What is ABA?

Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) is a well known therapy for supporting individuals with additional needs, it is the most popular therapy for supporting someone who has Autism. ABA also works with children without additional needs and in a range of other areas such as business; animal training; fitness and many more. ABA is a scientific method of improving socially significant behaviours of an individual. These include but are not exclusive to communication; reading; living skills; gross/fine motor skills; self-help; toileting; eating and many more. 

The ABA process is completed through learning and motivation. Behaviours are analyzed to help solve behavioural problems. ABA has been backed with many years of proven research that validate the treatments based on the ABA principles. ABA is successful due to the detailed systematic approach it brings. ABA breaks down tasks into smaller, more manageable steps which is proven to be most effective for our learners.  ABA goals help improve an individual’s life by significantly increasing the important target behaviours while decreasing insignificant behaviours. This is all conducted through: natural environment, reinforcement, prompting, pairing, discrete trial teaching, and assessments. 

ABA goals are to help improve an individual’s life, by increasing significantly important target behaviours, and decreasing insignificant behaviours. This is all conducted through: natural environment, reinforcement, prompting, pairing, discrete trial teaching, and assessments. 

ABA may benefit your child if they:

• Have an ASD diagnosis or other additional needs and are struggling to meet their developmental milestones. 
• Has delays in language and communication.
• Has behaviours that are interfering with their learning or restrictive behaviour patterns. 
• Finds it difficult to make friends or socially engage. 
• Needs help with preschool/school readiness skills (foundation skills). 
• Struggles with play skills  Needs support with independence (toileting, eating, dressing etc).
• Needs support academically (reading, writing etc).

and much more.

The level of dedication parents and family actively take will bring great value to the quality of your child's ABA program. If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch to find out what Absolute ABA UK can provide within your family's budget.

Homes, schools, nurseries and also in the wider community. We work across a number of local authorities to support our clients and their families. The main aim for any ABA program is to help children to access the school curriculum as independently as possible. Schools set the educational curriculum, and the ABA team's role is to share expertise in autism, and in particular support pupils who present difficulties with attention, engagement, behavioural or emotional regulation and with generalising skills to support them to learn alongside mainstream peers.   Our strategies are compatible with mainstream and special need settings  with the aim that our children follow the EYFS /National Curriculum appropriately differentiated to meet their needs. We are not to replace teachers or other therapists (for example, a Speech and Language Therapist or Occupational Therapist), but to work in partnership with them. Our practices and strategies are not disruptive to the education of other pupils in the class. We work closely with many professionals, for example; alongside a class teacher to ensure that we work in partnership with them so we can agree which skills the ABA team need to pre-teach in ABA therapy sessions, and which skills we need to reinforce. Your ABA Consultant would generally meet a variety of professionals working with your child to to plan and trouble-shoot any difficulties that your child may have and suggest ways we can all work collaboratively.  We provide support using ABA principles to help your child to develop skills they are struggling with to enrich and improve their own life, as well as their families too.  

A lot of the children we work with struggle to communicate (another reason some may show certain behaviours), we create and implement plans from assessments and observations conducted to help teach children to ask for items through the use of words instead of behaviours. We help support our clients to learn and develop the skills  they need to help them access things they could not before.  ABA is data based, so we collect data to ensure that behaviour plans, educational support and many more areas are tailored to each child's individual needs.   There are lots of reasons as to why individuals show behaviours, and once we find out the function of that behaviour, we can put protocols in place to help support clients to decrease it. 

We collect data on behaviour to help find the cause for the behaviours and create the right plans to help support our children to communicate in a more socially significant way. We collect data on behaviour using ABC's method which stands for:  

• Antecedent - This is something that happens before a behaviour occurs. For example, an adult says; " Put your coat on" 
• Behaviour -The behaviour that happens after the antecedent. For example; the child drops to the floor and cries.  
• Consequence -  what happens after the behaviour occurred.  For example; the adult then puts the child's coat on.    

The  five main reasons  that keep behaviours occurring, these functions include:·

• Escape: An individual may show behaviours to get out of an unpleasant situation. For example; a child’s hair being washed.
• Avoidance: An individual behaves to avoid something they know is going to happen. For example; a child not wanting to go to bed at bedtime. ·  ·
• Attention: Individuals show behaviours to get attention from others
• Access to Items: An individual behaves to get a preferred item or participate in an enjoyable activity.
• Sensory Stimulation: An individual behaves in a specific way because that behaviour feels good to them.    Once you find out the reason for the behaviour of concern, it is vital that you react in the correct way to help deal with it effectively. As a result, we support our children by teaching them skills to replace inappropriate behaviours with more functional ways to communicate.