ABA Therapy Benefits Children and Their Families
ABA therapy is considered the gold standard for supporting children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines ASD as a developmental disability that can cause significant social, communication, and behavioral challenges. In 2020, the CDC reported that 1-in-54 children are diagnosed with ASD in the United States.
ABA therapy is an evidence-based approach to autism treatment. It focuses on developing individual strengths and critical life skills that help children reach their full potential.
According to Medical News Today, “This form of therapy is rooted in behaviorist theories. This assumes that reinforcement can increase or decrease the chance of a behavior happening when a similar set of circumstances occurs again in the future. ABA tends to use positive reinforcement. This is a reward system wherein a child will receive an item or privilege that they enjoy when they demonstrate the desired behavior.”
Though ABA therapy is scientifically proven to help children with autism, it also supports their community. Parents, siblings, caregivers, and teachers benefit from the tools and resources ABA therapy affords.
Constellation’s Assistant Director of ABA, Hayley Ninteau, puts it in perspective: “Our ultimate goal is to make everyday life a little bit easier, whether that’s teaching kids daily living skills, communication, or social skills. We strive to make our kids feel more independent and to give them the ability to navigate their daily lives better. We work with families to teach these skills in order to make life a little bit easier for not only the child but their family members too. We work hard to maintain positive relationships with everyone involved in our treatment planning for the kids we work with.”
The three benefits outlined below are ways that ABA therapy will help your child, family, and community.
Helps Parents be Better Parents
“Parenting a child with autism is a lot like parenting a typical child, but everything you know about parenting a typical child needs to be taken to an extreme to parent your child with autism.” —Essay in Association Behavior Analysis International (AABI)
For parents, keeping up with the needs of children with autism may feel extreme. The tools available through ABA therapy give parents the ability to deal with behavioral situations confidently to help their children attain their goals. Through a treatment plan, parents receive tools to understand how to observe children’s behavior and productively intervene to guide them into demonstrating the desired action.
For example, therapy helps parents identify a child’s preferences in order to help motivate the child through positive reinforcement.
Not only that, it helps parents set higher expectations. ABA therapy can prove to parents that children with autism can attain skills that they previously believed to be impossible, which allows the family as a whole to enjoy life more.
Develops Independence
Through ABA therapy, children with ASD learn about autonomy. By understanding patterns, parents, siblings, teachers, and caregivers can teach and support independent living skills like toileting and getting dressed. When children can learn social skills to help curb frustration, they feel empowered. Learning coping skills helps them contribute to communities by forming bonds with people.
Helps Children Make Friends
Social skills are crucial for helping people interact in society and contribute to their communities. Many children with ASD lack social skills. ABA therapy teaches behavioral interventions that can help children with autism interact with their peers and make friends.
ABA therapy gives parents and children the power to achieve together and enjoy a happy and fruitful future.
“Working with these families day in and day out, and seeing the progress that the kids make, and the progress that the families make, as a family unit, is what drives all of us at Constellation,” Ninteau said.
Additional Resources:
- In-Home ABA: Autism Treatment for Children from the Comfort of Home
- Resources for Parents of Children with Special Needs During COVID-19
- Autism Awareness
————-
Constellation provides ABA therapy at-home services in Connecticut as an evidence-based approach for autism treatment. Through our customized programming, we work with children to improve their development and focus on expanding cognitive, language, and adaptive skills.
Also, Constellation partners with private and public schools, school districts, and early childhood development programs in Connecticut for School-Based Therapy, providing evidence-based behavior, occupational, and physical therapy solutions, and management consulting services.
