Definitions - ABA
Auditory Integration Training- reduces some or many of the handicaps associated with autism
spectrum disorders, central auditory processing disorders (CAPD), speech and language disorders,
sensory issues including auditory, tactile or other sensory sensitivities (hyper or hypo), dyslexia and
pervasive developmental disorder (PDD).
Sensory Integration Therapy is performed by our Occupation Therapists who hold their Sensory
Integration Therapy Certification. Essentially, it's a type of play that makes children better at everything
they do, and help them to 'mainstream' into a society filled with sensory overload.
These children may seek out movement, swinging, twirling, jumping, or 'plant themselves,' avoiding
active games.
Lovaas Method- Uses an intensive behavioral treatment emphasizing language development and
social skills. Therapy consists of 40 hours of treatment per week, with ongoing supervision by an
experienced professional.
PEC system- (PECS)is an augmentative/alternative communication system. This technique was
developed for use with young nonverbal children or children with limited functional speech who have
autism or other social communication challenges. Children progress through sequenced phases,
enabling them to communicate within a social context. Children using PECS are taught to approach
and give a picture of a desired item to a communicative partner in exchange for that item. It does not
require lengthy pre-requisite training or extensive and expensive materials.
Applied Behavior Analysis- Applied behavior analysis is the process of systematically applying
interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a
meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the
improvement in behavior (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991).
ABA methods are used to support persons with autism in at least six ways: to increase behaviors (eg
reinforcement procedures increase on-task behavior, or social interactions); to teach new skills (eg,
systematic instruction and reinforcement procedures teach functional life skills, communication skills,
or social skills); to maintain behaviors (eg, teaching self control and self-monitoring procedures to
maintain and generalize job-related social skills); to generalize or to transfer behavior from one
situation or response to another (eg, from completing assignments in the resource room to performing
as well in the mainstream classroom); to restrict or narrow conditions under which interfering behaviors
occur (eg, modifying the learning environment); and to reduce interfering behaviors (eg, self injury or
stereotypy).
Greenspan- The typical Greenspan intervention revolves around a concept he calls "floor time" -- time
which the caregivers, generally the parents, spend entering the child's activities and following the
child's lead. If the child wants to line up cars in a row or twirl a top, the parents will join the child in his or
her preferred activity (with the intent of developing this action into an affective interaction) rather than
demanding that the child join them in their preferred activity (a process which, at best, will produce no
more than rote action and reaction). Starting with this mutual, shared engagement, the parents are
assisted to draw the child into increasingly more complex interactions, a process known as "opening
and closing circles of communication." For example, the parent may begin to take turns with the child
who is lining up his cars, until the child begins to expect and wait for his parent's turn. Then, the parent
may "accidentally" place a car in the wrong spot, tempting the child to open and close a circle of
communication as he corrects this appalling error.
Verbal Behavior-The term "AVB" has apparently become a shorthand for a program of applied
behavior analysis that focuses on teaching verbal behavior through a collection of highly effective
teaching procedures taken from the science of behavior analysis. In that case, AVB is ABA. Most, if
not all, good ABA programs incorporate verbal behavior. In Verbal Behavior, Skinner outlined his
analysis of VB, which describes a group of verbal operants, or functional units of language. Skinner
explained that language could be analyzed into a set of functional units, with each type of operant
serving a different function. He coined terms that didn't exist (to separate these operants from anything
described by traditional linguistics) for these operants. AVB is ABA with a focus on Skinner's analysis
of verbal behavior; it is the application of the science of behavior analysis to teaching verbal behavior.
spectrum disorders, central auditory processing disorders (CAPD), speech and language disorders,
sensory issues including auditory, tactile or other sensory sensitivities (hyper or hypo), dyslexia and
pervasive developmental disorder (PDD).
Sensory Integration Therapy is performed by our Occupation Therapists who hold their Sensory
Integration Therapy Certification. Essentially, it's a type of play that makes children better at everything
they do, and help them to 'mainstream' into a society filled with sensory overload.
These children may seek out movement, swinging, twirling, jumping, or 'plant themselves,' avoiding
active games.
Lovaas Method- Uses an intensive behavioral treatment emphasizing language development and
social skills. Therapy consists of 40 hours of treatment per week, with ongoing supervision by an
experienced professional.
PEC system- (PECS)is an augmentative/alternative communication system. This technique was
developed for use with young nonverbal children or children with limited functional speech who have
autism or other social communication challenges. Children progress through sequenced phases,
enabling them to communicate within a social context. Children using PECS are taught to approach
and give a picture of a desired item to a communicative partner in exchange for that item. It does not
require lengthy pre-requisite training or extensive and expensive materials.
Applied Behavior Analysis- Applied behavior analysis is the process of systematically applying
interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a
meaningful degree, and to demonstrate that the interventions employed are responsible for the
improvement in behavior (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991).
ABA methods are used to support persons with autism in at least six ways: to increase behaviors (eg
reinforcement procedures increase on-task behavior, or social interactions); to teach new skills (eg,
systematic instruction and reinforcement procedures teach functional life skills, communication skills,
or social skills); to maintain behaviors (eg, teaching self control and self-monitoring procedures to
maintain and generalize job-related social skills); to generalize or to transfer behavior from one
situation or response to another (eg, from completing assignments in the resource room to performing
as well in the mainstream classroom); to restrict or narrow conditions under which interfering behaviors
occur (eg, modifying the learning environment); and to reduce interfering behaviors (eg, self injury or
stereotypy).
Greenspan- The typical Greenspan intervention revolves around a concept he calls "floor time" -- time
which the caregivers, generally the parents, spend entering the child's activities and following the
child's lead. If the child wants to line up cars in a row or twirl a top, the parents will join the child in his or
her preferred activity (with the intent of developing this action into an affective interaction) rather than
demanding that the child join them in their preferred activity (a process which, at best, will produce no
more than rote action and reaction). Starting with this mutual, shared engagement, the parents are
assisted to draw the child into increasingly more complex interactions, a process known as "opening
and closing circles of communication." For example, the parent may begin to take turns with the child
who is lining up his cars, until the child begins to expect and wait for his parent's turn. Then, the parent
may "accidentally" place a car in the wrong spot, tempting the child to open and close a circle of
communication as he corrects this appalling error.
Verbal Behavior-The term "AVB" has apparently become a shorthand for a program of applied
behavior analysis that focuses on teaching verbal behavior through a collection of highly effective
teaching procedures taken from the science of behavior analysis. In that case, AVB is ABA. Most, if
not all, good ABA programs incorporate verbal behavior. In Verbal Behavior, Skinner outlined his
analysis of VB, which describes a group of verbal operants, or functional units of language. Skinner
explained that language could be analyzed into a set of functional units, with each type of operant
serving a different function. He coined terms that didn't exist (to separate these operants from anything
described by traditional linguistics) for these operants. AVB is ABA with a focus on Skinner's analysis
of verbal behavior; it is the application of the science of behavior analysis to teaching verbal behavior.
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