| If you are a school administrator or the parent of a | | | | We will use tooth brushing as an example. While |
| child with autism, you have likely heard of ABA | | | | many children can be shown to remove the cap from |
| therapy. This is widely proven to be the most | | | | the tube, squeeze the paste onto a brush, run water |
| effective means of teaching behavior and learning skills | | | | onto it, and brush their teeth, the mind of an autistic |
| to children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder, | | | | child works differently. Because of this, each of |
| yet few people truly understand the concept. In the | | | | these steps would be a separate lesson, with each |
| next few paragraphs, we will take a look at Applied | | | | behavior being taught individually until the child is able to |
| Behavior Analysis, explaining the overall concept as | | | | put them together into a chain of action. The process |
| well as how it works to help teach autistic children to | | | | is similar for teaching most concepts, but It is also highly |
| learn and interact in a manner similar to their peers. | | | | effective. |
| | | | | |
| Before delving into exactly how ABA works, it is | | | | As a school administrator or school board member, |
| important to take a look at the overall concept. ABA | | | | integrating ABA therapy into your training methods is |
| therapy is designed to break down the behavior of a | | | | highly valuable. Studies show that most autistic |
| child or student and to literally analyze it. Large | | | | children are capable of learning alongside their peers in |
| concepts are broken down into steps and children are | | | | a classroom setting with proper skills and behavior |
| taught to perform each step individually. Initially, | | | | training. While large conferences and training clinics |
| prompts are given to provoke the right response or | | | | can be costly, there are training courses that utilize |
| behavior, but over time the behavior is performed with | | | | DVDs and other affordable materials to offer system |
| decreasing prompts until it becomes automatic. This | | | | wide training. This gives school systems an |
| is an excellent tool for teaching both large and small | | | | affordable means of providing their teachers with the |
| concepts and can prove highly beneficial in helping | | | | educational skills and methods required for teaching |
| students integrate into a classroom setting. | | | | children with autism spectrum disorder and can help |
| | | | | these educators provide students with a significantly |
| To take a closer look, it is best to use an example. | | | | higher quality of education. |