When we understand how behavior works, we can draft a blueprint to address negative behaviors while improving socially significant ones, including social, communication, and learning skills.
ABA therapy works on a range of developmental areas such as communication, self-care, and play skills but it also focuses on specific problems with negative/maladaptive behaviors that can hamper the child’s or young adult’s ability to function at an appropriate level.
Behavior is an oft-used word usually predicated on words: good or bad. Whether a child is punished for bad behavior, or a convict is released for good behavior, its connotation is obvious, but its definition is often less apparent.
Behavior is the manner in which a person or thing acts, reacts or conducts itself. In psychology, behavior is an action, activity, or process that can be observed and measured.
Human behavior is learned, occurring only after experience or practice. Thus, human behavior can be un-learned and replaced with new and functional behaviors, meaning it can be changed if and when conditions change.
The goal of ABA therapy is to increase helpful behavior in your child and reduce behaviors that are harmful or negatively affect learning. In other words, ABA therapy tries to balance the positive side of behaviors with the challenging or maladaptive behaviors.
ABA therapy explores the relationship between learning and behavior to determine how to revise an action or teach a new, more functional way to complete a behavior by focusing on:
Everything a child or young adult does is behavior (i.e., talking, crying, eating, coloring, tying shoes).
ABA therapy is designed to understand learning and behavior by looking at the function of the behavior and the environment in which it occurs.
It looks at the purpose behind those actions and under what circumstances they occur, in order to change them or teach new, more functional ways of doing something.
By decreasing problem behaviors and identifying functional replacement skills, ABA therapy can help a child or young adult achieve greater success in many environments.
What is Behavior?
Everything we do is behavior (i.e., cooking, yelling, shopping, praising, eating, crying, cleaning, tying shoes). Everything your child or young adult does is behavior (i.e., talking, frowning, yelling, crying, playing, eating, coloring, tying shoes).
Behavior encompasses a person’s actions, the actions they take to initiate change, or to maintain the status quo. It is a reaction to various stimuli, including:
While observing behavior may be straightforward, comprehending the underlying reasons behind why someone behaves the way they do is a far more intricate endeavor.
To fix a behavior, we first have to understand it
ABA Therapy applies our understanding of how behavior works to real situations. ABA principles target behavior goals and modify behaviors to be more functional and appropriate in their natural environment.
Behaviors occur for a reason.
It may be difficult to understand why an individual engages in negative behavior (aggression or self-injury), but the underlying function will help explain it. In fact, understanding the function also helps our ABA specialists in developing an effective treatment.
The function of a behavior is important to identify for several reasons, including behavior prevention, choosing socially appropriate replacement behaviors and the development of treatment plans.
Understanding behavior forces us to acknowledge that behaviors are affected by their environment; behavior changes are more effective with positive instead of negative consequences; and behaviors can be strengthened or weakened by their consequences.
And not all behaviors need to be addressed.
Children and young adults with ASD often display non-harmful behaviors that those without ASD typically do not, like stimming, maintaining special and specific interests, or avoiding eye contact.
These behaviors serve a purpose. Eye contact for people with ASD is often uncomfortable, awkward, or even physically painful for them.
Stimming is used to self-regulate, increase or decrease stimuli, and self-express.
These behaviors make them comfortable and are a natural form of self-expression or movement.
Different children have different needs and certain behaviors may simply be idiosyncratic behavior that serves as a shelter from the storm for them. A girl who plays with her hair maybe seeking refuge from anxiety. However, a girl pulling hair out from the roots reveals an indicator of self-injurious behavior.
Our goal is not to recreate a child that is “indistinguishable from their peers.” Just as it would be actively harmful to teach that the way a child acts or the way he or she moves is fundamentally wrong.
Functions of Behavior.
The principles of ABA therapy target four functions of behavior which include: escape or avoidance, attention seeking or access to attention, access to tangibles or reinforcements, and sensory stimulation (or “because it feels good”).
Identifying the function of behavior helps to teach kids better ways to have their needs met and ensure consistency across all environments.
We observe your child in his or her environments, describe what is going on before and after the problem behavior occurs, identify the function, teach a replacement behavior that still meets the same need as the problem behavior and reinforce the replacement behavior.
Understanding the function of the behavior helps us to decrease the problem behaviors and increase appropriate or desired behaviors.
Sensory Stimulation
Sensory stimulation is the input and sensation received when one or more of the senses are activated.
This behavior is referring to stimulating the senses, or self-stimulating. This behavior indicates that a person’s own movements/actions feel good to them.
Access to Attention
To gain the attention of a nearby adult, a teacher or another child. For example, a child might whine in order to get attention from parents.
They may also engage in certain behaviors to get others to laugh with them or play with them, or they may just want people to look at them. They may not always be seeking positive attention. The child might be behaving in a certain way to elicit anger or scolding from their parent or teacher.
Access to Tangibles
When a child wants access to a specific item or activity.
This behavior is the opposite of escape since the child is doing something in order to get what he or she wants. Example: Child hits parent to gain access to the iPad. If the parent gives in, the hitting will continue.
Escape/Avoidance
When a child engages in an escape behavior, he or she is trying to get away from something or avoid it altogether.
For example, in a home setting, a child might run away if they don’t want to take a bath. Or a child is misbehaving in the classroom by putting their head down on the desk, they are attempting to escape the work.
VISUAL
Repetitive behaviors related to the sense of sight. It can include things such as moving fingers in front of your eyes, looking at ceiling fans, watching objects spin, or excessive or hard blinking.
AUDITORY
Repetitive behaviors related to the sense of sound. It can include listening to the same sounds or songs repeatedly. It can also refer to making sounds or repeating words and phrases. Vocal stimming would fall into this category.
TACTILE
Repetitive behaviors related to the sense of touch. It can include stroking fabrics, rubbing the skin, or picking at scabs.
OLFACTORY
Repetitive behaviors related to the sense of taste and smell. It can include licking things, sniffing things, and mouthing objects.
VESTIBULAR
Repetitive behaviors related to the sense of balance, body awareness and input from the joints and muscles. It can include spinning, rocking, jumping, or cracking knuckles.