ABA Therapy: Everything You Need to Know

Do you know that about 4.5% of children have failed to enjoy the true colors of life because of autism spectrum disorder? It affects their ability to learn, grow, communicate, and interact with people. However, ABA therapy in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other states of the UAE can greatly help parents to bring changes in the life of their children and help them to cope with autism and other psychological disorders.  

Though ABA therapy is not able to cure or treat autism completely, it can minimize its side effects and help children to enjoy their life just like normal individuals. The reason is that it helps children to learn different skills that are crucial to perform different life activities.

What is ABA Therapy?

This treatment is used to treat children with autism disorder and focuses on positive reinforcement. From learning behaviors to crucial life skills and practicing social behaviors to correcting postures it covers each aspect to promote a normal lifestyle in children with autism. It also involves parents, siblings, and even teachers of the victim to ensure positive results. 

ABA therapy used different treatments and techniques to treat different types of children. The reason is that different children behave and respond differently to the same treatment. It can be performed at home, school, and outside or in the community. However, a credible and professional team is crucial to get desired results within a short duration. 

Types of ABA Therapy 

Various types of ABA therapy are popular among child psychologists to treat different types of children suffering from autism. Depending on the treatment method and types of patient’s age group, ABA therapy is categorized into the following categories 

1. Comprehensive ABA Therapy 

This type of treatment is performed under the guidance of a professional team that covers all essential skills and behaviors that are crucial to living a normal life. Therapists spend several hours with the children and help them to adopt different behaviors. They also involve children’s parents, teachers, and other individuals linked to children. 

1. Focused ABA Therapy 

As indicated by the name this type of therapy focuses on a particular deficiency or affected area. It provides all types of training and learning opportunities to children and helps them to overcome or at least minimize such particular deficiencies. 

Therapists are specialized in a particular field or skill and children have to go through different kinds of focused therapy to learn each skill individually. 

1. Early Start Denver Model 

Based on applied behavioral analysis this treatment is best for children of age 12 to 48 months. In this treatment,t therapists use different kinds of playing activities and help children to learn a behavior, a skill, or a word by repeating the same process. 

1. Discrete Trial Training 

This treatment is best for children who are slow in adopting and learning behaviors. It involves the breaking down of a skill into smaller steps like the antecedent, the behavior, and the conclusion. Therapists repeated the process multiple times and rewarded the children to show the same.

Uses of ABA Therapy

The main purpose of using ABA therapy is to promote skills development and learning behavior in children who are mentally weak or going through some kind of mental disorder. It is also used to prepare children for schooling. 

Some major fields in which ABA therapy can help are listed below;

• Reduce the effect of autism spectrum disorder 
• Treatment of anxiety and depression disorders 
• ADHD or hyperactivity disorder 
• Post-traumatic syndrome in children 
• Borderline personality disorder 
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder 

Benefits of ABA Therapy 

ABA therapy is one of the top-ranked and widely used treatments to cope with psychological disorders in children. It can be proven beneficial in the following ways; 

• It helps children to learn behaviors 
• Promote developmental growth in children 
• Enable mentally disabled children to respond and interact like normal individuals 
• Helps parents to prepare children for schooling 
• Guide children to learn the right posture and use different organs 
• Normalize the imbalance in sleeping and eating behavior 
• Effective for promoting social, cognitive, lingual, and  reading skills 

In A Nutshell 

To sum it up, ABA therapy is an effective treatment to help children with skills development and behaviors learning at different stages of their life. It’s more suitable for children suffering from ASD or any other kind of mental disorder. However, parents and school staff cooperation with the therapist or ABA team is crucial to ensure desired results.