| Behavior Analysis is the science of behavior. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968; Sulzer-Azaroff, Mayer, 1991). |
| The procedures used in ABA are scientifically validated in hundreds of peer-reviewed research articles dating back to the 1960’s. ABA is used across a wide variety of areas including developmental disabilities, learning and behavior disorders, gerontology, organizational performance management, animal and pet training, brain injuries, behavioral medicine, and behavior toxicology. Applied Behavior Analysis is utilized in staff management in most Fortune 500 companies. |
 When children learn skills exclusively in isolation, they are less likely to generalize those skills to various items and across environments. From the onset of instruction at ABLE Academy, each skill acquisition program is designed with generalization in mind. Children learn multiple examples of the same concept and are required to demonstrate skill competency across instructors and environments within the clinic facility. This is achieved through ABLE Academy’s Three-Tiered Approach to Skill Building. Generalization, or the transferring of behavior form one situation to another (e.g. from communication with caregivers in the home to interacting with classmates at school), takes precedence using this exclusive method. Each learner’s program includes highly individualized and precise teaching procedures across the following tiers of instruction: |
Tier One:
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| Behavior Therapist to child ratio 1:1. Tier One instruction allows for intensive instruction through errorless teaching in order for the child to acquire new skills. |
Tier Two:
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| Behavior Therapist to child ratio 1:2-1:6. Tier Two offers strongly facilitated, small group instruction during which the child demonstrates skills previously acquired in Tier One. In Tier Two, the intensive instruction methodology utilized in Tier One is maintained, but new instructors and peers are introduced. |
Tier Three:
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| Behavior Therapist to child ratio 1:2-1:6. Tier Three offers therapist designed, but child led naturalistic teaching opportunities in which the child demonstrates acquired skills with limited or no direct instruction. Tier Three encourages development of interactive peer structures in which skills can be demonstrated in their most meaningful application. |
| Verbal behavior comes in many forms. It can be written, spoken, or signed. Every individual has verbal behavior whether they “talk” or not. Verbal behavior includes behavior other than the spoken word. We live in the midst of words, so it’s difficult to think about words as behavior, but they are in fact the most complex human behavior, that which separates us from other species. Words give us a very efficient way to influence the behavior of others. We use our words to influence others. |
| Verbal behavior involves social interaction between a speaker and a listener, and includes both vocal and non-vocal behavior. It analyzes the variables that control different types of verbal responses. Most traditional language approaches differentiate between receptive (listener skills) and expressive (vocal) language. B.F. Skinner’s functional analysis of verbal behavior further analyzes vocal behavior according to its function. Requesting, labeling, and talking about things in the absence of those things are all components of “expressive language.” Focusing on the reasons we say words rather than the form of the response allows us to more effectively teach functional language skills. |
| Learners with developmental and/or language disorders may label many objects or pictures of objects in their environment but may not be able to request the same object or talk about the object with related terms (i.e. “Look it’s flying,” while pointing to an airplane.) Conversational skills are very difficult to acquire for individuals with developmental disabilities and language delays because typical conversations are functionally comprised primarily of requests for information and responses that are not related to things directly visible in the environment. In addition to the basic applied behavior analysis procedures, a child’s existing verbal behavior and the barriers that are preventing it from developing at a typical rate are assessed and teaching strategies proven to be effective are implemented. |
| Errorless teaching encompasses a set of instructional strategies that ensure children respond correctly when learning a new skill. Learners are provided with the direction (the cue) and are immediately given the correct response or help to perform the correct response (prompt). Immediate prompting reduces the likelihood of errors. With many other teaching procedures such as massed trials with error correction procedures, opportunities for initial mistakes are permitted and then corrected through a series of instructor responses (e.g., “no,” “try again,” social disapproval.) Errorless learning employs procedures that ensure correct responding when the skill is first introduced. Prompts are then systematically removed from the teaching trial and distracters are introduced so the learner can continue correct responding given multiple conditions. |
| The basis of errorless teaching is that learners with developmental and language disorders do not learn as successfully from their mistakes as typically developing children may, but instead continue to repeat them. Research suggests that learner frustration following lengthy correction procedures and social disapproval can actually provoke problem behavior such as tantrums, refusal, aggression and self-injury. Over time, trial and error teaching also damages the relationship between the instructor and the learner, reducing the learner’s willingness to approach new learning situations. This actually results in a declining rate of skill acquisition, which is in direct opposition to the opportunities for skill development afforded by effective ABA. |
