Getting started with ABA

[monstermama]

My son was "officially" diagnosed with autism by a developmental pediatrician last week.  The doctor recommended ABA in addition to his speech therapy and the special needs preschool he attends.    My SLP is, apparently, not a fan of it, and some of the things I've read make it sound like not a good fit for him.  Could you please recommend some books or websites so I can get the gist of ABA?

[Crimson Wife]

ABA has been a major game-changer for my DD. We saw more language progress in the first few months of ABA than we'd seen in the previous full year of SLP. Some of that is the increased time (20 hours/week for ABA vs. 1 for speech) but some of it is how much more systematic my DD's ABA program is in teaching language than her speech therapy has been.

 

I recommend talking with the various different ABA providers in your area rather than going by the often outdated information that many critics of ABA will claim about it. The key word you're looking to hear from an ABA provider is "naturalistic". You do NOT want somebody who does Lovaas-style flashcard drills at a table. You want an ABA provider who will target the skills systematically but in a way that the child thinks is the therapist "playing" with him/her.

 

ETA: The official ABA terminology is "Natural Environment Training" apparently: http://www.iloveaba.com/2012/08/net-learning-through-play.html

Edited February 8, 2016 by Crimson Wife

[Lecka]

We have had a very good experience, also.

[monstermama]

Yes, it was the flashcard / drill & kill-type activities and some punishment-focused rhetoric that was putting me off.  Naturalistic is exactly what I'm looking for.  Thank you - the vocabulary associated with all this is something I'm struggling with.

 

Edit: Thank you especially, CW, for that blog post!  That narration is exactly what I've been doing with DS.  I know it works well with him, but it gets super tiring.

Edited February 9, 2016 by monstermama

[Lecka]

You are looking for "no aversives."

 

A quality person will be appalled.

 

My son has had a "punishment procedure" for two things. I agreed ahead of time.

 

They are: he has to repeat the correct thing to do between 3 and 5 times.

 

You may never even need to do this, but my son was bolting, and after and along with many other ways of figuring out why he was bolting and how to help him, one thing was if he bolted have him come back, request to leave, then go, then come back, then request to leave, then go.

 

It is supposed to show him it is easier to ask, and it is also supposed to give him practice at doing what he needs to do.

 

Now we have not had anything like this for more than 18 months and you may never have anything like this ------ but I am describing the worst-case scenario.

 

This is also for a major safety issue as he had some close calls with running into the street.

 

But with 3 years of ABA, this is the worst-case scenario.

 

There has also been some times when he is not happy about not getting his way, but he has done better in ABA than in speech or OT along those lines. (Though that is just us, locally that is not true of everyone by any means, some kids really hit it off with another type of therapist, or do equally well with all types.)

[Lecka]

This also really may not apply to you, but my son benefits from DTT (the more table drills).

 

We have had a model in the past, where he learns skills first with DTT and then quickly moves to practicing them in the natural environment and with their ways to encourage him to practice his new skills.

 

It works well for him.

 

So then it is like -- he might have a ratio of 80% NET (the natural environment) and 20% DTT (the more direct instruction, one-on-one tutoring).

 

It does work well for him.

 

So I don't think flash cards (for us picture cards) are automatically bad, if they are helpful and of that is not all that is going to happen in the program.

 

My understanding is the focus should be NET, but if skills are learned more efficiently and easily with DTT, then you can start there and then move those skills into NET.

 

If you don't see how this could be helpful to your child, to me that is a sign your child may not benefit from it -- and so I bet they wouldn't do it with him.

 

It does help my son, though, so for me I would not rule out someone who includes that when it is appropriate for an individual child.

 

If you compare it to math, only doing drill-and-kill is not good for any kids. But that doesn't mean some kids cannot benefit from some practice with math facts. And when kids get all the practice they need through games, that is great. But I have seen my older son also benefit from practice that is pretty focused on math fact recall, in a context of an overall good math program.

 

While other kids can pick up their math facts by just playing games, and really have no need for it.

 

And even then -- it can be fun, it doesn't have to be complete drudgery.

Edited February 9, 2016 by Lecka

[Crimson Wife]

Yes, it was the flashcard / drill & kill-type activities and some punishment-focused rhetoric that was putting me off. 

 

Positive reinforcement is used in ABA, and what that looks like in my DD's program is a token board with 6 My Little Pony characters. She earns the tokens for participating in non-preferred and/or challenging tasks and then she gets to do a preferred activity when she's earned all 6.

[Lecka]

My son might have 5 circles, and get to draw smiley faces in them, and when he gets 5 smiley faces, he gets to play a game (or pop bubbles, get spun around in a circle, etc. things he likes to do).

 

He likes it :)

 

For a lot of things we want him to find things to be naturally reinforcing, and that has worked out good for him for a lot of things.

 

He is doing a learning-to-read program now a lot of the time this comes up, and so it is not wildly different than what a lot of people may do to encourage their kids by praising them, encouraging them, getting them a small treat or going to the park sometimes, etc.

 

It is also a lot like what I have seen in speech therapy and OT, to be honest.

 

My kids have always gotten fun! treats! And cool! games! In speech and OT, too. (My daughter and older son have been in speech and my older son has been in OT.).

 

There are crafts, too, the same as I have seen in speech.

 

Not just the same ----- I just mean, it may not seem too foreign to what you are used to in speech therapy, in a lot of ways.

[kbutton]

I will just add in that these ladies have really helped me understand a lot more about the potential of ABA. We do have a BCBA working with my son now, and she uses principles from her training to implement social skills work. I really, really wish I would have known what ABA was and had access to it (diagnosis, etc.) when my son was little. It would have made parenting so much easier. I had basically no exposure to this when he was little, and then my exposure was to the old school stuff as well.

 

I will also note that if speech therapy is your only therapy experience so far, the feel of therapy is going to be different with different therapists--some kind of observe and wait, some jump right in with agendas, and some want you to tell them what you want them to do first. I don't know if ABA therapists have a standard approach that removes some of that guesswork, but be willing to give it some time and don't be afraid to ask questions if something about the communication and "start-up" frustrates you (not if you think they are going to do something totally off the wall). We had OT that was very much a "tell us what you want to work on" experience--it's not that they didn't see a need or know what to do, but they wanted it to be as relevant and as timely as possible. We very much wanted to be given homework and a process. It worked out great, but it was a bit of an adjustment. Other therapies have been more cut and dry, and we just show up and do the thing, and it all works out. No therapist has ever not been open to answering our questions or explaining what they are doing--that would be a red flag for me. 

 

 

[Crimson Wife]

 

I will also note that if speech therapy is your only therapy experience so far, the feel of therapy is going to be different with different therapists--some kind of observe and wait, some jump right in with agendas, and some want you to tell them what you want them to do first. I don't know if ABA therapists have a standard approach that removes some of that guesswork, but be willing to give it some time and don't be afraid to ask questions if something about the communication and "start-up" frustrates you (not if you think they are going to do something totally off the wall). We had OT that was very much a "tell us what you want to work on" experience--it's not that they didn't see a need or know what to do, but they wanted it to be as relevant and as timely as possible. We very much wanted to be given homework and a process. It worked out great, but it was a bit of an adjustment. Other therapies have been more cut and dry, and we just show up and do the thing, and it all works out. No therapist has ever not been open to answering our questions or explaining what they are doing--that would be a red flag for me. 

 

My daughter's agency starts with testing to develop program goals. They use the VB-MAPP and the ABLLS, both of which would be appropriate for a preschool child but not a higher-functioning older child. The VB-MAPP goes up to a functional level of I believe a neurotypical 48 month old. The last VB-MAPP testing my DD did last fall she had completed most of areas except for Social Behavior and Linguistic Structure. The ABLLS I believe goes up to a functional age equivalent of 60 months.

[kbutton]

My daughter's agency starts with testing to develop program goals. They use the VB-MAPP and the ABLLS, both of which would be appropriate for a preschool child but not a higher-functioning older child. The VB-MAPP goes up to a functional level of I believe a neurotypical 48 month old. The last VB-MAPP testing my DD did last fall she had completed most of areas except for Social Behavior and Linguistic Structure. The ABLLS I believe goes up to a functional age equivalent of 60 months.

 

Oh, that makes sense. And it makes sense why that kind of thing has not been used with my son. We are past that age and stage.

[Lecka]

 

This showed up on my facebook this morning, thought I would  share it here :)