Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA, is a leading autism family therapy Sacramento and Northern California families know that familial support is crucial when facing the challenges of autism.
Finding out your child has autism is a reality for many families across America. In Northern California, families are fortunate to have an ever-growing choice of options for support. Within those options, there is one that families trust for autism therapy. Sacramento families keep turning to Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for autism support.
What is ABA Therapy?
ABA is an evidence-based best practice course of therapy that has been used to help people of all ages since the 1960s. It has proven especially useful in addressing the interfering behaviors associated with autism in children. Over the years ABA therapy has helped children improve social interactions, master new skills, and encourage positive behaviors. It is also useful in helping to control emotional responses in situations that might set off an interfering behavior.
However, the real appeal of ABA therapy is that it involves everyone in your child’s life. ABA lends itself well as an autism family therapy. Sacramento families have been helped time and again by ABA therapy. Here are the seven goals of ABA family therapy:
- Identify the behaviors in your child that your family needs to address.
- Set the goals and outcomes that benefit not just your child, but everyone in the family.
- Determine how to measure progress and behavioral improvements.
- Evaluate where your child is at the beginning of therapy, as well as the entire family’s position at the beginning of the therapy journey.
- Help your child to learn new skills, including certain coping mechanisms to avoid interfering behaviors. And teaching those same skills to family members to help support the child.
- Review your child’s progress over time and determine where the family unit has progressed with them.
- Determine the future of the therapy plan and how it will affect everyone in the family unit.
Why your family’s involvement is crucial to success.
Of course, every parent will do everything they can to support their children no matter what. However, the point of getting parents and the whole family involved in a child’s autism therapy is to create a supportive and helpful environment. Family support is often the most important element in a child’s journey through autism therapy.
Sometimes, there are things that a parent, grandparent, or a sibling can do even better than a clinician in autism therapy Sacramentofamilies can learn skills alongside the child such as:
- Identifying the child’s triggers.
- Understanding how environmental situations can be involved in those triggers and why they lead to interfering behaviors.
- Learning about behavioral concepts in depth and how to apply them to interactions with the child.
- Strategizing how to minimize interfering behaviors and how to be successful in implementing positive ones.
- Contributing to the continued improvement of the child’s communication and social skills.
