What is ABA Treatment Therapy

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a science that involves the application of empirically validated principles of behavior (i.e., positive reinforcement, stimulus control, motivation, extinction, conditioned reinforcement, schedules of reinforcement, and more) to build meaningful and socially significant behaviors in every day settings in order to improve the lives of our clients and their families.

Decades of research have proven the effectiveness of ABA therapy for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) as well as, other behavioral and developmental disorders. Today, ABA therapy has become the most widely accepted and one of the most effective treatments for children and adolescents living with ASD.

ABA is a scientific, evidence-based discipline that strives to understand and improve socially significant behaviors. ABA examines the interactions between people and their environment to determine the effects the environment has on a person’s behavior. The applications of Behavior Analysis are then used to teach new skills, improve performance in already acquired skills and replace unwanted and challenging behaviors.

The Ultimate goal of ABA therapy is to make socially significant, meaningful and life lasting improvements that will increase an individual’s quality of life. The following is a list of the core areas in which ABA is applied: communication skills, cognitive skills, social skills, self-help daily living skills, school readiness, and much more!

Applied Behavior Analysis encompasses the following core features:

• Scientific and Evidence-Based
• Teaching of new skills that are socially significant for the individual
• Decrease unwanted behaviors
• Social Behavior improvements
• Individualized treatment plans
• Defining target behaviors
• Recording data on those behaviors
• Analyzing the data to make changes to treatments that are not yielding effective results

Applied Behavior Analysis is founded on 7 dimensions, that all clinicians should adhere to when creating a treatment plan for intervention:

1. Generality
2. Effective
3. Technological
4. Applied
5. Conceptually Systematic
6. Analytic
7. Behavioral

Implementing the 7 dimensions of Applied Behavior Analysis guarantees that the interventions being delivered are:

• Supported by research
• It is driven by data collection and analysis
• Interventions are closely monitored to ensure reliable progress towards skill acquisitions
• Make modifications to interventions if and when necessary
• The interventions are socially significant and effective!