Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is a system of autism treatment based on behaviorist theories which, simply put, state that behaviors can be taught through a system of rewards and consequences and the Lovaas Institute explains the concept this way:
* Applied - principles applied to socially significant behavior
* Behavioral - based on scientific principles of behavior
* Analysis - progress is measured and interventions modified
When it comes to autism, ABA has become synonymous with the methods and research of Dr. Ivar Lovaas which is why ABA is sometimes actually called "Lovaas" within the autism community.
Lovaas, a psychologist, first applied ABA to autism at the Psychology Department at UCLA in 1987 and his idea was that social and behavioral skills could be taught, even to profoundly autistic children, through the ABA method.
His idea turned out to be quite correct and many if not most children who receive ABA training learn to behave appropriately at least some of the time, and some even lose their autism diagnosis after years of intensive therapy.
The Lovaas Method of ABA starts with "discrete trials" therapy (sometimes referred to just as "dicrete") and a discrete trial consists of a therapist asking a child for a particular behavior.
For example, "Johnny, please pick up the spoon" and if the child complies, he is given a "reinforcer" or reward in the form of a tiny food treat, a high five, or any other reward that means something to the child.
If the child does not comply, he does not receive the reward, and the trial is repeated.
It's important to note that the specific content of the discrete trials therapy is based on an evaluation of the individual child, his needs, and his abilities.
So a child who is already capable of sorting shapes would not be asked to sort shapes indefinitely for rewards, but would instead focus on different and more challenging social and/or behavioral tasks.
The very youngest children (under age three) receive a modified form of ABA which is much closer to play therapy than to discrete trials and as they master behaviors, well-trained therapists will start to take learners out of the classroom or home setting and into more natural settings where they can practice and adapt their new skills to the real world.
Although ABA has a reputation for being the most successful form of therapy available for autistic children, it also has a reputation for creating robotic, emotionless children and there some truth is in both of these claims.
Because ABA has been around longer than any other behavioral or developmental intervention for autism and ABA therapists are also required to keep extensive notes on their outcomes, it means that ABA has been more fully researched and replicated than any other form of therapy.
Lovaas and his team can show significant success in their work and according to one Lovaas study:
"We found that 48% of all children showed rapid learning, achieved average post-treatment scores, and at age 7, were succeeding in regular education classrooms. These results are consistent with those reported by Lovaas and colleagues (Lovaas, 1987; McEachin, Smith, & Lovaas, 1993)."
There are, however, several "down sides" to ABA, and the biggest problem for most families have is the insistence on the part of the Lovaas group that children must receive approximately 40 hours of ABA per week and not only do a greeat many families feel that this amount of therapy is simply too much for their young child, but few of them can afford it.
In general, practitioners suggest that intensive ABA is most appropriate for children with more profound autism, and/or for children who thrive in a structured atmosphere, but unfortunately there is no good research which compares various treatments head to head, which means that parents must make a choice based on;
(1) practical considerations such as finances and availability of therapy;
(2) what works best for the family as a whole;
(3) intuition (do you like the idea of a very structured, very intense program for your child?
Perhaps the easiest way to find out whether ABA will work for your child or not is to give it a try.
If it works -- terrific!
And if not, there are plenty of other options available.