In the first year of children’s lives, they rely on their parents and caregivers for everything. As children approach 2 years of age, however, the journey towards independence should start with teaching them how to do simple self care tasks, such as using the potty and taking off their hats. We encourage starting to Read more about How To Teach A Young Child Self Care Skills[…]
So often, we take for granted that kids like to play. We buy them toys, arrange play dates, and even take them to parks and public areas, all in the name of playing. No one doubts the importance of play on a child’s development. It builds confidence, social skills, creativity, and imagination. But what happens Read more about 5 Steps to Teaching Play Skills[…]
Parents often hesitate to remove their child from preschool or daycare in order for the child to receive 1:1 ABA. Understandably, parents want their children around typical peers and for them to learn in a natural classroom environment, and sometimes that is appropriate. So why would we recommend for a child to receive 1:1 ABA Read more about 6 Skills a Child Needs to Be Ready to Learn in a Group[…]
Social skills is a common area that we tackle within an ABA program. Why is ABA the right approach to use when teaching social skills? Because in an ABA program we use behavioural objectives that are: Very specific in their content. For example, a goal might be “reciprocates greetings from peers” and not “greetings” Definable Read more about How to Use ABA to Teach Social Skills[…]
Balancing My Roles of “Behaviour Analyst” and “Mom” The two roles of “Behaviour Analyst” and “Mom” can sometimes be difficult to merge. On the one hand, knowing so much about the principles of behaviour, I should have all the tools I need to manage behaviour in my home. You would think that my home is Read more about 6 ABA Strategies I Use in My Home (And Why a Reinforcement System Isn’t One of Them!)[…]
…And Why Do I Need One? I’ve been noticing lately that there are many practitioners who claim to “practice ABA” or “use the principles of ABA” that aren’t actually Board Certified Behaviour Analysts. Often, when searching for solutions for children, parents are unaware of what qualifications they should be looking for. If someone is able Read more about What is a BCBA?[…]
If you could have an endless supply of one item – what would it be? Mine would be chocolate. I don’t think I could get sick of it. But there are other things I would get sick of in endless supply. Most things that we love are so special because they have to be earned Read more about Too Much of a Good Thing?[…]
What is a “prompt” and why is it part of an ABA program? Prompting is a strategy used to correct the learner and still increase learning. It is usually placed after the instruction and before the response. Instruction ⇒ Response ⇒ Reinforcement/Consequence Prompt↵ Why prompt Read more about The Prompt Hierarchy[…]
Reinforcement is a common occurrence in our daily lives. Receiving a paycheck every month, getting a compliment from a friend, taking a coffee break from work – these are all forms of reinforcement. Some types are more predictable and some take longer to achieve. During ABA therapy, it is always our goal to fade reinforcement Read more about How to Implement and Use Token Boards[…]
On a recent post about visuals prompts, one of the questions we received was: “Why are you using visuals if the goal is for the student to verbalize? Won’t the visuals make the learner dependent on them?” This is a great question and the answer is that it depends on the learner and on how Read more about The Importance of Visuals and How They Promote Independence[…]