Is ABA Enough?

By: Pamela Vogelsang-Davis

ABA or Applied Behavior Analysis is a widely used method of teaching children with Autism based on the premise that appropriate behavior can be taught using certain scientific principles. Children are rewarded for appropriate behaviors usually with a token or a treat so that they are more likely to keep repeating those same behaviors. Eventually, the reinforcement is reduced so that the child can learn without constant rewards. ABA is one of the main types of therapy available for children with Autism. But used alone, is it enough to help the children use their learned behaviors in real world settings?

At Divine Academy, “Real World” Therapy is used in tandem with other types of therapy such as ABA where students are prompted to respond appropriately through everyday interactions. Their reward is that they get what they ask for, not just a token for giving a correct response within a controlled environment. Using ABA, students learn to say “spoon” when shown a spoon yet they may have trouble asking for one. In conjunction with “Real World” Therapy if students want a spoon, they must learn to identify one as well as learn how to ask for one using a complete sentence.

Both “Real World” Therapy and ABA conditions the child to give specific responses to specific questions but “Real World” Therapy also helps the students learn generalization through constant questions and answers between staff and students in a real world environment.

Students learn best using discreet trial training where skills are broken down into the smallest tasks and taught individually. Small skills are taught first and as each one is mastered, students learn more complicated skills. Many ABA programs also provide “errorless” learning so that the students are reinforced every time. This may teach the students to provide the correct response when given a certain prompt but it also causes them to be unable to accept mistakes within real life settings such as in the classroom and at home.

Using “Real World” Therapy, students learn that it is okay to make mistakes that it is okay to not give a correct response every time. They also learn that the real world must provide the reinforcer for the appropriate behavior, and that rewards may not always be tangible in the form of tokens and treats.

While other children learn from experience, far too many students with Autism sit at a table for hour after hour usually receiving 40 hours a week of therapy which can become quite tiring for the child. By using “Real World” Therapy, Divine Academy provides constant interactions that teach the students appropriate responses on a daily basis in a relaxed school setting with their peers. Parents are also taught how to elicit correct responses from their child by interacting with them constantly and requiring them to ask for things using complete sentences at all times so that it is used at home as well as in school. At Divine Academy, we design our program to work in conjunction with various forms of therapy to provide a conducive environment for the best overall success.

With any type of therapy, children need constant opportunities to apply what they have learned in the real world. Elementary age students and younger have more opportunities to interact with others on a daily basis within the school setting thus helping them to improve their generalization skills. Once they reach middle school, however, where social interactions get more complicated, they have less and less opportunities to interact and generalize their learned behaviors in real world settings. The transition into middle school coupled with the onset of puberty can be frustrating for the students.

At Divine Academy, this feeling of frustration is not felt which enables them to apply their learned behaviors with their peers.

So is ABA enough? That would depend on the individual needs of the child and how many opportunities there are to generalize the learned behaviors in real world settings. At Divine Academy, our unique program proves that our “Real World” Therapy does provide success for each of our students.

Through our constant interactions between our very professional and committed staff and our students, Divine Academy provides a cohesiveness that students are usually not accustomed to at first. Students are often surprised at how fast we get to know them, and how quickly they make new friends. It is the collaboration among teachers, therapists, and parents, which helps make our use of “Real World” Therapy in conjunction with other forms of therapy successful for our students.

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