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| ABA and VB |
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Behavior analysis is a natural science process to understand behavior. ABA is the application of scientifically-based methods and research findings to change socially significant behavior. ABA programming has been applied to learners with autism and related disorders since the early 1960’s and is widely believed to be a successful intervention for such individuals.
The scope of behaviors addressed by ABA includes just about every skill that a human being needs to function independently including: communication, academic, self-care, motor, play and leisure, and learning to learn. Behavioral skills are literally broken into smaller component skills and then sequenced from simple to complex.
In the past, most ABA programs implemented for children with Autism, Aspergers Syndrome and related disorders were based on the work published by Ivar Lovaas in the 1980’s. However, researchers studying B.F. Skinner’s work, Analysis of Verbal Behavior, became convinced that ABA practitioners would be more effective at teaching language skills if they would begin to emphasize some important elements in language acquisition that were ignored by the traditional Lovaas-based programs. Basically, new research findings emphasized the need to ignite a child’s motivation to develop a connection between the value of a word and the word itself. Additionally, Verbal Behavior theorists emphasize the concept that learning of expressive language can effectively precede that of receptive language. ABA therapies that integrate these concepts are found to be far superior to those which do not. In fact, the newer ABA/VB therapies are far superior to the traditional Lovaas approach in terms of broader language acquisition at much younger ages than were previously thought possible.
A basic concept behind the Verbal Behavior approach is that the meaning of a word is found in its function and not in the word itself. In other words, when therapy doesn’t take into account the function of language, we often end up with a child who may be able to label or identify countless objects but is never able to participate, functionally, in a natural conversational environment. The VB approach has been acclaimed as ‘better’ than ABA alone because language is taught across all functional relations to each word.
There are many different types of programming procedures available to those who need to develop or strengthen behavioral skills. Research has shown that effective ABA programming provides the learner with repeated opportunities to learn and practice skills throughout each day. While such repetition is necessary for skills acquisition, the programming should be presented in such a way that the child ‘learns’ to apply the skill to other everyday situations that would be appropriate and not just to the exact training situation it is presented in.
In the past, most ABA programs implemented for children with Autism, Aspergers Syndrome and related disorders were based on the work published by Ivar Lovaas in the 1980’s. However, researchers studying B.F. Skinner’s work, Analysis of Verbal Behavior, became convinced that ABA practitioners would be more effective at teaching language skills if they would begin to emphasize some important elements in language acquisition that were ignored by the traditional Lovaas-based programs. Basically, new research findings emphasized the need to ignite a child’s motivation to develop a connection between the value of a word and the word itself. Additionally, Verbal Behavior theorists emphasize the concept that learning of expressive language can effectively precede that of receptive language. ABA therapies that integrate these concepts are found to be far superior to those which do not. In fact, the newer ABA/VB therapies are far superior to the traditional Lovaas approach in terms of broader language acquisition at much younger ages than were previously thought possible.
A basic concept behind the Verbal Behavior approach is that the meaning of a word is found in its function and not in the word itself. In other words, when therapy doesn’t take into account the function of language, we often end up with a child who may be able to label or identify countless objects but is never able to participate, functionally, in a natural conversational environment. The VB approach has been acclaimed as ‘better’ than ABA alone because language is taught across all functional relations to each word.
 ® social skills training videos depict natural childhood situations. The video modeling method is proven effective and is considered an evidence-based teaching practice by the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC). |
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