Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy is now the most well-researched and most validated treatment for Autism Spectrum Disorder, endorsed by hundreds of medical experts and organizations. But what makes it so effective? And how can your child benefit from ABA Therapy?
Simply put, ABA Therapy works because it treats your child as an individual. Rather than forcing your child to conform to a narrow set of behavioral expectations, ABA allows a therapist to develop goals in collaboration with you—goals that are respectful of your values and your child’s unique needs.
Here’s how it works. After identifying which skills you want your child to develop, ABA Therapy calls for a straightforward process to teach those skills and build lasting effects.
1. Skills are broken down into easier steps.
Learning any new skill can seem overwhelming—even if a person doesn’t have Autism Spectrum Disorder—so first, we break down the skill into more achievable milestones.
2. Kids are given many opportunities to practice each skill.
Through frequent at-home and center-based therapy with an ABA therapist, your child will have ample opportunities to develop skills.
3. Success is rewarded, which motivates your child to keep trying. With each step forward, your child is celebrated and encouraged.
What’s most powerful about ABA Therapy is that after each small success, your child gains a greater sense of independence. Therapy helps kids to build all the little tasks involved in daily life, which get easier and easier as they’re rewarded. And as time goes on, you’ll likely see improvements in how your child develops friendships and uses language effectively, gradually opening up to others and even making small talk with people they’ve just met.
And because an autism diagnosis can be so stressful for you as parents—not to mention, for your other children—ABA Therapy also helps support the entire family. During the process, you’ll learn how to build a stronger relationship with your child, find out how to help change your child’s behavior, and get insights that will help you better understand how they’re thinking.
As legendary psychologist O.I. Lovass once said, “If they can’t learn the way we teach, we teach the way they learn.” ABA Therapy does just that, adapting to create the support system your child needs and giving you hope for the future.
To learn more about ChildFirst Behavior Therapy and our approach to ABA, contact us today. We have immediate openings at our Chicagoland office.
