ABA/VB

Applied Beha­vior Analysis/Verbal Behavior

The dream of inde­pen­dent living can become reality
How I work with ABA/VB

Applied beha­vior analysis, also known as ABA, is the applied branch of a science called beha­vior analysis. It includes nume­rous methods to achieve signi­fi­cant and posi­tive beha­vi­oral changes. This approach is based on beha­vi­oral and moti­va­tional prin­ci­ples. VB means verbal behavior.

I have been working very successfully with ABA/VB (applied beha­vior analysis and verbal beha­vior) for many years. At the end of the day, this is simply good teaching. ABA/VB was not speci­fi­cally desi­gned for children with autism. All children can benefit. 

Wow – thanks to ABA/VB, I expe­ri­ence enormous spurts of deve­lo­p­ment in fami­lies with children with autism!

If the prin­ci­ples of applied beha­vior analysis are used correctly, the full poten­tial of the child or the adult may be evoked. This is a great support in ever­yday life and has an impact on social life as a whole.

Scien­tific studies on ABA, conducted inten­si­vely since the early 1960s, prove that ABA has lasting posi­tive effects. Some children have deve­loped beha­viors over time that endanger them or others. Such beha­viors severely limit their ability to self-deter­mine and parti­ci­pate. The goal is to iden­tify the causes and circum­s­tances for the occur­rence of these beha­viors and to empower the child to resort to alter­na­tive and safe behaviors.

Rese­arch in ABA/VB shows that a high percen­tage of children diagnosed with autism or similar deve­lo­p­mental delays can make great progress with inten­sive instruc­tion. This shows that ABA/VB support can help children close or compen­sate for deve­lo­p­mental gaps and increase commu­ni­ca­tive skills. In our view, every child can benefit from ABA/VB support and achieve indi­vi­dual goals.

The dream of independent living can become reality

Rese­arch in ABA/VB shows that a high percen­tage of children diagnosed with autism or similar deve­lo­p­mental delays can make great progress with inten­sive teaching. Some children with autism spec­trum disorder are able to live a fulfil­ling life on their own. Without inten­sive teaching with ABA/VB, children on the autistic spec­trum often need cost-inten­sive services later as adults, such as living in group homes or institutions.

Mean­while, there are many children who have made progress with ABA/VB where doctors would no longer give the diagnosis of autism spec­trum disorder any longer. This shows that the use of ABA/VB’s prin­ci­ples helps children to make up for their defi­cits, even in the lingu­i­stic field.

Ulti­m­ately, the children are given the ability and desire to learn and achieve good results. Even if some children do not achieve the “best possible result” with age-appro­priate deve­lo­p­ment in all areas, quite all children benefit from inten­sive ABA/VB programs.

How I work with ABA/VB

My aim is to support indi­vi­duals dealing with people with autism and similar deve­lo­p­mental delays. I show them how to use methods accor­ding to trauma-informed and trauma-assumed ABA/VB to support the child to expand his compe­tences and to be able to lead a life as self-deter­mined as possible.

And here is how I proceed:

What does the child need?

  • First, I assess the child’s indi­vi­dual needs and abilities.
  • Then I analyze how commu­ni­ca­tion can be built and supported.
  • The main focus lays on social inter­ac­tion, maste­ring ever­yday situa­tions, promo­ting self-reliance. 
    • In concrete terms, this means: to go shop­ping, cut finger­nails, cut hair, build and main­tain friend­ships, express one’s needs and desires.
    • To over­come diffi­culty slee­ping and alle­via­ting stress in food situations.
    • To master toile­ting, lear­ning to get dressed.
    • To set boun­da­ries appropriately.
    • To reco­gnize and deal with one’s own feelings and the feelings of others.
    • To streng­then the rela­ti­onship between parents and children, children and siblings, peers and other caregivers.
  • I create an envi­ron­ment where lear­ning success is possible.

I also create indi­vi­dual lear­ning programs, which provide several small lear­ning units.

All beginnings are difficult

  • We go through ever­yday life toge­ther and shed light on every situa­tion that is diffi­cult for the family.
  • I approach each family individually.

A lot of variety is important

  • In buil­ding new skills, I use the highest to the lowest assis­tance with the aim of fading this assis­tance in the near future. This prin­ciple is called “promp­ting and fading” (error-free learning)
  • During my visits at the family’s home, my aim is to support the children to respond quickly. That’s fun and this way they stay engaged

Above all, however, I am inte­rested in helping parents (and all care­gi­vers) to master ever­yday life with more ease.

The parents know their child best. With ABA, I open a new door for them.

The key to success is motivation

  • My basic assump­tion is that every child wants to learn, and every child can learn. The reasons why lear­ning is not always successful can be very diffe­rent. My goal is to find this out toge­ther and create optimal condi­tions for learning.

    The prere­qui­site for lear­ning is moti­va­tion. To this end, it is important for me to learn about the child’s unique inte­rests, explore them toge­ther, and learn from them.

    A posi­tive rela­ti­onship with my clients is the foun­da­tion of my work.

    It is important to me to respect and engage with the indi­vi­dual inte­rests of both parent and child.

    The most important goal of my consul­ta­tions is that we create and expe­ri­ence shared atten­tion, the heart connec­tion of parent and child with joy in a safe envi­ron­ment and build new skills and abili­ties on this basis.

Strengthen connections

  • In my teaching, I moti­vate children with favo­rite acti­vi­ties and items.
  • An important part of my work is the so-called “pairing”. A person or action is asso­ciated with favo­rite items and acti­vi­ties, combined with posi­tive feed­back, so that we are expe­ri­en­cing joint atten­tion and happi­ness, and are enjoying our time and laug­hing together.
  • This allows the child’s inte­rest to be built up.
  • It streng­thens the connec­tion in rela­ti­onships with other people.

The children I work with get a lot of posi­tive feed­back from me and we have fun lear­ning. At the same time, I collect data so that I can ensure that my lear­ning programs show progress and lead to desired outcome.

Taking all these points into account is the basis for good lear­ning with ABA/VB.

ABA/VB Info DVD

Videos about autism and teaching with ABA / VB .

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