The Behavior Frontiers‍ Blog Corner

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy techniques for children with autism often feel and look like play. Mostly because… they kind of are. If you watched a behavior technician use ABA therapy techniques during a session with your child, you might not think any “professional techniques” were happening at all. But beneath the learning-through-play, there’s life-transforming work happening.

Collecting data and tracking behavior is a lot like being a detective. If you've ever seen your child's behavior therapist writing down information on a clipboard or inputting into a computer, they're likely documenting what happens before, during, and after a behavior.

Verbal Behavior (often shortened to VB) is a specific approach to teaching communication within Applied Behavior Analysis, or ABA therapy, based in B.F. Skinner's 1957 analysis of language. 

DRO stands for “Differential Reinforcement of Other Behavior,” and it's a technique used in ABA therapy where reinforcement is delivered when a target behavior does not occur during a specific period of time.

A prompt hierarchy in ABA helps guide how and when prompts are used, so children can gradually become more independent as they master a skill.

In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, an antecedent is anything that happens immediately before a behavior. In simple terms, it’s what comes right before your child does something and can help you understand what may have led to that behavior.

Watch a few minutes of an ABA therapy session and you might notice a pattern: the therapist gives a clear instruction, your child responds, and there’s a consequence right afterward, whether that's praise or a small reward. Then, there’s a brief pause before starting again. This method has a name: Discrete Trial Training (DTT).

You've noticed a few things about your child. They experience the world differently than other children their age. As they’ve grown, you’re starting to notice more—and based on your observations, you’re wondering if they might have autism. 

If there's one concept that sits at the heart of ABA therapy, it's positive reinforcement. It shows up in nearly every session, every plan, and every conversation your child's Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) has about progress.

Every October, National Bullying Prevention Month gives families a reason to pause and talk about something that often goes unsaid.For parents of children with autism, that conversation matters a great deal.

In ABA therapy, understanding the functions of behavior helps clinicians (and you) uncover what your child is trying to communicate through their behavior. And once we unlock the “why,” we also reveal the pathway to teaching new ways to communicate that same need (thus reducing challenging behaviors like tantrums, aggression, or throwing things) and setting up your child for success.

Differential reinforcement is a behavior-support strategy that strengthens one response while reducing another. It has two moving parts: reinforcing the behavior you want to see more of, and reducing reinforcement for the challenging behavior that isn’t meeting your child’s needs in the best way.

An autism diagnosis never determines your success. For many of the most creative, driven, and groundbreaking minds in history, it may have been the very thing that fueled it. An intense focus, pattern recognition, and a willingness to see the world differently are not limitations. They're superpowers. And when a person with autism is given the right support and space to grow, truly incredible things can happen.

Every time your child wants to play with a toy, they have big emotions until they get it. At school, when presented with difficult work, they might run away. These are all examples of behaviors your child might exhibit to serve a communicative purpose. They might need something or want your attention. Or maybe they just want access to an opportunity. Whatever the behavior might be—it works, so it continues. Sometimes, we as adults may reinforce these behaviors without realizing it.

What guides every intervention in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy?The 7 dimensions of ABA.Think of ABA therapy like a multi-dimensional figure. It has many angles, perspectives, and ways to evaluate it. That is exactly what the dimensions do. They give clinicians and families a complete way to see how well an intervention is working, from every angle.

In Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, errorless learning is a way to teach new skills by giving the right amount of support from the very beginning.When your child with autism is learning something new, mistakes are part of the process. But for some kiddos, too many mistakes too quickly can feel uncomfortable, frustrating, or discouraging. The last thing we want is for your child to shut down, guess, avoid the task, or lose confidence before the skill has a chance to grow. That's where errorless learning can help.

Have you noticed your child rocking, flapping their hands, or making the same sounds on repeat?What you’re observing is called stimming. Stimming (short for self-stimulating behavior) refers to repetitive motions, sounds, or interactions with objects, and it’s far more common than you may think. In fact, close to 44% of people with autism engage in some form of stimming.

If your child recently received an autism diagnosis, the next steps can feel exciting in some ways. Now, your child has access to all the support they need. But after that diagnosis comes a fresh set of questions, one of them being: what's the right next step? To help you understand if your kiddo is a good fit for center-based ABA therapy, we'll cover: the definition of center-based ABA, the benefits of center-based ABA, and the key differences between center-based and in-home ABA.

The symbols we choose to represent autism do two things at once: they shape how the world understands autism, and they show those with autism how the world views them. So if you’ve ever seen that colorful puzzle piece on a bumper sticker or t-shirt, you might already know it’s connected to autism. But there are shifts happening. As our understanding of autism has grown, so has the conversation about which symbols best represent the community.