ABA therapy 
Today, one of the most effective methods of correcting autism is behavioral therapy or the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) method.
ABA therapy is an intensive training program that builds on behavioral technologies and teaching methods. ABA as a scientific discipline studies the influence of factors in the environment on behavior and manipulates these factors to change human behavior.
The ABA method for working with children with autism was first used by Dr. Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1963. It was based on the idea that any behavior entails some consequences, and if the child likes the consequences, he will repeat this behavior, and if he does not like it, then he will not.
With this approach, all complex skills, including speech, creative play, the ability to look in the eyes, and others, are broken down into small blocks - actions. Each action is learned separately with the child, then the actions are combined into a chain, forming a complex action. An adult does not try to give initiative to a child, but rather rigidly controls his activities. Correct actions are consolidated to the point of automatism, wrong ones are strictly suppressed. Hints and stimuli, both positive and negative, are used to achieve the desired behavior. A skill is considered a fixed skill only when the child can perform this action without errors in 80 percent of situations, regardless of the atmosphere in which the task was given and by whom.
Within the framework of the ABA training program, the child is always a follower, his freedom and initiative are limited by the choice of the teaching adult. An individual step-by-step development plan is drawn up for each child. A child can simultaneously master two or three unrelated skills, the teacher builds up a clear system of complication and gradual mastering of more and more new skills.
The ultimate goal of ABA is to give the child the means to explore the world around him on his own.
ABA's arsenal includes several hundred programs, including non-verbal and verbal imitation, general and fine motor skills, language understanding, naming objects, naming actions, classifying objects, "show how you are ...", pronouns, answers to the questions "What?" , "Who?", "Where?", "When?", "How?", The use of "yes" and "no", and others.
Higher-level programs include "Tell me what will happen if ..." (predicts the outcome of an action), "Tell a story", "Do as (peer name)", "Call (peer name) to play."
At an early age, the correction of undesirable behavior is most effective, since such behavior has not yet had time to gain a foothold, and it is easier for an adult to cope with a child in the event of directed aggression or self-aggression of a child with autism.
An early intervention program should be intensive - 30 to 40 hours per week - so that the child can learn the necessary behavioral skills and overcome developmental delays.
The ABA practitioner first identifies the child's behavioral problem, then makes “measurements” (studies and observes behavior), as a result of which an assessment is made and a learning strategy (“intervention”) is developed.
During training in the ABA system, a specialist in different directions is engaged with the child every day, and the supervision is carried out by a supervisor - a specialist in methodology. The specialist works with the child for two to three hours. All program actions are recorded in the general journal of work with the child, coordinating the actions of a specialist.
ABA can be done at home, in an educational institution, in a children's circle. Classes can be individual and group - in small groups (two or three people) and large (five to ten people).
The number of hours in the curriculum may vary depending on needs and capabilities. The average number of hours in an ABA program is 20 hours per week. The minimum number of hours in the ABA program is six hours per week, the maximum is 40.
It is important that the parents of the child are an integral part of the team working with the child, bring up the child based on behavioral principles of learning and help him to summarize all the skills that he has learned in the program.
For preschool children, regardless of the level of skill development, training in the special education system is recommended. Homeschooling can be a limited environment in which a child cannot learn important skills such as being in a peer group, learning in a group, or interacting with different people.
Part of the teaching may remain individual, especially for children with low level of speech skills or for children who have not previously studied and have not learned to interact with adults.
With all the rigor of the training program, the ABA method is suitable for severe forms of autism, Down syndrome and severe forms of intellectual disability.
The choice of this particular technique is justified if the child's behavior cannot be controlled by loved ones, he does not respond to requests and prohibitions,does not respond to a name, does not strive for communication, does not have speech, or speech is so poorly developed that the child can hardly (or cannot) express his thoughts and desires.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources.
ABA therapy is an intensive training program that builds on behavioral technologies and teaching methods. ABA as a scientific discipline studies the influence of factors in the environment on behavior and manipulates these factors to change human behavior.
The ABA method for working with children with autism was first used by Dr. Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1963. It was based on the idea that any behavior entails some consequences, and if the child likes the consequences, he will repeat this behavior, and if he does not like it, then he will not.
With this approach, all complex skills, including speech, creative play, the ability to look in the eyes, and others, are broken down into small blocks - actions. Each action is learned separately with the child, then the actions are combined into a chain, forming a complex action. An adult does not try to give initiative to a child, but rather rigidly controls his activities. Correct actions are consolidated to the point of automatism, wrong ones are strictly suppressed. Hints and stimuli, both positive and negative, are used to achieve the desired behavior. A skill is considered a fixed skill only when the child can perform this action without errors in 80 percent of situations, regardless of the atmosphere in which the task was given and by whom.
Within the framework of the ABA training program, the child is always a follower, his freedom and initiative are limited by the choice of the teaching adult. An individual step-by-step development plan is drawn up for each child. A child can simultaneously master two or three unrelated skills, the teacher builds up a clear system of complication and gradual mastering of more and more new skills.
The ultimate goal of ABA is to give the child the means to explore the world around him on his own.
ABA's arsenal includes several hundred programs, including non-verbal and verbal imitation, general and fine motor skills, language understanding, naming objects, naming actions, classifying objects, "show how you are ...", pronouns, answers to the questions "What?" , "Who?", "Where?", "When?", "How?", The use of "yes" and "no", and others.
Higher-level programs include "Tell me what will happen if ..." (predicts the outcome of an action), "Tell a story", "Do as (peer name)", "Call (peer name) to play."
At an early age, the correction of undesirable behavior is most effective, since such behavior has not yet had time to gain a foothold, and it is easier for an adult to cope with a child in the event of directed aggression or self-aggression of a child with autism.
An early intervention program should be intensive - 30 to 40 hours per week - so that the child can learn the necessary behavioral skills and overcome developmental delays.
The ABA practitioner first identifies the child's behavioral problem, then makes “measurements” (studies and observes behavior), as a result of which an assessment is made and a learning strategy (“intervention”) is developed.
During training in the ABA system, a specialist in different directions is engaged with the child every day, and the supervision is carried out by a supervisor - a specialist in methodology. The specialist works with the child for two to three hours. All program actions are recorded in the general journal of work with the child, coordinating the actions of a specialist.
ABA can be done at home, in an educational institution, in a children's circle. Classes can be individual and group - in small groups (two or three people) and large (five to ten people).
The number of hours in the curriculum may vary depending on needs and capabilities. The average number of hours in an ABA program is 20 hours per week. The minimum number of hours in the ABA program is six hours per week, the maximum is 40.
It is important that the parents of the child are an integral part of the team working with the child, bring up the child based on behavioral principles of learning and help him to summarize all the skills that he has learned in the program.
For preschool children, regardless of the level of skill development, training in the special education system is recommended. Homeschooling can be a limited environment in which a child cannot learn important skills such as being in a peer group, learning in a group, or interacting with different people.
Part of the teaching may remain individual, especially for children with low level of speech skills or for children who have not previously studied and have not learned to interact with adults.
With all the rigor of the training program, the ABA method is suitable for severe forms of autism, Down syndrome and severe forms of intellectual disability.
The choice of this particular technique is justified if the child's behavior cannot be controlled by loved ones, he does not respond to requests and prohibitions,does not respond to a name, does not strive for communication, does not have speech, or speech is so poorly developed that the child can hardly (or cannot) express his thoughts and desires.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from open sources.
| ABA teraphy Pricelist | Price (euro) | (Tax) | Price+tax (euro) |
| 4 + ... hours per week (1 hour) | 32,00 | 6,40 | 38,40 |