Thankfully, there are many types of ways of ensuring that all people can have the help they need and live the life they want and deserve.
Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy is one such example: This type of therapy can truly help a wide range of people in a variety of circumstances, including everything from people who are on the autism spectrum to individuals in the business and education sectors.
However, despite its use, many people still don’t fully understand just how this therapy works.
What is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy?
ABA Therapy is a specific type of therapy that takes what we know about behavior and applies it to real-world situations. The goal of this type of therapy is to increase helpful, social, and useful behaviors while decreasing ones that are less desirable and more problematic.
Compared to other forms of therapy, Applied Behavior Analysis is relatively new, having only been practiced since the 1960s. However, in that time, its popularity has exploded, with the therapy being used in a wide array of areas.
Where Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy Helps People
The most popular use of Applied Behavioral Analysis has been in individuals with autism. As noted by a variety of autism experts, Applied Behavior Analysis can help to teach individuals with autism about behaviors and apply those behaviors to the real world.
ABA is a highly flexible and adaptive therapy and can be taught in a variety of settings, either institutional or personal. As a result, individuals with autism have benefitted extensively from the program.
However, this is not the only spot where Applied Behavioral Analysis can be extremely impactful. It can be applied to a wide variety of other disorders, including Traumatic Brain Injury, eating disorders, dementia, substance use disorder, and more.
Furthermore, Applied Behavioral Analysis can also be used in a business setting, helping to create better incentives for appropriate and desirable behavior at work.
Techniques Used in Applied Behavior Analysis
With Applied Behavioral Analysis, individuals are taught the “ABCs” of behavior:
- An antecedent, meaning what leads up to a behavior. This is usually what inspires the behavior itself.
- A behavior, meaning a specific response – or lack of response – to an antecedent.
- A consequence, meaning the result of a behavior.
By concentrating on the ABCs of behavior, individuals are taught to recognize what leads to certain behaviors and the consequences therein. As a result, they are taught to modify their behavior in order to target desirable consequences.
Situations are practiced in order to help people better recognize these ABCs. By breaking down behavior into these discrete blocks, individuals are often taught to better recognize when certain situations are occurring and how to modify their behavior.
As you can see, Applied Behavioral Analysis is a very popular and useful field that can be applied to a wide array of scenarios. This helps to explain why so many high-quality programs – like Applied Behavior Analysts – have worked to teach others how to become certified ABA professionals. To find out more about Applied Behavioral Analysis, you can check out sites like AppliedBehaviorAnalysisEdu.org.
