation, Vol. 97 (4), pp. 359-372.

This paper was the follow-up study of the subjects from the 1987 study. The majority of subjects had maintained their gains into adolescence.

(3) Couper, J.J., Sampson, A.J. (2003). "Children with autism deserve evidence-based intervention: The evidence for behavioural therapy". MJA, Vol. 178, pp. 424-425.

This means that you will now be able to claim your therapist costs irrespective of which service provider you are using if you are eligible to receive the funding.