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ABA basic principles – with our modifications

Skill acquisition is important to the overall function of the child in some settings.  It also provides the parents with something to measure as far as visible gains.  Unlike Neurodevelopment where the changes are happening but are not necessarily as obvious.

  • Reinforcement

  • Extinction

  • Habit reversal

  • Token Economy

  • Stimulus Control: Discrimination and Generalization

  • Shaping

  • Task Analysis

  • Respondent Conditioning

  • Shaping

  • Video Modeling

  • Prompt hierarchy and transfer of stimulus control

  • Promoting generalization

  • Antecedent control procedures

  • Prompt hierarchy and transfer of stimulus control

  • Chaining

  • Behavior skills training

  • Behavioral Contracts

  • Fear reduction procedures

  • Cognitive Behavior Modification

  • Self-management

Language development

Communication

One of the most important things in our world is the ability to communicate with others.  There are many aspects of communication we don't tend to think about and many of them need to be taught. 

cute

Important pieces to function well in society.

  

  • Initiating and offering appropriate greetings

  • Increasing eye contact with others when speaking

  • Increasing eye contact when others are talking

  • Perspective taking

  • Responding to on-topic conversational exchanges chosen by others

  • Transitioning to different topics of conversation

  • Initiating conversations and entering into a conversation

  • Maintaining conversations for increasing periods of time

  • Maintaining conversations with the opposite sex

  • Terminating conversations with friends

  • Powerful strategies for addressing bullying/rumors 

  • Discriminating between comical vs. serious language

  • Discriminating between formal vs. informal language

  • Discriminating between figurative vs. literal language

  • Sharing jokes and the role of humor across daily activities

  • Initiating and offering socially appropriate goodbyes

  • Socialization

  • How to choose friends

  • How not to be a conversation hog

  • What to do during a get-together

  • Applying serious vs. comical language and situations in context

  • Discriminating and identifying the emotions of others

  • Responding to the emotions of others 

  • Dispute resolution and how to deal with hurt feelings

  • Accepting the perspectives of others 

  • Sharing feelings and expressing empathy 

  • Identifying social cues

  • Responding to social cues

  • Permitting others to speak in the absence of interrupting

  • Initiating individual social cues

  • Presenting active listening skills

  • Tolerating the opinions of friends and agreeing to disagree with the opinions of friends

  • Sharing an opinion across contextually relevant situations

  • Initiating social questions with friends and peers

  • Discriminating people we know as acquaintances from people we do not know

  • Discriminating and responding to appropriate and/or inappropriate behaviors of strangers, acquaintances, peers, friends and family

  • Maintaining a social calendar, and how to initiate a get together

  • Extending and responding to social invitations

  • Calling friends, peers, elders, and family by name

  • Initiating and responding to phone calls

  • Increase eye contact when responding to directives

  • Sharing opinions with Functional Communication Training

  • Socialization and Maintaining Friendships


Interpreting the body language of others

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  • Identifying social cues during ongoing conversations

  • Responding to social cues during ongoing conversations

  • Initiating individual social cues to others during ongoing conversations

  • Permitting others to speak without interrupting

  • Using and presenting active listening skills

  • Tolerating the opinions of friends

  • Sharing an opinion across contextually relevant situations

  • Presenting enthusiasm when agreeing or disagreeing with the opinion of a friend

  • Terminating conversations and walking away from friends

  • Initiating social questions with friends and others

  • Discriminating people we know from people acquaintances from people we do not know

  • Discriminating and responding to appropriate and/or inappropriate behaviors of strangers, acquaintances, peers, friends and family

  • Maintaining a social calendar

  • Extending and responding to social invitations

  • Calling friends, peers, elders and family by name

  • Initiating and responding to phone calls in contextually relevant situations across friends, peers, parents and other persons of authority

  • Initiating and responding to text messages in contextually relevant situations across friends, peers, parents and other persons of authority

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Haley

Play Skills

Play Skills don't often come naturally.  Here are some of the pieces we think are important in being successful in a play setting.

  • Asking others to play and/or join an activity

  • Permitting others to go first

  • Taking turns

  • Engaging in functional play sequences with others

  • Engaging in imaginary or symbolic pretend play sequences with others

  • Entering into pretend play

  • Maintaining reciprocal play for up to 20 minutes

  • Following the rules of a game

  • Playing a game someone else has chosen

  • Joining the play in progress

  • Introducing oneself to peers

  • Try a novel game or activity

  • Tolerating losing a game

  • Developing peer relationships

  • Sustaining peer relationships

  • Joining and sustaining group activities

  • Learning unspoken, contextually relevant social rules

  • Contributing and helping others while increasing community involvement

  • Addressing a social audience and maintaining affect to match the age, status, and culturally relevant situations of the audience members

  • Addressing individualized social fears

  • Presenting appropriate behavior (e.g., birthdays, groups, clubs, celebrations)

  • Presenting and following skills with friends and leading skills with friends

  • Parent Training

  • Providing social opportunities in the home and community

  • Learning modified ABA methodology and principles of reinforcement

  • Participating in role-plays as a priming technique

  • Fostering social inclusion 

  • Facilitating play 

  • Participating in role plays as a priming technique, and side coaching during homework activities

  • Fostering social inclusion and lasting healthy friendships

  • Finding appropriate sources of friends and facilitating get-togethers.

fun

PLAY, PLAY, PLAY AND MORE PLAY!!

AND......Sometimes

you might even play dress up with a real

pet cat!!

meow

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Learning Challenges and Their Origins in Neurological Organization

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Research indicates that approximately 40% of school-age children experience learning-related difficulties, many of whom are diagnosed with learning disorders or disabilities. The fundamental cause of these challenges is often linked to a disorganized neurological system. Such disorganization reflects a deficiency in neurological efficiency, which can manifest as impairments in learning capability.

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Neurological Disorganization:
When the brain and nervous system operate inefficiently, it can result in learning difficulties. Importantly, these inefficiencies are not necessarily permanent and can often be ameliorated through targeted interventions aimed at neurological reorganization.

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Symptoms and Underlying Causes:
The observable learning difficulties are symptomatic of an underlying disorganized neurological state rather than indicative of innate deficits in a child's abilities. As the nervous system becomes more organized and functions more effectively, these symptoms typically diminish in tandem with the child's developmental progress.

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The Role of Stimulation in Development:
Developmental progress, especially in children facing learning challenges, can be fostered through appropriately applied stimulation.

 

Effective stimulation should adhere to certain criteria:

  • High Intensity:
    Engagement and focus are essential; intense stimulation accelerates neural reorganization.

  • High Frequency:
    Frequent stimulation reinforces neural pathways and supports sustained progress.

  • Short Duration:
    Brief, focused sessions prevent mental fatigue and facilitate better absorption of new information. Extended periods of instruction may hinder learning due to cognitive overload. 

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Avoiding Redundancy in Instruction:
While repetition can aid retention, excessive focus on re-teaching previously mastered material may be counterproductive. Learning should be incremental, building upon pre-existing knowledge. This cumulative approach helps solidify prior concepts while enabling the introduction of more complex ideas, promoting continual progression rather than unnecessary repetition.

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The Parent-Child Relationship:
The quality of interactions between parent and child is a critical determinant of developmental success. A supportive, nurturing relationship provides emotional stability, fostering an environment where the child feels safe to take risks, make mistakes, and learn effectively.

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Key Takeaways:

  • Neurological disorganization is often the root cause of learning difficulties, rather than an inherent incapacity to learn.

  • Targeted, high-intensity, frequent, and brief stimulation can promote neurological reorganization and developmental progress.

  • Learning should be sequential and build upon prior knowledge, emphasizing progression over rote repetition.

  • The parent-child relationship underpins emotional well-being and significantly influences learning outcomes.

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Practical Applications:

  • Educational Strategies:
    Focus on brief, targeted interventions that prioritize new learning, thereby encouraging neural growth and sustained engagement.

  • Parental Empowerment:
    Educating parents about their vital role can foster a holistic approach to development, addressing both emotional and neurological needs.

  • Neurodevelopmental Interventions:
    Therapies such as neurofeedback, sensory integration, and developmental exercises can be instrumental in reorganizing neural pathways and alleviating learning challenges.

Parent Participation and Social Coaching

Providing social opportunities in the home and community 
Learning our modified ABA methodology, Neurodevelopmental strategies/exercise and principles of appropriate reinforcement.

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