What is ABA Therapy for Autism?

Understanding ABA, Applied Behavior Analysis

A scientific approach to understanding and improving behavior

The practice of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) focuses on developing skills so people with autism can lead independent, healthy, and happy lives. What makes ABA unique is that practitioners identifying the conditions and circumstances in which your child is most motivated to learn in order to maximize and enhance learning. ABA uses a customized approach to intervention in collaboration with parents that caters to each child’s needs, strengths, and preferences.

How Do ABA Services Work?

ABA instruction breaks complex skills into smaller steps so your child can work up to learning more advanced skills. There is a focus on the use of positive consequences to enhance motivation and teach functional skills. When complex behavior occurs that interferes with learning, ABA focuses on changing the environment and teaching skills, rather than simply reducing the behavior. A hallmark of ABA is that data are collected on clinician and child behavior to allow objective assessment of teaching procedures and the child’s progress. This ensures that changes are made to instruction when things are not progressing. Professionals who implement interventions based on ABA have specialized training and credentials. Therapists who directly implement interventions, often called Registered Behavior Technicians, are well-trained and supervised by Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA). BCBAs must meet specific graduate level course requirements and professional field work experience in order to sit for a comprehensive examination leading to certification.

Research has shown that ABA approaches can successfully address a wide range of skills across the lifespan such as:

Joint attention
Social skills
Self-monitoring
Asking questions

Making choices
Learning through observation
Safety behavior
Employment skills

What are ABA Intervention Examples?

ABA relies on carefully designed assessments, systematic observations, and collaboration with family members to create your child’s unique learning profile. This profile identifies your child’s strengths and skills to teach, and personal preferences. From this learning profile, specific goals are targeted and strategies to teach these goals are identified.

Example

It may be determined that your child could benefit from instruction in how to communicate more effectively when they want something. A common ABA strategy, incidental teaching, could be used to teach your child to request items that they want. A learning program would be designed that identifies the context in which your child is highly motivated to communicate (e.g., they like toy trains on a track). During the teaching session, a therapist would capture your child’s motivation for the train and model a communicative response, such as, “want train,” for your child to imitate in order to obtain the toy train. Eventually, through repeated opportunities to imitate the response, your child may begin to say, “want train” on their own. Over time, the therapist would model more complex responses for your child to imitate (e.g., “can I have the train, please?”). A core feature of ABA is to engage family members in treatment; you would be coached to implement similar motivation sessions with your child throughout naturally occurring activities in the home and community.

Alpine’s Approach to ABA

Alpine uses a contemporary approach to ABA-based interventions, which are informed by the most recent research findings as well as decades of our own applied research and clinical experiences.

A core feature of Alpine’s approach to ABA is collaboration with and compassion toward your child and your family. This helps ensure a positive connection with our clinicians and increases your child’s motivation to engage in learning activities. We meet your child where they are and ensure that all interventions and skills targeted for improvement are meaningful to your child and to you as a family.

Our ABA curriculum, developed and refined over the last 35 years, fosters language, social behavior, and play skills through motivating and engaging teaching interactions. Our transition and adult programs apply ABA to teach skills essential for independent living, self-advocacy, and employment all with a goal to improve quality of life.

Alpine uses a personalized approach to intervention, identifying each child’s needs, strengths, and preferences in collaboration with you.

We partner with you every step of the way to craft your child’s unique ABA-based learning profile, identifying goals and selecting approaches to instruction and intervention as a team.

Once an individualized learning plan is developed, it is continually refined and modified over time.

Our highly trained and experienced professionals who implement ABA services at Alpine meet state and national credentialing and funding requirements.

This Includes:

Rigorous Science, Expert Endorsement

ABA therapy is not only for autism; it is scientifically shown to be effective for a wide variety of other concerns as well. However, because ABA therapy for autism has the largest research base, it is most well-known for its positive impact as an autism intervention. Decades of research have shown that ABA treatment is safe and effective as a therapy for autism, and it has been recognized by a number of governmental and medical entities such as the U.S. Surgeon General, The American Academy of Pediatrics, and the National Institutes of Mental Health

For more information about applied behavior analysis and autism treatment, please visit:

Learn More About Our ABA Services

Alpine Learning Group offers ABA services and early interventions for autism in Bergen, Passaic, Essex, Hudson, Morris, and Union Counties through our education, in-home and afterschool center-based ABA, and social skills programs.

Please contact Caren Gans, Alpine’s Intake Coordinator, using the following form or via phone at 201-612-7800 x305

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