by IABA Team | Sep 16, 2021
When it comes to behavior-based ASD therapy, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is currently the only successful evidence-based methodology. Two of the main objectives of ABA therapy are to develop significant social skills and adaptive life skills.
ABA therapy uses many different techniques to successfully teach people with ASD important social and life skills. The techniques used in ABA therapy recognize the unique learning differences between every person with ASD to develop a unique program catered to individual strengths.
Let’s look at some of the most common practices utilized by ABA therapists.
Reinforcement Systems
ABA therapists often use reinforcement to teach people with ASD the (good or bad) consequences of certain actions. Constantly reinforcing practices without changing the end result teaches behaviors and skills over time.
Reinforcement systems work best when the reinforcement practices are enforced both by therapists and parents. If a behavior is only reinforced by a therapist it might not stick if a person realizes that behavior is ‘OK’ at home.
Reinforcement systems can be emphasized with rewards or punishments. Most rewards and punishments involved in ABA reinforcement are small things, like words of affirmation or giving/taking away certain privileges.
Every person with ASD is different, so ABA therapists develop unique reinforcement systems for each client. Make sure to speak to your child’s ABA therapist in order to continue the correct reinforcement systems at home.
Discrete Trial Training
Discrete Trial Training (DTT) and ABA therapy are often mixed up with one another. This is easily cleared up by clarifying that DTT is a teaching strategy often used by ABA therapists.
What is DTT? DTT is a teaching method that breaks down skills and tasks into separate discrete parts. DTT looks at larger skills & tasks and breaks them down into small steps that people with ASD can figure out one at a time and eventually combine to complete larger tasks.
DTT often employs reinforcement techniques by rewarding the completion of component tasks. The use of DTT was one of the first systems employed by ABA therapists and has extensive research supporting it’s effectiveness.
The ABCs of ABA: Antecedent – Behavior – Consequence
ABA therapists look at overall behavior patterns and how to best teach desired behaviors to individuals with ASD. The ABCs of ABA therapy is a great way to remember this methodology; Antecedent – Behavior – Consequence. Here is how the ABCs of ASD work:
- An antecedent or stimulus provokes a behavior
- The behavior happens in response
- A consequence occurs (positive or negative depending on the behavior)
Consequences used in this methodology relate to reinforcement. Behaviors that need to be encouraged or mitigated need to have consistent consequences. Again, making sure the same consequences happen in therapy and at home is extremely important. Different responses to the same behavior send mixed messages to people with ASD, making it difficult for them to respond appropriately.
Modeling
Modeling is a methodology used by ABA therapists that modes desired behaviors, skills, tasks, and other important things for people with ASD. Modeling is a visual method of therapy, seeking to teach those with ASD certain behaviors and skills through observation.
The use of modeling depends on the student, as some are more receptive to emulating skills and behaviors than others. Talking with your child’s ABA therapist is important during modeling-type teaching, as some modeling techniques may help the child at home.
Chaining
Chaining is an ABA therapy technique that divides large tasks (a chain) into smaller pieces (chain links) to make them easier to learn. Chaining has two basic therapy types–forward chaining and backward chaining.
Forward chaining is when a task is taught by showing the smaller pieces in chronological order until the full task is learned. Reinforcement is used for each small step, in order to ensure the steps are fully learned. Once all the steps are mastered, the complete task can be completed.
Backward chaining is a bit different from forward chaining. Instead of having a person with autism master each small step for a task, a therapist will help with each small step up until the last step of task completion. The behavior during the completion of the last step of the task is reinforced. Backward chaining is used when a person demonstrates the ability to complete a full task when they understand the results (due to reinforcement).
Chaining is a very effective technique, as large tasks with many steps can be hard to learn for those with autism. The basic forms of chaining, forward & backward, are used for different people after a therapist identifies the best method for that person.
For chaining to be most effective, the use of ABA task analysis is necessary.
Task Analysis
Task analysis is used by ABA therapists to learn about individual children. Instead of reinforcing or correcting behavior, task analysis provides therapists with information on which therapy methods a child will respond to. Task analysis gives a therapist data they can use for both chaining and reinforcement methods of ABA therapy.
Utilizing task analysis allows a therapist to identify the most important areas where behavior or skill improvement is needed. Task analysis is very important as it identifies critical behavior or skill issues and gives therapists the data they need to help with those areas in the best way possible.
Task analysis is the basis for which of the therapy methods mentioned will be used. Combinations of basic ABA therapy methods are also used when a therapist identifies the needs of a specific individual. Each person’s ABA therapy regimen will be different, as each person has unique strengths, weaknesses, and needs.
ABA Therapy from IABA Consultants
If you have questions regarding autism treatment, education, or plans using ABA therapy, we are here for you! Our goal is to make sure no family is turned away due to financial constraints. Our therapy team would love to talk to you. Find the location closest to you and give us a call. We’re here for you.
Sources
Autism Speaks, What is Discrete Trial Training?
National University, ABA Psychology and Autism
Regis College, ABA Therapy Examples
by IABA Team | Sep 13, 2021
A recent study in the July 2021 issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders has prompted outrage among many autism researchers.
Every researcher on the study (a study focused on autism prevalence and related costs in the US over the next 40 years) has connections to organizations that have wrongfully tied autism to vaccines. This is a conflict of interest that none of the researchers on the study properly disclosed.
About the Researchers
Mark Blaxill, the study’s research lead, is editor-at-large of Age of Autism, a website that promotes distrust of vaccinations and the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism. Blaxill has made national news for his anti-vaccine views.
Toby Rogers, a study co-investigator, is a political economist. Rogers has written for the Children’s Health Defense Fund, a website that seeks to discredit vaccine safety. Another co-investigator, Cynthia Nevison, is a research associate at the University of Colorado and a former board member of SafeMinds, an organization that has unsuccessfully sought to link vaccines to autism.
“It’s abundantly clear that this paper doesn’t follow the journal’s policies,” says David Mandell, associate professor of psychiatry and pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania and editor-in-chief of the journal Autism. “If you reference the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders’ conflict-of-interest guidelines, it says that certain ideological commitments and personal beliefs, personal relationships, all those things have to also be disclosed.”
The failure to properly disclose ties to certain organizational interests has led many researchers to disregard the study. The study researchers mentioned they are not paid to write articles or publish studies for politically motivated organizations in defense of the study.
Misrepresentation of Data
Autism prevalence data from the state of California was used to forecast that 3 to 10 percent of children in the United States will have autism by the year 2060. Based on this figure, the study mentioned the future societal cost of autism could be as high as $5.5 trillion per year. A third analysis claimed to model how prevention might reduce autism prevalence in the future.
Outside researchers say the data is flawed “because it was calculated by looking at really old data, comparing it to new data, and then assuming an exponential function.” Many researchers mentioned this issue as numbers that increased exponentially due to two totally different sets of data will always be too large.
One outside researcher noted “The rise in autism prevalence in recent years can be attributed to better observation and increased diagnosis on the community level. The base rate of autism isn’t magically rising because there’s some toxin that causes it, which is the underlying assumption [the paper’s authors] have.”
Prevention calculation in the study also used “magic numbers,” says Madison Hyer, a biostatistician at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. “Magic Numbers” means it isn’t clear what the word prevention means or even what’s being measured. “Are they saying that this is the cost of supporting or treating individuals with autism across their life in some way? Or is this the cost above the cost of supporting someone without autism? Everybody costs something.”
Outside Researchers on Prevention Prediction
Other comments from outside researchers mentioned “[the study] made some really severe assumptions about productivity … It looks like they were assuming anybody with autism would have zero productivity, but many people with autism work.”
Many outside researchers without organization ties observe that some people with autism may have disabilities and challenges, but that we as a society should think about how to support them. They’re still quite productive members of society.”
Some outside researchers noted that some of the data used to calculate productivity may have also come from questionable sources, says Kristen Bottema-Beutel, associate professor of teaching, curriculum, and society at Boston College in Massachusetts. “The data they use appears to be from a non-peer-reviewed PDF.”
“The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders was established in 1971, and its first editor-in-chief was Leo Kanner, one of the first clinicians to describe autism. Some researchers say the new study has diminished their perception of the journal, which has an impact factor of 3.047. (A journal’s impact factor reflects how often its articles are cited.)”
“[This paper] makes me question the peer review process,” says Brittany Hand, assistant professor at Ohio State University in Columbus, who also wrote a letter of protest to Volkmar. “How in the world does something like this get past [peer review]?”
ABA Therapy from IABA Consultants
If you have questions regarding autism treatment, education, or plans using ABA therapy, we are here for you! Our goal is to make sure no family is turned away due to financial constraints. Our therapy team would love to talk to you. Find the location closest to you and give us a call. We’re here for you.
Sources
Spectrumnews.org, Community Letter
The Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, July, 2021
by Jessie Cooper | Sep 8, 2021
Last week I wrote to you about how gratitude can be a life raft in the middle of adversity. Specifically, I wrote to you about the stressors of the COVID-19 pandemic knowing so many of us are exhausted. I hope that shifting to a mindset of gratitude was able to help you find a little joy last week as our nation’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise. I know firsthand, outside of the pandemic, how hard it is to find gratitude during pain. I also know firsthand that it is life-saving. I’d like to tell you more.
Fear or Love?
Around seven years ago I was new to running a business and had been single for a bit. During that time I was settling into my path. This was the beginning of building a spiritual mindset that still carries me today. Gabrielle Bernstein is a spiritual leader I followed who taught (and still teaches) about enlightenment. In her work, Gabrielle guides her readers through their egos back into their spirits. She encourages others to drop fear and embrace radical self-love. It is a hard and worthwhile journey I promise you.
Back to me. At the time, I was light, joyful, and a little naive, if you will. I did give myself a piece of advice that was worth remembering; “Jessie, my love, there is fear and there is love. Both are hungry wolves within your soul-chose wisely which wolf you feed.” Even today, with much more at stake, I often center with this teaching and remember to lean into love, even when fear seeps in.
The Wolves of Fear
I would like to tell you that as I aged into my 30s I became wiser and kinder, that I was a cocoon that turned into a butterfly on my way to full enlightenment. I was not. I was breaking from the inside out. You see, in believing that love conquers all, I got married very quickly after my stint as a single woman. Within one week of becoming a married woman, my ex-husband changed his behavior towards me.
Five years later, in the office of a trauma counselor, I realized that I had experienced domestic abuse. 5 years of domestic abuse. It was only through the work of an amazing trauma team that I was able to quiet the fear, to rest the wolf. Yet, as I progressed through treatment, it was as though new wolves were growling to be fed.
To begin, I had just moved back home to Ohio. I had grown up incredibly close to my father’s family. I knew my family and I approached the world differently but I still loved them despite our differing beliefs. What I was unprepared for was what came when I opened up to my family about my experience of domestic abuse and what would come next.
Feeding the Wolves
Within two weeks of opening up to my family about my experience with domestic abuse, my father’s family decided to side with my abuser because I was not submitting to my husband. I was told by a cousin I loved dearly that because I wasn’t being physically beaten that I was making it up. When my wonderful, kind, and bright father stood up for me, one of my uncles explained that an exorcism might be helpful (seriously). Another uncle, my favorite, sent me information on a retreat I could attend to learn my role as a wife so that God would restore my marriage (seriously).
In leaning into my family I was exposed to a radical belief system that men are the head of the household and strong women need only to submit to make any abuse stop. To this day my ex-husband spends time with my father’s family and to this day my young sons are exposed to them on a regular basis. I just tell my little lions, “boys and girls are the same,” to hopefully plant the seed of equality amongst a field of bigotry.
You may wonder why I haven’t shared this before or why I am sharing it with you now. I’ll tell you. I didn’t share this earlier because I was afraid of the court system. I thought if I spoke out it would be used against me. I guess it still might. I’m just not feeding the wolf of fear today. I am sharing it with you now because I want to let you know that I’m not just talking, I’m action. You see, leaving domestic abuse and going through a divorce combined with the exposure of and loss of a portion of my family is a pain I never saw myself dealing with.
Finding Love
Yet here I am on a Monday morning, snuggled with my dogs, happily planning a quiet day on my farm. How? I remembered my own wisdom and, through the healing I embraced last winter, I also embraced gratitude. My experience with domestic abuse and divorce is just that, an experience. I got out and found that the most incredible family and friends were standing alongside me. They reminded me every day I was worthy and reflected love to me unconditionally until I was able to slowly feed my own wolf of love.
I’ve changed my own language from what I’ve lost to what I’ve gained. I haven’t lost a marriage, I’ve gained freedom. I haven’t lost a family, I found my true family. I haven’t lost myself, I’ve found her.
In shifting to a daily practice of gratitude I am not able to stop pain from happening and I am not totally free of fear. Remember the crowds in the stands? They can be hateful and loud. It hurts even more when a portion of the crowd shares your DNA. At least for me, it did. But outside of that noise is peace and knowledge that every human life matters, including mine. I am able to wipe the dust off my knees from whatever battle is ahead and bow in gratitude to the people standing beside me.
I do not know what pain outside of the COVID-19 pandemic you might be facing. But this I know to be true: love is stronger than fear. Dig deep into your soul and coax that darling wolf of love out. If you can’t feed her yet let others help, then say thank you.
The world will always bring adversity but your heart will always offer you love.
In gratitude to my family, friends, and employees for reminding me of who I am.
Xoxo,
Jessie
If you are experiencing domestic violence or abuse speak up, reach out, get out.
by IABA Team | Sep 6, 2021
We recently wrote a blog on what to do to start a smooth back-to-school transition for kids with ASD. The blog was fairly dense, so this one is going to take a more compact look in a checklist form for back-to-school needs.
ASD School Supply Checklist
Each school, daycare, or therapy clinic will have different requirements for school supplies. Before looking at our general list, you’ll definitely want to look over any list of supplies or materials provided by your child’s school.
The following are general items with brief guidelines to help you remember what your child may need at school.
- Lunch box. Having a reusable lunch box with compartments may help your child get into a regular lunch routine. Buying several of the same lunch boxes can help if you don’t have time to wash one every day. Compartments in lunchboxes can help your child understand where their regular lunch foods will be every day.
- Comfortable Clothing. Make sure your child is comfortable with all of the clothing they will be wearing to school. This is especially important for children with sensory issues as new clothing may not be comfortable. Be sure to have your child wear any new clothes at home before sending them to school in a new outfit. Buying the same outfits may also help some children get into a routine for school every day.
- Comfort Items. Make sure your child has their favorite comfort item to bring to school each day. Things like stuffed animals or a favorite blanket may help your child settle into a comfortable routine at school each day.
- Consistent School Supplies. After looking at a supply list provided by your child’s school, go shopping with your child and allow them to pick versions of the supplies they are comfortable with. Remember to buy extras of expendable supplies so they will have the same item they are comfortable with after the first one is done.
- Organized Backpack. A backpack with extra pouches or internal dividers is a great way to set up your child’s bag for easy use that can help them get into a regular school routine. Putting things in the same place can help them remember where their things are throughout the school day.
- Sensory Items. If your child has specific sensory issues, be sure to have a specific sensory comfort item packed in their backpack. Textured items like smooth stones or blankets made from specific materials can help if your child needs comfort during the school day.
- Books. Packing specific books can also help your child deal with difficult times during school. Books are a combination of comfort items and sensory items, as a teacher or aide can read the book to them if needed.
- Emergency Sheet. Be sure to include any information a teacher, aide, or therapist may need in your child’s bag. This sheet should include any and all information regarding sensory issues, specific behavioral issues, preferences, and anything else they may need to know if your child is having a difficult time.
- A Phone for Emergencies. This is not a phone for your child, but a phone for the teacher to use if your child really needs a parent. Definitely talk to your child’s school about policies and procedures for phones–don’t just pack one in their backpack. A basic flip phone is all that is required for emergencies where a parent is needed right away.
Remember, not all of these things will be required for your child. This list is for supplies you may have forgotten as the school year got here. Think of it as a list to jog your memory or help you modify school supplies to fit the needs of your child.
ABA Therapy from IABA Consultants
If you have questions regarding autism treatment, education, or plans using ABA therapy, we are here for you! Our goal is to make sure no family is turned away due to financial constraints. Our therapy team would love to talk to you. Find the location closest to you and give us a call. We’re here for you.
References
50 Back-to-School Tips from Autism Moms, Angelsense
Back To School Tips For Families With Autistic Children, Art of Autism
by Jessie Cooper | Aug 26, 2021
Over the past several weeks I’ve noticed a recurring topic of conversation within my tribe; “I’m exhausted from the last year and a half.” Each person that I speak with is talking about the COVID-19 pandemic and is in disbelief this is still our life. I keenly remember the start of the pandemic and how high all our emotions were running in fear of a threatening virus entering our world.
To still be dealing with that same stressor, with case numbers approaching levels from a year ago, exhaustion is an apt way of stating how we all feel. We’re not just dealing with a virus, we’re dealing with living our lives through an active, dangerous virus.
Trying to Find Peace During the Pandemic
With no end in sight, it’s hard to feel chipper and happy, let alone grounded. Peace can feel far away. I’ve heard a lot of “rinse, lather, repeat,” and “same shit, different day” comments in reference to what we are all walking through right now.
In the early days of the pandemic, Brene Brown spoke on her podcast, “Unlocking Us,” that she was just waiting for a checklist of what to do and once she had the checklist her recovering perfectionist could rest. Well, Brene, we have our checklist and the treatment fidelity is low. In scientific terms, this means we are not near containing the virus, which is incredibly frustrating.
As the virus carries on in all of our personal lives it can start to feel hopeless. The heart of the matter is this; we can provide good, accurate information and it’s up to each and every one of us to choose to follow it or not. We simply cannot control other people’s behavior.
Thinking About Others
I am going to pause here to let you know that not being able to convince a person to make a logical, kind decision (even in non-pandemic times) has been the bane of my existence. Truly. I have an aunt and sister who operate the same way. We see the systems for what they are. We see human life as incredibly worthy of equality and get frustrated (OK, sometimes livid) when decisions are made that move us away from equality and logic.
I am still on a journey of realizing that no matter how much I believe in making kind decisions that I cannot control other people and make them drink my preferred brand of logical, kind Kool-Aid. People are, in fact, allowed to make their own decisions and it’s incredibly frustrating when those decisions can potentially cause harm to others (please see the ongoing pandemic).
In light of being given a magical wand of authority, what spell could we possibly conjure in the midst of this climate of adversity? What can we do when a real stressor or danger is presented day after day with high and divisive emotions being publically shared?
It is easy to lash out at others, question their beliefs, invoke shame, or simply shut down into our own little world. I have been guilty of both at times. Neither has provided any long-lasting relief. But something else has and I’d like to share it with you.
An Attitude of Gratitude
I’ve recently written that I have been in the process of divorce, which is stressful enough by itself. The stress from the divorce on top of the pandemic took me to my limit. Early on I started following the work of Lee Harris. At the time I did not have more good days than bad, quite the opposite. Lee recommended a gratitude journal as part of a healing journey.
At first, this suggestion annoyed me. I’ve followed many different spiritual teachers for well over a decade and thought to myself, “I know, I know–an attitude of gratitude.” It felt like one more thing was being added to my checklist while my mindset was basically “what is there to be grateful for as my world is burning down?”
Lee gave a scientific reason, which at the time was just enough, that convinced me to begrudgingly start a gratitude journal. Lee explained that when you have experienced trauma your neurochemistry is depleted and leans more towards negative emotions. He went on to explain that writing five gratitude statements a day can change your brain chemistry. I was in need of rewiring and had already started acupuncture to rewire trauma inside my body. It felt right to rewire my mind so I started the journal.
At first, I wrote very small things like “I’m grateful for a Henry kiss goodnight,” “I’m grateful for Declan belly laughs,” and “I’m grateful for a dinner with my three boys.” I wrote moments each day that started to become a tiny light. As I leaned into this tiny light, I truly did begin to see more things to be grateful for regardless of the world around me.
I was able to move outside of the tiny gratitudes and see bigger things to be grateful for; a huge one being the incredible people that surround me. I call them my tribe but my family and friends are unmatched in their ever-present love of me (and my love for them). I am a lucky woman. In writing gratitude statements I was able to see that even when the world looks like it’s burning down around you, there is still more good than bad. Truly.
Staying Positive & Looking at the Good
My own external circumstances have not changed. I am still living in a pandemic and still dealing with a divorce while recovering from domestic abuse. I am still running a company during a pandemic. I cannot speed up any external circumstances beyond my control. They will stay, just as yours will stay.
I do not know when the pandemic will end. What I do know is that we can take care of our own hearts and minds even in stressful times. Especially in stressful times. I know what it feels like to want to wrap yourself in a blanket and cry the day away. I know what it feels like to scream in frustration at the top of your lungs. It’s OK to ride these feelings out. As they subside noticing what was beside you all along will shift your internal world. I promise.
The world outside is messy but I bet you have a few things to be grateful for. So, maybe even today, instead of arguing with someone for the millionth time about your stance on (masks, vaccines, the economy, etc) you could take a deep breath and call your mom. Tell her you love her. Can’t talk to your mom? That’s OK, call dad, a sister, a brother–make a phone call to someone you love. Say thank you. Then pick up the pen and find what you’re truly grateful for.
Xoxo,
Jessie
by Jessie Cooper | Aug 19, 2021
Over the past several months I have been writing about moving through anger while I’m doing it myself. Last week I gave you a glimpse into finding peace amidst adversity. The sun peeking through the dark forest, if you will. Personally, it is knowing the sun always rises that allows me to place my hands on the dark, damp, leaves of the forest and breathe in relief during pain.
As humans, we are conditioned to avoid pain for our own survival. As mammals, we have genetic coding to literally keep us alive. Yet as we developed as a social species and created hierarchies we also developed a great big lie (okay, many great big lies). The specific lie I’m writing about now is that the goal of life is to be happy and that happiness is obtained by achieving external desires.
The forever-running list of “if I just have, look, get, or accomplish I will be happy” purrs in far too many minds. It’s poison looping within our own minds telling us to escape anything that feels unhappy, anything that feels painful. I believe this is why so many of us choose what is wrong for us over what is right. Immediate escape to happiness over a lifetime of hard, right choices.
But what if we learned to choose differently? What if we chose to see pain as a powerful teacher and not something to fear? Pain as a phase and not a state of being? Pain as part of the human experience that allows us to live a fully abundant life? Not fully happy, but fully alive.
The Big Lie
I’ve struggled with this lie many times over my lifetime. Personally, I was not chasing external belongings but belonging itself. From this, I created a narrative of not wanting to do anything that caused harm to another person even if that person was hurting me. I thought by saying, “yes,” all of the time I could keep others happy and if they were happy we would all be connected and I would belong.
Then, when I belonged, I would be happy. I was a belonging junkie if you will. It took a very serious and dangerous situation in my own life to realize that I was dying from my own addiction to belonging. This situation forced me to face the pain of saying, “no,” even when it caused hurt to another person in order to truly find belonging in my own heart.
Saying what is right for yourself can be incredibly painful. It’s so easy to get lost in what is right for everyone else. Remember that part about humans being social animals? We genetically don’t just avoid pain; we also look for companionship, for our tribe. Sometimes we desperately want our tribe to be people who were never truly meant for us. Losing them is hard. Sometimes our own limits and boundaries feel life-threatening to those we love.
Don’t Lie to Yourself
I gently think of parents of a child struggling with addiction. You love your child yet through your love you have to let them go as you hold boundaries set by recovery teams. In less severe cases I believe all parents hold boundaries that can feel uncomfortable towards their own children.
Outside of parenthood, we all have a set of boundaries that protect our sacred selves. Boundaries are the lifeboat in the storm of life. The little raft you hold onto as the pain crashes around you and keeps you afloat until you wash up onto the shore of your next chapter.
By choosing what is right for yourself you must be willing to lose everything the world says is right in order to be strong and wise enough to choose for yourself. Each decision that is right for your own heart is one wave closer to the shore. As you lift your weary head, look around, and start to swim towards the shore you will see some people floating behind you while those who have always been by your side are applauding from the shore.
Choosing what is right for you can be easy at times. Other times it will feel like it’s ripping your soul in two. Perhaps it is the ripping that creates the space for growth. Each right (and hard) decision is the only way to live the life you were born to live. Life isn’t about being happy and comfortable all the time. The abundance of human emotions and spirit are all-wise councils. I’m not sure how happiness alone has sat on the throne for so long.
Authenticity is knocking and she wants her seat back.
Xoxo,
Jessie
