• Applied Behavior Analysis is an evidence and researched based practice that helps practitioners and families alike to understand behaviors and teach new skills. By teaching through play, and breaking down key skills into component parts, children learn more effectively, and are able to meet developmental milestones.

    ABA focuses on the patterns around things that come before, or trigger a behavior or skill, and how people and the learner’s environment respond to the behavior or skill. For example, if every time a child bangs on the fridge, they get a snack, we might feel confident that the child’s banging indicates a need for a snack. With that in mind, we may focus on teaching the child an alternative method of getting that need met, like learning to bring a caregiver into the kitchen, pointing to snack items, giving a picture of snack items, or vocally requesting snack items.

    When a behavior or skill is followed by something that the learner values, that learner is more likely to repeat that behavior. In other words, if what they are doing gets their needs met, they are more likely to continue to use that skill.

    Our BCBAs work with families to determine what skills are most important for the child to learn, with the goal of giving the child the skills to clearly and effectively get their needs meet, and more independently navigate their environment.

  • Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapeutic approach primarily used to help individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other developmental disabilities. ABA can also be beneficial for a wide range of individuals across different ages and abilities. ABA is typically the treatment method recommended for individuals with autism, and can effectively help individuals learn skills that are important to the learner, and their families.

    At Little River Autism Services, we provide early intervention ABA therapy, which means we focus on learners who are typically under the age of 7, or who have not yet gone to school. Our goal is to teach our learners to more effectively communicate their needs, play with friends, and be more ready to enter the school setting.

    A diagnosis of Autism is not required to enroll in our services. Our team will meet with your family to determine eligibility. Often, when learners start with us they may be missing key developmental milestones in communication, social skills, and behavioral regulation, that may indicate they will be a good fit for our services.

  • ABA works by systematically teaching new skills and reducing challenging behaviors through the use of positive reinforcement strategies and other evidence-based approaches. This may be as simple as providing praise for calm behavior, more bubbles as a result of pointing at the bubbles, or giving a high five for following directions.

    When teaching a new skill, Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) first work with to develop rapport with your child, and establish a fun game or activity that the child enjoys. RBTs then identify a moment that is conducive to teaching a new skill. For example, when teaching a point, a natural moment might be requesting a new car from a bin of toys. If teaching to follow the direction to sit down, a natural moment might be asking a learner to sit before completing a preferred activity at the table. The RBT will then give the direction to the learner, and after a brief pause to allow an independent response, will provide prompting to help the learner successfully demonstrate the skill. The RBT will then provide praise, and continued access to the fun game or activity.

    By using this approach across their therapy day, learners are provided with a high rate of opportunities for learning. Skills targeted are identified by the family and BCBA as skills of importance to the learner and the family, and are updated as the learner demonstrates progress

  • ABA providers can teach a variety of skills to the individual, as well as the individuals caregivers. Skill areas include: communication skills, social and play skills, daily living and adaptive skills, motor skills, emotional regulation skills, academic and classroom/school readiness skills, and safety skills.

    The following are some examples of skills that early learners may focus on.

    Communication Skills:  asking for items they want or need, following directions, identifying common items, naming common items, answering basic questions

    Social Skills:  sharing, turn-taking, conversation skills, waiting for items, engaging in sustained social play, engaging in group activities

    Adaptive/ Daily Living Skills: eating with a fork, increasing tolerance for new food items, potty training, dressing routines, brushing teeth, etc.

    Motor Skills: imitation, tracing, buttoning clothes, tying shoes, prerequisite fine motor skills for writing in school

    Emotional Regulation: using calming strategies, learning how to wait, tolerating being told "no," finding a Plan B

    Academic Readiness Skills: follow multi-step step instructions, follow routines, engaging calmly in common activities, independently completing common tasks

    Safety Skills: following directions to stop, wait, or walk with adults, staying within boundaries when playing outside, answering personal information questions

    BCBAs will work with you and your child to determine which skills are most important to your family, and develop a plan to best meet your child’s needs.

    When teaching a new skill, Registered Behavior Technicians (RBTs) first work with to develop rapport with your child, and establish a fun game or activity that the child enjoys. RBTs then identify a moment that is conducive to teaching a new skill. For example, when teaching a point, a natural moment might be requesting a new car from a bin of toys. If teaching to follow the direction to sit down, a natural moment might be asking a learner to sit before completing a preferred activity at the table. The RBT will then give the direction to the learner, and after a brief pause to allow an independent response, will provide prompting to help the learner successfully demonstrate the skill. The RBT will then provide praise, and continued access to the fun game or activity.

    By using this approach across their therapy day, learners are provided with a high rate of opportunities for learning. Skills targeted are identified by the family and BCBA as skills of importance to the learner and the family, and are updated as the learner demonstrates progress

  • ABA focuses on teaching skills that are important to the child and their family, and ensuring they can demonstrate skills in natural settings. Sometimes, when children are learning new skills, their responses can feel scripted or more ‘robotic’ in nature. Our goal is for our learners to be able to navigate their worlds more independently and confidently, which means we focus on promoting skills in natural contexts.

    Neurotypical learners may only need to hear a new word a handful of times before they are able to use the word in their conversation. Learners with autism may need to hear a word hundreds or thousands of times, and may need just as many opportunities practicing the word or phrase, before it becomes fluent for them. This is why ABA therapy is an intensive service – it allows learners to get in a lot of practice on the skills they are working on. While repetition is important, we focus on child-led, and play based learning, to ensure our learners are having fun when learning, and practicing their skills in more natural ways.

    As our learners start to pick up on new skills, we begin to vary the instructions given. For example, if working on an imitation goal, we may as the learner to “do this,” “copy me,” or “do it like this,” so they learn to understand a variety of instructions that mean the same thing. We also teach them that there are a variety of ways to respond to a question, or ask for the things they need. For example, if we are teaching them to use two vocal words when asking for something, we model language for specific things in their environment in a wide variety of combinations. If we are playing with blocks, we might model “red block,” “want block,” “more block,” “block please.” This allows learners to learn more natural conversation skills, in an environment where it makes sense to be practicing the skill.

  • When the skills we teach kids work, they continue to use those skills. When we can consistently show a learner that using words, pointing, or showing us what they need will result in getting that thing, they will continue to use those skills, instead of screaming, or other unwanted behaviors.

    Within the field of ABA, we define reinforcement as the presentation of a stimulus, directly following a behavior, that increases the future likelihood of the behavior. In other words, if something good happens after you do something, you’re more likely to do that thing again.

    When we talk about bribes, we are typically talking about offering up something to a child to try to get them to stop doing something. Maybe the child is told they can watch TV if they leave their brother alone, or we can have a popsicle if they stop screaming. In these scenarios, we may be unintentionally showing the child that the way to get TV or a popsicle is to bother their brother, or start screaming.

    When using reinforcement, we focus on the skills we do want to see, and set that expectation up before unwanted behaviors start. For example, a child might be told they can watch an episode of TV after they finish their homework, or that they can go play in their room after they sit at the table for dinner. This way, we place our focus and praise on the skills we want to see more of.

    When we are teaching our learners new skills, we focus a lot of ‘reinforcing’ their skills and behaviors so they know what they are doing is working. This might mean saying “good job” and giving a high-five if they correctly tell us how old they are, or blowing more bubbles if they say “bubbles.”

    Common reinforcers might include vocal praise, social attention, or access to items or activities. For example, if a learner points to a dinosaur, we might reinforce the skill of pointing by giving them the dinosaur.

    As skills get easier for the learners, reinforcers are gradually faded over time. The first time a child walks, parents might clap and cheer. As their child continues to walk every day, this level of reinforcement isn’t necessary; walking becomes easier for the child, and is naturally reinforcing as it gets them access to things around them more easily than crawling.

    As children learn more skills, the reinforcers we use become more natural parts of their daily routine. We might expect our kids to complete their chores before going out to play, just as we are expected to do our jobs before we get paid.

  • ‍Our goal is to teach children new skills. Children learn best when they are happy, relaxed, and engaged. Our staff focus on creating a fun, enriching, and engaging learning environment for our learners, to help facilitate their engagement and growth.

    In the field of ABA, we use the term ‘punishment’ to refer to when something is given or taken away, following a behavior, that decreases the future likelihood of that behavior. Examples of this might include teachers taking away recess time for kids calling out in class, or a parent taking away screen time when siblings are hitting each other. As part of our ethical code of conduct, BCBAs do not use punishment procedures, unless as a last resort.

    When we write treatment and behavior support plans, we focus on what we want our learners to do, instead of what not to do. This means we might focus on raising a quiet hand in class, or using our words to tell a sibling what they need. A plan that focuses only on what to do in response to an unwanted behavior is not a good plan. A good plan should always address the underlying skill deficit and focus on prompting positive behaviors.

    In compliance with Minnesota state law, we do not use restrictive procedures at Little River Autism Services, unless in an emergency safety situation. This means we do not put hands on kids who are upset, or use ‘time out’ procedures (e.g., limit their access to only a ‘calm down’ room). However, we will give a hug to a child who asks for one, pick up a child running in front of a bus, or carry a child out of a burning building.

Why is there a stigma around ABA therapy?

ABA is a growing field based in research and developing evidenced based practice. Historically, there have been ABA providers whose services do not align with modern ethical standards, have used over rigid procedures, or who have not focused on generalizing socially significant skills. This has led to some families being understandably cautious when finding the right supports for their child.

Let’s address some common myths of ABA therapy:

  • 1.  Are they focusing on goals that are important to your family?

    • Do the goals on the treatment plan make sense to you? If the child accomplished those goals, would it make a meaningful impact on your daily routines?

    2. Do the teaching strategies make sense?

    • Does the way the child is being taught seem intuitive? When working on addressing skills in the home, do the strategies you are trying out seem like they would work?

    3. Is the child making progress?

    • Some kids make big steps forward quickly, some kids make slow, smaller steps forward. If your child is not showing any measure of progress for multiple months, the strategies in place may not be working.

    4. Does the child seem like they are having fun?

    • Happy, relaxed, and engaged children learn best. Is your child able to be happy, relaxed, and engaged when working with the provider? We don’t expect young children to be happy and calm all day long, but are they able to be calm for enough of their therapy time to be learning? Are the providers able to respond to uncalm moments with calm and compassion?

    5. Is there clear and open communication?

    • Do you feel like you are able to be on the same page as your provider, and are receiving clear and consistent communication? Are you able to observe your child’s sessions, and gain a clear understanding of what they are working on?

    6. Does this feel like a place you want your child to spend their day?

    • Trust your mom-gut (or caregiver-gut). Many of the children we work with cannot tell their caregivers all about their day. If something feels off, your child is likely feeling it too.