What is ABA?

Posted by Hiroe, Special Educator

I’ve been working at an agency that provides services through the Early Intervention Program (EIP) as a teacher and behavior analyst for the last several years.  Before I became a teacher, I worked as a service coordinator for the EIP.  As service coordinator I met many parents who opted against Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) services for their children.  In my experience, parents often made this decision because they were misinformed by people who did not fully understand ABA.  Unfortunately this is very common in the field!  ABA is arguably the most misunderstood science.  I hope that this post, and this blog as a whole, will help to clear up some of those misconceptions.  Before discussing what ABA is, I think it might be helpful to discuss what ABA is not.

Modifying Behavior: The Process

Posted by Ashley, Special Educator & Peri, Licensed Psychologist and BCBA

How many times have you wished you could change the behavior of the people around you?  Whether it be your spouse, your colleagues, your friends, or your children, most of us wish we could change someone's behavior at some point during our day!  Well, we are here to share a little secret with you: you can change behavior!  That is what the field of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is all about!  The principles of ABA are founded in the idea that all behavior is learned and that all behavior can be modified.  And, fortunately, these principles are not a secret!  In fact, they are a science!  We are here to share them with you!  While we are closet (or maybe not-so-closet) nerds who enjoy reading ABA textbooks, we realize that most people do not!  Our goal here is to take that information and break it down in a way that is useful to those of you who are not ABA nerds like us!  Now let's get down to business...

I'm just an SLP livin in an ABA world... :)

Posted by Dani, Speech-Language Pathologist

Hello everyone! This is my first time blogging so hang in there! I am a part of a dynamic team of amazingly intelligent and passionate women who kick some major butt at their jobs (to quote Heather from Real Housewives of New York City- "HOLLAA!!") and I represent the "Speechie" of the group.

Like many speechies, I was groomed against ABA (applied behavior analysis) during my undergrad and graduate years (I more specifically remember my grad school childhood language professor emphasizing the unnaturalness of using ABA for language development). All in all- I was taught that ABA is this terrible old school way of teaching children.