ABA Treatment

This is the first scientifically validated treatment for child autism. It normally involves intervention at a very young age. The autistic child is paired with a therapist who uses the following procedure:

1-1 The therapist requests or directs the autistic child for an action.
1-2 The child responds with a behavior that may be classified as a success, a noncompliance or no response.
1-3 The therapist reacts with a consequence that ranges from strong positive reinforcement to strong negative response.

Among the many methods available for treatment and education of people with autism, applied behavior analysis (ABA) has become widely accepted as an effective treatment.

Mental Health: A Report of the Surgeon General states, “Thirty years of research demonstrated the benefit of applied behavioral methods in reducing inappropriate behavior and in improving communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior.”   The basic research done by Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles, calling for an intensive, one-on-one child-teacher interaction for 40 hours a week, laid a foundation for other educators and researchers in the search for further effective early interventions to help those with ASD live up to their potential. The goal of behavioral management is to reinforce desirable behaviors and reduce undesirable ones.   
 
Behavioral therapy is used to treat many different types of disorders, including ASDs. Many people are familiar with the work of B.F. Skinner who, in 1938, coined the term “operant conditioning.”

Operant conditioning is the idea that the response a teacher gives to a behavior may be directly responsible for changing the behavior. (In the case of treatments for autism, the teacher may literally be an educator, but may also be a therapist, parent, or other caregiver.) In other words, if performing a certain behavior earns the child a reward, the behavior is likely to increase. Conversely, if the behavior doesn’t produce a desired effect (perhaps the teacher simply ignores it, redirects, or tells the child “no”) the behavior will decrease.

Skinner and others further defined the science of behavioral therapy by identifying principles of behavior such as reinforcement, fading, prompting, shaping, etc. These principles make up the science of behavioral analysis. Applied Behavioral Analysis refers to the application of these principles and actually encompasses several different strategies for treatment.

ABA Treatment
Most common autism treatments
Autism Checklist
Autism Guide: The Essential Guide To Autism
Autism Treatment and Intervention
Asperger's Syndrome in Laymens Terms. Aspergers Checklist

History of ABA and Autism

The most recognized name associated with ABA when it comes to autism is Dr. Ivar Lovaas, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is credited with developing ABA for use in treating autistics.

In the 1960s, Dr. Lovaas conducted research involving children who participated in a concentrated intervention program while another group of children participated in a control group who followed a less demanding treatment program. At the close of the study, significantly fewer children in the control group were able to attend a regular school than those in the intensive treatment program. Published results claimed that 30-50% of autistics who receive early and intensive treatment in the form of behavior therapy using discrete trial training show improvement in both behavioral and intellectual skills, and are able to attend school normally without special assistance.

In 1993, McEachin, Smith, and Lovaas conducted follow-up research of the children involved in the original study. This follow up showed that the benefits of the intensive therapy program continued to at least the age of 11.

For a more indept view on ABA treatment please visit Autism Guide: The Essential Guide To Autism or What You Should Know About Autism Spectrum Disorders