14/03/2025
ABA Therapy
What is ABA?
Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a therapy rooted
in the science of learning and behavior. Using principles of ABA, children and adults can learn to improve their communication skills, social skills, and daily living skills while also addressing problematic or challenging behaviors. The primary goal of ABA therapy is to teach helpful skills that promote independence and reduce harmful behaviors.
At its core, ABA provides a lens to understand why a behavior is happening and how to change behavior through positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the idea that by rewarding certain behaviors, it may increase the likelihood those behaviors happen again in the future. For example, parents might reward their child with 15 minutes of iPad time if they brush their teeth without throwing a tantrum.
Challenging behaviors like tantrums, aggression, and self injury can be targeted and reduced through teaching replacement skills. This may look like teaching someone to ask for a break, taking deep breaths, or going for a walk instead of harming themselves or others when they are feeling upset or frustrated.
