When we do intake for our students, we tell parents about our individualized programming for their children. One of the hallmarks of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is a unique treatment plan. Let’s dive a little bit into what this means:
1. Unique Goals
Every child will have a unique array of goals chosen based on the assessment results and issues described during the parent interview. No two sets of goals should be completely identical. In fact, goals can be adapted based on what skills will be targeted, what aspects of these skills will be focused on, and the expected rate of completion. Every child’s unique goals have been modified based on observation during the assessment period and will continue to be modified and individualized as your practitioner becomes more familiar with them.
2. Personalized Behavior Strategies
During the assessment, our Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) will seek to identify the function of a behavior, or why the behavior happens and continues happening. Once a behavior and function are identified, they will develop a plan based on that specific behavior, the way it looks, and why it happens, to decrease it and increase other skills that can help your child meet their needs. No two children will have the same behavior strategy, even for behaviors that look similar. Different strategies will be used based on what happens before and what’s historically happened after the behavior. Different replacement behaviors will be selected based on what motivates the child and what their current skill set supports.
3. Unique Prompting Strategies
One of the big ways we work with children is by prompting them toward a correct answer or appropriate behavior. Based on their repertoire and preferences, we choose one of many different prompting strategies to employ with teaching skills. For instance, a learner who has a fantastic imitation repertoire may have more modeling prompts. A learner who follows and comprehends directions well will have more language based prompts. Learners who have delays in processing speed may have a longer time delay between the instruction and prompt. This leads to a large number of permutation in the way the child is treated.
4. Learner Preferences
One of the big things we like to take into account is to identify the activities children like to learn with and, when possible, what the child themselves would like to learn and how they would like to learn it. We try to adapt all of our methods to ensure that our learners are always happy to be involved in their treatment!
5. Dosage
Based on all of the factors above, we adjust dosage recommended for children. Some can benefit from more therapy, while others will make a great amount of progress with less. Some benefit more from parent training, while other thrive with a focus on group activities. We adjust the dosage of all of these factors based on each individual learner.
If you’d like to receive an individualized treatment plan for your child, please reach out to us to learn about our intake process and assessment, as well as the steps that would come after!