Today's quote is from...me! From a recent podcast interview with Dr. Mary Barbera:
"Good ABA start with parents. So, for any parent or caregiver, if you are trying to determine a quality place for your child to receive ABA services, you really have to start by looking at what's the goal of intervention. I really feel like that's like the foundational first step, because if you are speaking with a company or a provider and they're talking about: 'We're going to fix this, we're going to correct blank, we're going to make your child more.../ We're going to remove stigma', and other words like that, all of those words are getting at normalization. Which should not be the goal. The goal should not be to magically make it as if your child were born differently. The goal should be to give the client as many supports as needed to contact the things they to need to contact in life. For example, letting people know when you want food, using the bathroom, attending school, etc., because in certain parts of the world children with disabilities don't attend school. So, we really have to look at what this means for the client and removing barriers to being able to do different things in their life. And then we address each barrier one by one. That should be the goal of ABA. 'We're going to help your child do _____/We're going to make it easier for your child to do ____". That should be the kind of language that is being said by a provider, or by a company. It should be very, very concerning when you are contacting an ABA provider saying you need help and that provider is instead telling you, 'Here's what we're going to do', and they're not listening to you and they're not taking your input and they're just saying, 'Oh, yeah, yeah, we know what to do. We know autistic kids. Here's the standard protocol. Here's the strategy'. No, that is not how that should work. Absolutely not."
Good ABA services are a must for some people. Yes, people. Not just small children.
It can be a must for disabilities beyond Autism.
It can be a must inside of the classroom.
It can be a must in adult day programs and residential settings.
It can be a must when harmful, destructive, violent problem behaviors are serving as a barrier to least restrictive settings and placements.
ABA intervention at its core, is about teaching new skills and removing barriers that get in the way of learning and being successful in life. NOT a push for normalization.
Quality intervention that is generalized across caregivers and settings, can bring about amazing long-term success and developmental gains.
Take a listen HERE for more tips on distinguishing between good & bad ABA providers.
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