ABA The Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) model for treating autism was started in the 1960s by Ivar Lovaas, PhD at UCLA. It employs a systematic program of positive and negative reinforcement to teach social and behavioral skills. Isaiah, age 2, Diagnosed with Autism 2 months ago Gabriella Wright, Isaiah’s Mother with Isaiah: One. One. There you go. One. I want. I want. Open. Wah. Gabriella Wright, Isaiah’s Mother: Your instinct is if your child is crying, oh, hurry, you just pick him up and hug him and love him. They want this attention and they’re not getting enough love, so you need to give them that, and that’s not the case. Some people I know have this fear of saying, ‘My child has autism,’ but if one person hears me and one person knows how to help me, I’m better off and my son’s better off. Dr. Ronit Molko, Co-Founder/CEO, Autism Spectrum Therapies: Applied Behavior Analysis is really the science of teaching, and so we’re breaking down steps into small little increments and we’re teaching steps of communication of an activity. Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist [with Isaiah]: Open. Want more? Try better. More. Good. More. Good job. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: So they did something that we wanted them to do, we’re going to respond very quickly and immediately in a way that’s going to communicate to that child that what they did was correct. Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist [with Isaiah]: Good job. It helps build behavior because we’re reinforcing the appropriate behavior and ignoring the behavior that we don’t want to see. More, please. Excellent job, Isaiah. Good job. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: As a child starts to demonstrate learning and an interventionist builds that confidence, it becomes very exponential what can happen. Dr. William Frea, Co-Founder, Autism Spectrum Therapies: The biggest variable for progress, the biggest outcome variable, is parent involvement. Gabriella Wright, Isaiah’s Mother with Isaiah: O.K., put them in the bucket and, good job. Good job. All done. Careful. Whoa. Whoa. That’s ‘cause you don’t sit in the chair that way, silly. Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist: When a kid is tantruming or protesting, we use ‘plan ignore,’ which is just ignoring the behavior. Gabriella Wright, Isaiah’s Mother with Isaiah: Is that the right way? O.K. You sit that way, no crackers. Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist: He had a little protest with his mom, she ignored him, took the food from him, redirected him. Gabriella Wright, Isaiah’s Mother with Isaiah: Sit down. Sit down, please. Sit down. Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist: And then when he sat down, she gave him his food, so she just gave reinforcement for the appropriate behavior, instead of when he was protesting, she just ignored and then redirected him. Gabriella Wright, Isaiah’s Mother with Isaiah:: Upp, O.K., no snack. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: We really perceive it as sort of a team effort between the interventionist and the parent. Ninety percent of the programs are run with significantly more than fifty percent parent participation. It really is about the sort of training of this little team, um, in what to do next with the child. Dr. William Frea, Co-Founder, Autism Spectrum Therapies: Parents learn the methodologies and use them at home, use them in the community. It’s something that no treatment providers are going to be able to do for them. It’s not just more hours, it’s just more meaningful hours as well. Brian Wright, Isaiah’s Father: Even though I have two children that are both showing signs of autism and have autistic signs and everything, you know, I still love them very much, and my wife and I are teamworking together and that’s what it’s going to take. Later that afternoon Jordan, age 7, Diagnosed with autism 5 years ago Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother with Jordan: After we eat your snack, what are we going to do? Do our homework. That’s right. O.K., Mommy’s going to do your schedule, O.K. So we’re going to do snack first, then we’re going to do homework, and then what are we going to do? Watch TV and play video games. Uh, well, not yet. We’ll do one TV show, O.K., and then after TV should we read or play a game? Play a game. O.K. What game are we going to play? Twister. O.K., Twister it is. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: Like Isaiah, Jordan very much started in the same arena of autism, just defying any demands or anything put on him. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother with Jordan: O.K. we’re going to work for ten stars today, right? Yeah. Uh, huh. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother (showing visually Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist): Jordan used to do the tantruming from the time he woke up to the time he went to bed. But slowly the progression of ABA and his verbalizing, he’s talking to me, he’s giving me feedback. It was really important if we could keep Richard when Isaiah was diagnosed. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: Antecedent ABA strategies are different strategies that we are using to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. So, for example, those include things like priming. That’s just forewarning something of an event that’s happening. Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist with Jordan: You have five seconds. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. My turn. Can I do it? Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: They’ll do much better with a transition if they just know that it’s coming. So having a kid have a visual representation of something you’re going to tell them to do, not only does it sort of prime them to what’s coming but it’s a visual support to their day. Homework Snack Trashcans (visuals) Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist with Jordan: How many stars you have? Six. That’s good. You need four more. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: And again what we’re going for is to do the transition without there being behaviors. Jordan : Where’s Twister? Brian Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Father: If we’re not on the same page working on this, there’s not any way they’re going to get any better, and we can’t let them waver. We’re not going to sleep on it. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother: This is your child’s life. This is their future. Get involved. Brian Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Father; Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist with Jordan: This put on green. Dr. Gina Chang, ABA Clinical Director: What we really do want to do is change the lives of families. Brian Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Father; Richard Spicer, ABA Behavior Interventionist with Jordan: Ah, you’re doing it, you’re doing it. That’s it. Daddy won. Oh. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother: Hearing from people your child’s never going to hug you, um, be affectionate, a child saying, ‘Mom’ or ‘Daddy.’ That part’s, you know, tough, ‘cause you don’t think you’re ever going to see that day, and the day he said it was just like the most overwhelming thing. You know, it was what some people, like I say, take for granted. You know, you value those moments. Brian Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Father with Jordan: Oh, I can’t get up. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother: It’s going to take a little longer, but the light’s eventually going to click on for your child to say, ‘O.K., now I get it.’ Brian and Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Parents with Isaiah: Three. Two. One. Two. Three. Good. Good job. Four. Four. Good. Good. Seven. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother: I can’t express how exciting it is, your child finally does one little thing you ask them. You do the craziest dances, cheers, and everything for your kid because it’s so rewarding. Now when we see Isaiah, you learn to tune it out because you know the end result is going to be worth it. Gabriella Wright, Jordan and Isaiah’s Mother with Isaiah: Thank you. You.