As many of you know by now I’m not a fount of wisdom about autism. I’m simply the parent of a child who has been diagnosed on the spectrum.

But as I do run a blog one of the things I can do is to ask questions which my wife and I have and the the benefit of the experience of our readers and other members of the autism community.

So we have a question.

We are considering ABA therapy for our son (who is now eight years old). He has been described as moderately on the spectrum. Which means he is verbal and attends a specialist unit with a mainstream school for his education. Which I admit does not give you a real feel for his behaviours does give you a kind of position for him on the spectrum.

To return to ABA therapy. According to Wikipedia “Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is defined as the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the improvement in behavior.” Which is not particularly clear you’ll agree.

So my first question is what is ABA in practice? If you could share your story in the comments box below. My wife and I would also like to know how did ADA therapy actually work for you? Again if you could share that would be great.

Finally I would be grateful if you could take the short poll on ABA below. I’m keen to understand what percentage of my readers and the wider ASD community have used ABA.

Thanks very much in advance!

 

BrandiAlvarez

My son was diagnosed when he was four and is now eight. He’s been in ABA now for the last two years and the difference between now and then is really amazing. His vocabulary has grown and his aggressive behaviors have lessened quite a bit..My son goes to school 3 times a week in their program called the Apple program and twice a week he goes to ABA. During his time with ABA he sees one therapist in the morning and then change to a different one in the afternoon so that he can get used being around different therapists and not the same one all the time. They work on specific programs/goals and once he’s mastered out of one then they move on to a new one. Recently he just mastered tying his shoes all on his own. They have recently added services like speech therapy and occupational therapy as well. My husband’s insurance helped find this particular place for us and his services are covered and I feel very grateful that my son can participate.

ispeakautism

ABA Therapy has been invaluable for my son. Early intervention was essential to his successful future. Neurologically the brain has significant changes at specific developmental stages. Creating new pathways in the brain for those with Pervasive Developmental Disorders are more likely to succeed. Albeit, not every person with Autism will respond to this therapy. Understanding Cognitive Load is something that every person working people with ASDs need to understand the development of the specific person. It can harm people if the ABA Therapy is not applied correctly. You know one person with Autism, you know one person with Autism. This is why the spectrum is so vast. My son, now 14, has been in Gen Ed since he was 3. He gets straight As and was awarded the President’s Excellence in Academics Award for having straight As 2 years in a row. Mother to a son WITH Autism (PFL-People First Language), I Speak Autism, advocacy/ therapy, ASD teacher, MA-TA, MS, Special Ed.