What is ABA Therapy? | Autism Therapy | Speech Therapist Explains

What is ABA therapy? ABA stands for applied behavioral analysis, a fancy title for therapy that reduces unwanted behaviors and increases desired behaviors.
What should I expect when my child starts ABA therapy?

More recently, conversations have arisen about the ethics of ABA therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis). Visit the Therapist Neurodiversity Collective to learn more about these concerns.
I encourage parents to think critically about ABA therapy before signing up for it.

🙋‍♀️ Hi! I’m Kayla (Chalko) Gonzales, a licensed speech-language pathologist in California specializing in early intervention for toddlers with speech delays.

👉🏻 Want to advance your child’s language skills?

Disclaimer: I’m a licensed speech-language pathologist in California. These videos are meant for general education. Every child is different; this should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult with a professional in your area.

Note: I am electing to use identity-first language to describe the Autistic community in this vlog because it is the preference of many Autistic people.

[joeben]

Thank you for simple explanation without talking for over 10-min. !

[winterwaffle]

I was looking forward to your opinion or your objective interpretation of the points in the article or on ABA in general. A lot of SLPs denounce ABA, but then there are others who are all for ABA, so it'd be interesting to hear your take

[Raddiebaddie]

Please look into what autistic adults are saying about ABA it can be extremly harmful and often looks at the symptom instead of the problem. For example it can train autistic people to simply MASK and stop expressing their needs because they are expected to conform even to the point of causing bigger melt downs, anxiety, depression, nerve damage. If you try to train an autisitic kid to stop crying (i.e. communicating fear, upset, stress) instead of figuring out WHY theyre crying (maybe overstimulated in an environment where noise cancelling headphones would be helpful) you are really just teaching them to shut down and ACT neuortypical while actually suffering inside. Its better to problem-solve the WHY instead of trying to make neurodiverse folks pretend to be neurotypical

[danielmoore]

Abstract
The “replication crisis” describes recent difficulties in replicating studies in various scientific fields, most notably psychology. The available evidence primarily documents replication failures for group research designs. However, we argue that contingencies of publication bias that led to the “replication crisis” also operate on applied behavior analysis (ABA) researchers who use single-case research designs (SCRD). This bias strongly favors publication of SCRD studies that show strong experimental effect, and disfavors publication of studies that show less robust effect. The resulting research literature may unjustifiably inflate confidence about intervention effects, limit researchers’ ability to delineate intervention boundary conditions, and diminish the credibility of our science. To counter problems of publication bias in ABA, we recommend that journals that publish SCRD research establish journal standards for publication of noneffect studies; that our research community adopt open sharing of SCRD protocols and data; and that members of our community routinely publish systematic literature reviews that include gray (i.e., unpublished) research.

Conclusion
The ABA community is not immune from the pitfalls of publication bias commonly associated with group comparison research. Contingencies of reinforcement that contribute to the file drawer effect among researchers in all disciplines also operate on applied behavior analysts. There is evidence that researcher bias may be endemic within our current scientific and publication practices, which negatively affect the scientific integrity of our field as a whole. We have offered modest and preliminary suggestions for researchers and the research community to guard against publication bias with the intention of stimulating the ABA community to adopt, improve, or expand upon them. Discounting or ignoring the problem likely will diminish the credibility of our findings among our scientific colleagues, negatively affect consumers of our services, and undermine public confidence in behavior analytic treatments. Conversely, addressing publication bias and related issues likely will advance scientific knowledge about behavior, improve consumer outcomes associated with behavioral treatments, and promote public confidence in the technology of behavior.

(Tincani, 2019)
Published online 2019 Mar 18

[learnwithmee]

My son has no signs of autism, he communicate with me in non verbal form, he points to a thing which he wants, but he has not yet started to talk. What wud be the reason ?

[oniyemisi]

Can you help me with my 19months old son he has been talking before but due to the illness he couldn't talk again

[noraperez]

How much ABA therapy is necessary? For kids with severe autism ?