The Autism News | English


A long time ago, in a cheerful office on Solano Ave. in Berkeley, my son Matthew was diagnosed with autism. Since the internet had not been invented yet, I had only books in libraries and the World Book Encyclopedia to turn to. One method of autism treatment caught my eye: Lovaas, a behavior based program and it sounded very promising. Our specialist at the time advised against it because:

1) Matthew, at 5, was too old for the treatment. The window of opportunity had closed,

2) The treatment was prohibitively expensive, and not covered by insurance

3) “Children who go through Lovaas are like little robots”. (Not the words of our specialist, but of a friends brothers girlfriend who knew a lot about autism, and we believed her.)

I later learned that ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) was a little like Lovaas, only better, and an effective evidence based treatment for autism. Since I have not used this treatment for Matthew, who is now 25, I turned to my friend, younger mother, autism advocate, writer, blogger and all around smart person Shannon Des Roches Rosa for a primer on ABA which she has used successfully with her son Leo:

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Behavioral methods are either associated with autism and early intervention or, um, orca training. But guess what? You can use them to guide the behavior of almost anyone: your children, your partner, even your co-workers. I am a huge fan of behavioral methods because they have helped my son Leo gain so many skills, but I also confess that I use the methods to mold behaviors whenever I can.

How? Ignore undesired behavior, and instead seek out, role model, and reinforce desired behavior. If your subject doesn’t respond, then analyze their motivations, and appeal to those motivations instead using reinforcers (rewards) if necessary, which you can taper off once the behavior becomes routine. That’s pretty much it. I *know*.

Behavioral methods are straightforward, but they’re not instinctive unless you’re the kind of naturally empathetic and kind person I tend to avoid because you make me look like a jerk. And implementing behavioral approaches systematically and consistently, especially in parenting, takes more effort than asking children to talk about what they were feeling when they hit their brother over the head with a lunchbox (though understanding that motivation is important, too). It takes a lot more analysis and upfront effort to be proactively positive instead of impulsively negative, but the results are generally worth it because you’re not reacting and reprimanding, you’re planning and conditioning — and conditioning sticks. Behavioral methods aren’t foolproof, but they usually work. Here are some examples:

-Instead of yelling at a kid who picks her nose, hand her a tissue, and tell her how proud you are when she blows her nose instead of excavating. Actively watch for opportunities to catch her doing the right thing, and praise her with gusto when it happens. If this approach doesn’t work, up the ante with a sticker or other reward chart. If you still can’t find any motivation strong enough to stop the nose-picking, then you need to decide if it’s a critical battle, or if you should change your focus to “I’m proud of you when you don’t pick your nose in public,” and start reinforcing that behavior instead.

-Instead of chastising a co-worker who takes the last cup of coffee and leaves the carafe empty, ask them if they wouldn’t mind refilling it, and be emphatic but not patronizing in thanking them when they do so. Repeat repeat repeat. (You might want to wait until after they’ve had their first sip of coffee.)

Behavioral methods form the cornerstone of ABA therapy (Applied Behavioral Analysis), which is one of the most commonly used approaches to help children with autism and other special needs learn. it is a 1:1 — one child, one therapist instructor — intensive, data- and evidence- driven method for helping a child learn or gain life skills. Whether it takes place at home, at school, or across both places, all the learning is tracked, and the resulting data scored and analyzed to see what kind of progress the child is making.

Many autistic children have difficulty learning from their environment or in traditional educational settings, because there are so many assumptions involved in each “simple” lesson. How can children learn to write the letter A if they don’t understand how to hold a crayon, that you need to hold the paper with the other hand, or even that it helps to stay still? Kids like Leo need their learning broken down into small steps, and bolstered by repetition. This is what ABA therapy does.

SFGate

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