Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the foundation for an evidence-based, intensive education therapy for children with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It is scientifically proven to be effective and is the preferred method of treatment for ASD in the US, the UK, Canada and Europe.

It helps children to develop the social, academic, self-help and behavioural skills needed to interact with others and to cope with the challenges of everyday life.

ABA therapy takes the form of a highly structured program designed to meet the individual requirements of each child, while building the foundations for life-long learning.

• Verbal and non-verbal communication
• Academic and self-help skills
• Social skills and appropriate behaviours

An ABA program focuses on all areas of development including communication, play, self-help, fine and gross motor as well as academic skills. It also addresses problematic behaviors’ including self-injury, tantrums, as well as socially inappropriate behaviours’.

HOW EARLY SHOULD I START?

Typically, an ABA program is aimed at children between 2 and 6 years of age.

Very little research has been done on the effects of starting ABA therapy at a later age. This does not mean that ABA is not effective for older children, adolescents and even adults; but ideally, the ABA program is carried out before children start school.

HOW MUCH TIME DOES IT TAKE?

ABA programs are individualised to suit the child's age and skill level and to incorporate other programs the child may be involved in, including Early Intervention, Kindergarten, Crèche, and Speech Therapy and so on.

Each program is broken into tasks or ‘drills’ that a child is required to perform.
An example of what a typical program curriculum looks like and data collection sheets can be found in either A Work in Progress by John McEachin and Ron Leaf or Behavioural Intervention for Young Children with Autism by Catherine Maurice (both are available from the ABIA resource library).

A 25-30 hour week program usually involves 2-3 hour sessions each morning and afternoon, 5 days a week.

A session of 2-3 hours may seem a long time for a young child to concentrate, but the session includes many play breaks. Typically, a very young child is only working with the therapist for 1-5 minutes at a time. The child is then free to have a short 1-5 minute play break whilst the therapist records his/her data and prepares for the next task. About once an hour, the child is given a much longer break of about 10-20 minutes.

Remember, part of the success of any ABA program requires that the therapy session is fun for the child. Therapists are required to use lots of positive reinforcement including small food rewards, tickles, praise, toys and games to motivate the child to want to learn.

During a session, the therapist is responsible for following a detailed program which has been designed by an ABA program supervisor. The therapist is also responsible for collecting detailed data on your child's progress.

Every 2-4 weeks, the program supervisor will organise a group meeting with the parents, therapists and other professionals who are working with the child. The program supervisor will analyse the data which has been collected by the therapist/s over the last few weeks and will ask each therapist to work with the child in front of the group.

These meetings usually run for about 2-3 hours and are held to review the child's progress, make program changes where necessary and to provide feedback to therapists on their teaching skills.

THE PARENT'S ROLE IN AN ABA PROGRAM

The role of parent/s in their child's ABA programs is crucial in terms of the child's overall progress. Parents need to be aware and fully informed about all areas of their child's program so that they can help their child generalize and apply the skills learnt during therapy to every-day life situations.

Some parents do ABA training so that they can implement some of the therapy hours themselves. This helps in keeping them up-to-date with the program and to reduce program costs.

However, some parents feel uncomfortable doing therapy work. The most important aspect of the parent's involvement is keeping track of what their child is learning and encouraging them to use the skills they have learned outside of therapy time.

Parents are also responsible for employing therapists, timetabling therapists, maintaining their child's folder, and buying, making or borrowing materials for their child's program.
NOTE: Some of the materials you need are available for members to borrow at no cost from the ABIA Resource Centre.

Some ABA Service providers have their own pool of trained therapists which parents can access. This however, usually involves extra cost.

HOW MUCH DOES ABA COST?

The overall cost of a home based program will depend largely on the number of hours per week of intervention. Most therapists earn between $15.00 (untrained) and $20.00 (experienced) per hour.

Unfortunately, ABA programs are not government-funded in Victoria which means that families are burdened with the cost of paying for an ABA service provider and therapists themselves. The cost of running a program is in many instances, too costly for the average family. Costs can range from $20,000-$40,000 per year depending on how many hours of therapy a family chooses to implement. Most ABA service providers will recommend a minimum of 20-30hrs per week.

In addition, you will need to contact ABA service providers to find out their cost for running an initial family workshop, writing an individualised program and for provision of ongoing supervision. Many families hold fortnightly or monthly meetings with their service provider. These meetings are held to update the program and to provide ongoing training for therapists.

If a family embarks on a 30hr per week program the approximate cost including program supervisors, therapists and materials is $20-$30,000 per year.

Parent/s can reduce costs by providing some of the therapy hours themselves, by finding volunteer therapists and also by borrowing materials from the ABIA Resource Centre and/or local toy libraries.