Getting to the Heart of Autism
|
| The definition of ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is an approach that uses instructional technology designed to change behavior in a systematic and measurable way. Note that the applied in applied behavior analysis, means functional and meaningful. It means that the child is able to use the skill in context in his/her daily life and in his/her community. It does NOT mean exclusive 1:1 or table work!
In 1996 the Early Intervention Program of the New York State Department of Health initiated a comprehensive review of the literature on the different interventions of autism. The final product, Report of the Recommendations of the Clinical Practice Guidelines: Autism/Pervasive Development Disorders: Evaluation, Assessment, and the Intervention for Young Children, outlines the recommendations of a panel of experts working in the field of autism. The results stated that the panel strongly recommends implementation of behavioral and educational intervention for children with autism.
|
|
ABA and Beyond:
Bridging the gap: matching curriculum to diagnostic criteria
Kelly McKinnon, MA, BCBA
|
It seems the number of children receiving a diagnosis somewhere on the Autism Spectrum (ASD) is on the rise. The causes of autism are still being rigorously researched, and, in the absence of clear causation, we are left needing to provide treatment. Treating children using the principles of ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) has become a well-researched method of successful treatment for children diagnosed with autism & ADHD, yet using ABA to teach remains a much debated topic in the autism community. Great debates are held in the form of articles, magazines and conferences. Those against using ABA to teach children with autism describe ABA as teaching children to be robot-like and teaching children a series of unrelated and possibly unfamiliar activities reinforced by use of a reinforcer that may not have anything to do with the skill being taught. Those for ABA quote extensive research on the effectiveness of ABA techniques to teach children, such as the latest research by Howard et. al in the 2004 Research in Developmental Disabilities Journal. Behavioral intervention has become synonymous with the terminology, ABA. ABA emphasizes employing instructional technology designed to change behavior in a systematic and measurable way (Maurice, Green, 1996). Note that the Applied in applied behavior analysis, means functional and meaningful. It is the "How" to teach a child. It means that the child is able to use skills learned in context in his/her daily life and in his/her community. What is likely at the heart of this debate is the overuse of the discrete trial method, as well as the cookie-cutter or drill programming adopted by many ABA therapists or copy programs of ABA programs that lend itself to a treatment program that is not child specific, and does not lend itself to the real-life social aspects of a developing child. For many years, the primary instructional method of behavior therapy used has been the discrete trial teaching method. This approach can best be defined as an adult-directed teaching method, with frequent or massed trial paradigm (Loavas et al, 1981). While discrete trial teaching has been shown as an extremely effective method for teaching many new skills, it should be noted that it is not the only method of teaching new skills in a behavior program repertoire. Unfortunately, due to many reasons, many ABA practitioners, and school programs attempting to imitate the success of ABA programs have come to rely solely on this technique, and in effect, created some of the bad press and inadvertently created poor and rigid teaching programs. The result is that many people have come to believe that an ABA program means table work, or go into a therapy room alone work, or work in a 1:1 teaching format.
|
What needs to happen in any skill teaching program is a systematic way to increase desired behaviors (new skills) and a systematic way decrease undesired skills, with a method to generalize skills to naturally occurring environments. The helpful component of the discrete trial is that with a discrete trial, the skill being taught and measured is very defined and measurable to prove success. For example, teaching a child to imitate a simple gross motor task of touching body parts, is a very easy, discrete skill to define, teach and graph, demonstrating success of this first imitation goal. This type of teaching does not specifically lend itself to increasing chains of new skills or decreasing undesired skills. A true behavioral, ABA program uses a wide-variety of teaching methods aimed at increasing skill deficits in children with autism (Maurice, Green & Luce, 1996) including direct instruction (teacher-led activities, discrete trial teaching), activity-based instruction (instructional trials are imbedded within a specific activity, such as language targets in an art activity) and incidental teaching (child-directed activities, and uses naturally occurring opportunities to provide relevant teaching instruction. It includes shaping (takes advantage of related responses the child already has and reinforces closer and closer approximations to the desired response, such as teaching and shaping language/words). Prompting, including errorless teaching, and prompt fading (to fade out adult presence/support as a child gains skill mastery), visual prompts (picture schedules and social stories) and functional assessment. Other methods of supporting and teaching new/desired skills include reinforcement procedures/reward systems, (including varying reinforcement schedules) token economies, behavior momentum, self-monitoring procedures, and behavior reduction procedures (also including reinforcement procedures, correction procedures and response cost procedures (loss of rewards/tokens).
All of these techniques are the "how" to teach methods for teaching new skills. It is not the "What" to teach. The "What" to teach, also greatly debated, should consider both typical development of a child, along with the unique learning strengths and weaknesses of a child autism or ADHD. Refer to the "What are social skills" portion of the social skills page to read more on the "What" to teach.
|
|
