autism daily

What Is ABA Therapy and Does It Work?

If you are the parent of a child who has been recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, there is a good chance that you have heard the term ABA, or Applied Behavior Analysis therapy.  ABA is a unique form of treatment for autism, and holds the distinction of being the only treatment that is scientifically proven to work.  Using a process of measuring behaviors and implementing specific teaching procedures, ABA works to help children learn a very comprehensive set of skills.  ABA works through guiding and positive reinforcement and can be quite successful. One of the places where autistic children differ greatly from other children is that they typically do not just pick up or grasp large concepts, ideas, and behaviors simply by observing them.  While many children can look up at a gray sky and understand that this means that it will rain soon, an autistic child does not make the proper connections and understandings for this concept to be understood.  ABA therapy is designed to help teach concepts and ideas in such a way that teaches the brain how to learn larger concepts.  It literally helps kids learn to learn. ABA therapy certainly works, and studies show that it is by far the most effective treatment out there for children with autism spectrum disorder.  ABA can help these kids become more socially active, more independent, and more capable.  In fact, many kids who have undergone rigorous ABA therapy are able to function in a normal classroom setting after a relatively short period of time.  This is especially true of children who begin ABA during or even before the preschool years, which is when the brain is developing many of the skills required for learning.  The new pathways developed by ABA can often help autistic children function quite like their non-autistic counterparts. At the end of the day, it is up to parents and school systems to decide what is right for each child.  With that in mind, however, it is important to understand that ABA therapy really does work.  When employed both in the home and at school, it can be even more effective.  ABA therapy teaches social, cognitive, language, motor, self-help, and academic skills.  When you want your child to be able to go to school, learn, and interact with peers as normally as possible, these skills are absolutely crucial.

School Based ABA Therapy Teaches Positive Behaviors

In many school systems, children with autism spectrum disorder are forced to remain in special needs classrooms until they have reached the age of 18 or until they are no longer enrolled in the school system.  In many cases, this is not because the children are not intelligent, but instead because they exhibit behavior patterns that are disruptive to other children and to the learning process.  For school systems, and excellent alternative to this arrangement is to implement a quality ABA therapy treatment. ABA therapy is well known as one of the most successful and world renowned treatments for children with autism spectrum disorder.  It uses positive reinforcement, prompting, and other specific techniques to help children learn new ideas and concepts, as well as behaviors.  Studies show that children introduced to ABA at a very early age are often able to learn the proper behavior patterns and social skills needed to allow them to integrate fully into a classroom of their peers.  ABA also makes it easier for these children to learn academically in a standard classroom setting by literally helping their brains make the connections needed to put together broad concepts and ideas. What few people seem to understand about children with autism is that their brains work differently.  These children are not by any means stupid, and they absolutely do not choose to act in such negative or disruptive ways.  ABA therapy teaches them better methods of communicating and helps them to understand what behavior patterns will be recognized and rewarded with attention.  The end result is a child who is capable of functioning within a social or academic setting and who is no longer forced to sacrifice the quality of their education due to behavior patterns and issues. The reason that many school systems simply send autistic children to these special classrooms is that they simply don’t have the tools needed to properly treat them.  Paying for specialized ABA training for an entire school system can cost a fortune, and the price is something that most districts cannot afford.  The good news for these systems, however, is that it is possible to purchase DVD courses that teach ABA and that include all of the materials needed to integrate it into the classroom.  With everything that educators need, including access to trained professionals who can provide support, these courses can literally help educators change the lives of many autistic children forever.

Picture Cards Make ABA Therapy More Effective

ABA therapy is largely recognized as the most effective and beneficial form of treatment for children who suffer from autism spectrum disorder.  The treatment is shown to help teach a variety of skills, from motor skills to social and academic skills.  More importantly, research shows that these skills are carried with these children for the rest of their lives, helping them not only in school, but as they transition and make their way into the real world as adults.  One of the best tools used in ABA therapy is picture cards. One of the most basic elements of Applied Behavior Analysis therapy is the understanding that the minds of autistic children process information differently.  Ideas, sequences, and concepts are not as easy for these children to understand.  While most kids can watch a series of events unfold and put together cause and effect, it does not work the same way for kids with autism spectrum disorders.  Instead, they must be able to see the process step by step and to learn specifically what happens.  Over time, however, this repeated learning helps them develop the ability to recognize sequences and concepts. Picture cards can be a major factor in teaching these elements to autistic children.  These cards can show a series of events that must be put into order, a standard image with a single detail that is out of place, or even a concept.  The cards help the children make a visual connection to different ideas and concepts.  Picture cards can also be used to help teach language and expression.  Cards with varied scenes and images can be used in a variety of ways, including enabling educators to ask general questions to help the child understand what is happening in the picture. There is no doubt that ABA therapy is effective, and there is also no doubt that picture cards can help it work even better.  When utilized with proper discrete teaching trials and as part of a standard ABA curriculum, these cards can offer teachers a much better way to help students understand ideas and concepts.  Learning can be a very attainable goal for students with autism spectrum disorder, and offering the tools and supplements needed to make it easier can greatly improve the results.  ABA has been proven to help many kids learn to function in a standard classroom, and for many of them, picture cards have helped to pave the way.

Is Your School System Offering ABA Therapy?

If you are an educator, guidance counselor, or other school faculty member, then you understand the commitment you have made to providing every student that steps into your hallways with the best education possible.  With that in mind, what treatments does your school system offer for children with autism spectrum disorders?  Are they herded into classrooms for students with special needs?  Are they frequently punished for behaving in ways outside of the norm?  Sadly, these are the most common treatments in today’s schools, despite the fact that offering ABA therapy could make a real difference in behavior and learning. ABA therapy is more than just a bunch of memorization and mimicking.  While these are certainly integral aspects of the therapy, they are designed to help the brains of autistic children form new neural pathways and to literally develop the ability to understand larger concepts.  Intensive ABA therapy is shown to help kids learn not only acceptable behavior patterns and specifically taught concepts, but the ability to learn new things in much the same manner as their peers.  This is certainly remarkable, and with thirty years of evidence to support the treatment, the real question is why more schools don’t offer ABA. One of the biggest hindrances to offering ABA in school systems is that training is largely cost prohibitive.  Sending every educator within a school system to special classes or seminars is unaffordable for most school systems, and educating only one teacher will prove largely inefficient.  Many schools see this as a sign that they simply cannot offer ABA therapy, but this is not the case.  Through the use of a well designed and well implemented DVD course, it is possible for entire school districts to learn how to provide ABA therapy for autistic children. While the notion of a DVD course might be surprising at first, it actually makes sense.  A well designed course will come with all of the materials needed for both learning and providing ABA therapy.  It will also include information on how to contact someone with questions or to get clarification on different aspects of the therapy.  One of the best things about a DVD course, however, is that it doesn’t just offer one-time training.  It can be used time and again to ensure that new teachers are also taught this method.  Ensuring that everyone in your school system knows how to handle autistic children is the key to proper educating, and a DVD course in ABA therapy can make that goal attainable.

Comprehensive Courses Help Teachers Provide ABA Therapy In Schools

For parents with a child who has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, hearing that your school system has to place your child in a special classroom with little education because they don’t understand how to teach them is frustrating.  In fact, it can be infuriating.  Schools are designed to provide every child with the best education possible, and understanding why they cannot provide that is difficult.  In most cases, however, it is not because they do not wish to teach these children.  Instead, it is because the cost of learning to provide ABA therapy is so high. For many years, the only way for educators to learn to provide ABA therapy for autistic students was to undergo special training classes or attend expensive seminars where they would be lectured on how to provide the training.  Not only is this too expensive for a district looking to train multiple teachers, but it is ineffective.  With these classes and lectures, educators have nowhere to turn when they have further questions or need to reexamine part of their training.  DVD training courses, on the other hand, offer just what school systems need. With a well designed DVD training course, school districts can provide any number of educators with proper ABA training.  The course only needs to be purchased a single time, and school systems will find that they can easily purchase extra picture cards, data sheets, and other supplements.  With a DVD course, educators can easily review any material that left them with questions, and school systems can educate new hires without having to pay for additional training or new classes.  This means that teachers can get the best education possible on teaching ABA therapy while school systems can also save significant amounts of money. When looking to treat children with autism spectrum disorder, there is little doubt that ABA therapy is the most effective method.  With more than thirty years as the most highly recommended treatment and years of studies and results to help back up these claims, it is the only form of treatment that many insurance plans will cover.  School systems owe it to every child to provide the best education possible.  By offering their educators and guidance counselors proper ABA training, they can make sure that they live up to that promise while helping autistic students live up to their maximum potential.

ABA Training Courses Let Parents and Teachers Work Together

When you are trying to teach a child with autism spectrum disorder, one of the most difficult things to overcome is a discrepancy between what is being taught in school and what is being taught at home.  Many parents feel that school systems are largely responsible for helping to treat and educate their children, while school systems often take the side of placing the burden solely on the parents.  In truth, both parties need to work hand in hand in order to ensure that the child receives the treatment and education they need, and a comprehensive ABA therapy plan can help. ABA therapy utilizes a number of different techniques and strategies to help teach children with autism the social, academic, and motor skills needed to function both in and out of the classroom.  Studies show that students do best with about forty hours of intensive training per week, which is often more than a school system or parent alone can provide.  When parents and educators work together, however, meeting this goal becomes much easier.  The key, however, is for these two entities to work closely together in order to ensure that they are offering the same methods and lessons. When parents and educators work together to provide ABA therapy, they can easily not which techniques prove the most helpful as well as what doesn’t seem to be working.  They can quickly identify problem areas as well as places where the child seems to excel.  Parents and teachers can compare data collection sheets, identify and isolate behaviors that require immediate attention, and develop a plan that will offer the child the most benefit.  This is certainly the best course of action, and it offers a child the best chance of learning to function well within a standard classroom environment. ABA therapy is proven to be the most effective form of treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder.  Because of this, it is the one most recommended for parents and school systems alike.  By utilizing DVD courses designed to train parents and educators on providing ABA therapy, it becomes much easier to help these children learn.  ABA is a truly unique and remarkable therapy with many benefits.  With the right training and the dedication to working as a team, parents and educators can use the therapy to make a real difference in the lives of autistic children.

ABA Therapy Can Help Curb Negative Behaviors for Autistic Children

Time and again, I hear from parents who say that their children are being punished in school for negative behaviors.  These kids are often chastised, suspended, or even spanked for engaging in behaviors that are considered disruptive to other students.  Unfortunately, most school systems have rules in place that mandate that all children be punished in a similar manner.  While this is designed to help prevent discrimination, it is certainly not the best way to treat children with autism spectrum disorder.  These children require a different method of behavior teaching, and ABA therapy offers the best way to provide it. Negative behaviors in autistic children are typically not done for the purpose of disrupting a class or for the benefit of anyone else.  Instead, these behaviors are the result of the consequences that follow.  While most children perceive punishment as negative and thus learn to stop the behavior, children with autism instead see that the behavior was met with attention, making it more likely to continue.  ABA therapy is designed to ignore negative behaviors and actions, which in turn teaches children with autism that acting inappropriately will provide no result. With ABA therapy, positive reinforcement is used to help create behaviors and actions that are not disruptive.  For example, a child can be met with praise whenever they raise their hand or say please in order to ask a question.  Positive reinforcement rewards appropriate responses with attention, encouraging the child to repeat the behavior in the future.  By providing this reinforcement whenever the right behaviors are presented, the child actually learns how to behave in a social setting or environment.  While there are many who argue that this is simply a form of memorization, studies show that the repetition actually helps to map the brain so that it understands how to act rather than acting based solely on memory. ABA therapy is proven to be the most effective when started at an early age.  Studies also show that because many children need intensive therapy in order to receive the most benefit, it is especially helpful when the therapy is offered both at home and within the school system.  ABA training is available as a DVD course for parents and school systems alike, and when everyone is on the same page, it becomes much easier to provide students with consistent, quality training that can help stop negative behaviors for good.

What Is Applied Behavior Analysis?

If you are a school administrator or the parent of a child with autism, you have likely heard of ABA therapy.  This is widely proven to be the most effective means of teaching behavior and learning skills to children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, yet few people truly understand the concept.  In the next few paragraphs, we will take a look at Applied Behavior Analysis, explaining the overall concept as well as how it works to help teach autistic children to learn and interact in a manner similar to their peers. Before delving into exactly how ABA works, it is important to take a look at the overall concept.  ABA therapy is designed to break down the behavior of a child or student and to literally analyze it.  Large concepts are broken down into steps and children are taught to perform each step individually.  Initially, prompts are given to provoke the right response or behavior, but over time the behavior is performed with decreasing prompts until it becomes automatic.  This is an excellent tool for teaching both large and small concepts and can prove highly beneficial in helping students integrate into a classroom setting. To take a closer look, it is best to use an example.  We will use tooth brushing as an example.  While many children can be shown to remove the cap from the tube, squeeze the paste onto a brush, run water onto it, and brush their teeth, the mind of an autistic child works differently.  Because of this, each of these steps would be a separate lesson, with each behavior being taught individually until the child is able to put them together into a chain of action.  The process is similar for teaching most concepts, but It is also highly effective. As a school administrator or school board member, integrating ABA therapy into your training methods is highly valuable.  Studies show that most autistic children are capable of learning alongside their peers in a classroom setting with proper skills and behavior training.  While large conferences and training clinics can be costly, there are training courses that utilize DVDs and other affordable materials to offer system wide training.  This gives school systems an affordable means of providing their teachers with the educational skills and methods required for teaching children with autism spectrum disorder and can help these educators provide students with a significantly higher quality of education.

Picture Cards Make ABA Therapy More Effective

Applied Behavior Analysis is the most common and most highly recommended form of treatment for children with autism spectrum disorder.  The treatment is done largely through repetition, prompting, and data collection and is used to teach a very wide variety of skills.  From academic and cognitive learning skills to social skills and even the ability to perform basic tasks needed for day to day life, ABA can equip children with vital abilities.  DVD courses offer school systems an excellent way to train educators in ABA, and picture cards provide them with remarkable teaching tools. Picture cards are often an integral part of Applied Behavior Analysis.  For children with autism spectrum disorder, large concepts and the idea of cause and effect are not immediately recognizable.  Instead, concepts must be broken down into individual steps or tasks.  This is true for such acts as tying shoes or brushing teeth and is also true for concepts such as the movement of the sun during the day or rain falling from the clouds.  Picture cards help to break down these tasks and concepts into images that represent each step. By utilizing picture cards, educators can help students recognize the individual elements of a task or concept.  Through repeated testing and teaching, children learn to recognize the pattern required for these tasks until they are able to recognize the entire pattern.  For many children, learning in this manner can help the brain to develop new neural pathways.  These new neurons and brain signals allow the child to naturally learn to see cause and effect and can enable them to learn to recognize larger concepts and patterns.  This is an essential skill for daily life, and ABA enables children to develop this skill and retain it throughout the rest of their lives. There is a great deal of evidence out there to support the fact that ABA is the most appropriate treatment for autism spectrum disorder, especially in small children.  DVD courses are highly effective and offer school systems an affordable way to provide educators with the necessary skills to teach ABA.  Whenever integrating ABA into a classroom environment, educators will find that picture cards may well be the best tools to have at their disposal.  With cards that teach sequences of events, error recognition, and ongoing actions, learning can become much easier for these students.  ABA simply works, making it an ideal treatment for students faced with learning with autism spectrum disorder.

Is ABA the Right Approach for School Systems Teaching Autistic Children?

Children are very diverse.  If you walk into any classroom and ask students to tell you what they most enjoy doing, you are going to get a very wide range of responses.  What most of these children will have in common, however, is the ability to easily learn concepts taught by their educators.  For children with autism spectrum disorder, even this basic ability is hampered by the fact that their brains simply work differently.  In order to learn in a classroom, they must first work on learning how to learn.  ABA therapy is a proven method of doing just that. The brain of a child with autism spectrum disorder works very differently than the brain of most children.  Essentially the neural pathways that help children make connections between behaviors and consequences are simply not there.  One thing that science has taught us, however, is that the brains of these children are not simply stuck in this state.  With proper ABA therapy, these connections can be developed and these students can often learn to perform as well as or possibly even better than their peers in a classroom setting. So, why ABA therapy?  There are a number of different therapies available for students with autism, after all.  The difference, however, is that ABA is proven to work on many levels.  Not only does it teach the fundamentals of learning, but it can help to condition behavior, teaching these students how to act in a social setting and what to do in a certain scenario.  These are skills that will have a lifelong impact on your child.  With ABA therapy, your child can learn how to react to other students, what to do if they ever get lost, and even how to form social bonds with new people. Applied Behavior Analysis has been around for a few decades and is considered to be the most effective form of treatment for autism.  While other methods show success in some areas, studies show that children taught using ABA therapy at a young age exhibit greatly improved social and educational skills well into their adult lives.  In other words, ABA is about permanently teaching children with autism spectrum disorder.  While many methods offer temporary solutions, teaching ABA in schools can equip students for a lifetime of learning.  The use of DVD training programs and classroom materials can be a highly effective way for any school system to provide educators with the tools necessary to give these students a head start on the rest of their lives.