Autism Reinvented

Clang! Down crashed the chairs. He flopped to the floor, punching himself.

“No!” His violent yells puffed his little chest.

As a new behavior technician, I felt what most of us feel when we observe such behavioral outbursts: helplessness. That day, however, I observed with amazement as my supervisor calmly guided the child to de-escalate and then happily make appropriate requests.

I stepped into the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA therapy) to make an impact on precious children, but I didn’t foresee the impact ABA would have on me.

ABA operates by two functions.

Analysis

• Children with autism perform behaviors for a reason.
• Are his yells indicative of being overwhelmed by the current environment? Wanting to hear loud noises? Needing attention? Being hungry?
• Analysis ensures that in the end, the child’s needs are met, and through a better way.

Application

• Human behavior is triggered by cues and maintained by rewards. By modifying these cues and rewards, new behaviors can be taught and old behaviors can be changed.
• If a child is throwing chairs and yelling because he is hungry, then he can be taught to make verbal requests. He is ignored when engaging in maladaptive behavior, but rewarded with yogurt whenever he says “I’m hungry”. This results in only using appropriate methods of communication.

ABA showed me that problem behaviors are remediable and that learning is possible for anyone. Miracles are happening for this group of tenacious, gifted children.