ABA Services

Your child is unique and therefore we believe it is our job to design a behavior intervention program that is individualized to your child’s specific needs. Our BCBAs and BCaBAs continually assess each child’s needs and use ABA Therapy Solutions extensive researched based curriculum to create a specialized program for each child.  Our highly skilled staff are trained in a wide range of ABA methods to provide many options to find the intervention that works best to meet your child’s specific needs.

Verbal Behavior Therapy teaches communication using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and the theories of behaviorist B.F. Skinner.  Verbal Behavior is the actions of a person that are reinforced by a listener. It is a way of understanding the different purposes of language (e.g., a child may use language to ask for things, or to label things in his environment). Each child has their own method of communication – words, signs, augmentative devices, pictures, etc., but all children need to learn to be effective communicators.  All skills are examined comprehensively to see if they are emerging evenly across all operants.

Most traditional language approaches differentiate between receptive (listener skills) and expressive (vocal) language. Skinner’s functional analysis of verbal behavior further analyzes vocal behavior according to its function. Mand (request), Tact (label) and Intraverbal (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 to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

The Verbal Operants:

• Mand = request (you say it because you want it)
• Tact = label (you say it because you see, hear, smell, taste, or feel something)
• Intraverbal = conversation, answering a question, responding when someone else talks (you say it because someone else asked you a question, or made a comment)
• Echoic = repeating what someone else says (you say it because someone else said it)

Other Operants:

• Imitation = repeating someone else’s motor movements (you move because someone else moved the same way)
• Listener Responding/Receptive = following directions (you do what someone else asks you to do)

Our goal at ABA Therapy Solutions is to help our clients understand that communicating produces positive results.

VB-MAPP- The VB-MAPP is a developmentally based criterion referenced assessment tool that was field-tested with typically developing children and children with ASD.  The VB-MAPP assesses individual skills within each repertoire area, such as the echoic, mand, tact, intraverbal, etc. It also assesses the child’s barriers to learning and contains a transition assessment which is to aid providers in making placement decisions about the level of inclusion or group instruction that may be appropriate for that learner.  There are five components of the VB-MAPP:

• Milestones Assessment
• Barriers Assessment
• Transition Assessment
• Task Analysis and Skills Tracking
• Placement and IEP Goals

and collectively they provide a baseline level of performance, a direction for intervention, a system for tracking skill acquisition, a tool for outcome measures and other language research projects, and a framework for curriculum planning. Each of the skills in the VB-MAPP is not only measurable and developmentally balanced, but they are balanced across the verbal operants and other related skills.

FBA- A Functional Behavior Assessment is the primary tool used to identify and attempt to understand a child's behavior.  It is a multidisciplinary approach that incorporates a number of techniques, sources of information, and strategies to understand the reasons behind problem behavior and to develop strategies or interventions to address the problem behaviors.  The process involves documenting the antecedent (what comes before the behavior), behavior, and consequence (what happens after the behavior) over a number of weeks; interviewing teachers, parents, and others who work with the child; and manipulating the environment to see if a way can be found to prevent the behavior. This information is important because it leads the observer beyond the "symptom" (the behavior) to the student’s underlying motivation to escape, "avoid," or "get" something which is the root to all behavior.  The findings from the FBA become the basis for the Behavior Intervention Plan.

ABLLS-R- The Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills - Revised is an assessment tool, curriculum guide, and skills-tracking system used to help guide the instruction of language and critical learner skills for children with autism or other developmental disabilities.  The ABLLS-R contains a task analysis of the many skills necessary to communicate successfully and to learn from everyday experiences. It provides both parents and professionals with criterion-referenced information regarding a child’s current skills, and provides a curriculum that can serve as a basis for the selection of educational objectives.

AFLS - The Assessment of Functional Living Skills (AFLS) is an assessment, skills tracking system, & curriculum guide for the development of essential skills for achieving independence. It can be used to demonstrate a learner's current functional skill repertoire & provide tracking info for the progressive development of these skills. The AFLS contains task analyses of the skills essential for participation in family, community, & work environments.

Other assessments are completed based on the individual needs of each child.

Behavior Intervention Plans are developed from a Functional Behavior Assessment. Behavior Intervention Plans increase the acquisition and use of new alternative skills, decrease the problem behavior and facilitate general improvements in the quality of life of the individual, his or her family, and members of the support team.

ABA Therapy Solutions provides social skills training to children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and other developmental disabilities. The focus of the program is to increase the child’s overall ability to:

• Recognize and interpret verbal and non-verbal communication
• Develop appropriate peer relationships
• Assist individuals with improvement in social interactions by expanding their interest in age appropriate topics, toys and play skills
• Increase their ability to recognize others emotions

The goal is to minimize the stress and anxiety when participating in social interaction. The program strives to provide the tools necessary for successful interpretation of social and communication skills.