The moment your child receives a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD), it can feel like the world has come crashing down on you. And though ASD is pretty common in the US, as 1 in 44 children receive the diagnosis, according to a 2021 Centers for Disease Control report, it still comes as disbelief that your child has it, right?
It’s definitely a tough pill to swallow for many parents. What’s even harder is getting a full understanding of treatment, what the treatments do, and the terminology used. This is a normal frustration for almost every parent of a child with autism. Whether your child just received an ASD diagnosis or you’re looking to get your child started with ABA Therapy (applied behavior analysis), the terminology used can sound like a foreign language to you.
As you embark on a new journey as a family, the best way to have a better understanding of your child’s diagnosis and treatment plan is to get a little more familiar with autism and the terms you’ll likely hear often throughout treatment. But before we get into terminology, let’s start with the basics first.
What is Autism? What is ABA Therapy?
Autism is a developmental disorder that largely affects an individual’s behavior and communication. The disorder is categorized as a developmental disorder because the symptoms of autism usually appear during a child’s most developmental years, which are years one and two.
ABA therapy is a form of evidence-based therapy specifically designed to help individuals with autism improve language and communication skills, decrease problematic behaviors, and improve attention, memory, social skills, and academics.
For a child with an ASD diagnosis, treatment from an ABA Therapy Center is imperative, and the sooner therapy starts after the initial diagnosis, the sooner your child can start implementing their learned skills and start applying them in real-world applications.
Getting to Know ABA and Autism Terminology
Below, you’ll find a list of the top 10 terms used in ABA therapy and a brief description of what each term means.
- Antecedent
The events, actions, or circumstances that happen before a behavior. The ability to recognize and observe this is what will help you better understand your child’s behaviors.
- Behavior
A behavior is an action that can be observed and measured; It’s what happens after an antecedent.
- Consequence
A consequence is anything that happens directly after a behavior, and it can be good or bad.
- Mand
Mand is a request to fulfill a want or need. Alternatively, it’s also a request to put an end to something undesirable.
- Pairing
The act of building rapport with a child by ‘pairing’ a child’s learning environment and parent with a child’s favorite items or activities to help the therapist become a ‘giver of good things.’
- Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement is a type of intervention that will increase a targeted behavior. For example, a child is given praise for finishing their homework.
- Functional Behavior Assessment
A process used to identify problem behaviors in a child and develop interventions to improve or potentially eliminate those problematic behaviors. The process goes in the order of gathering information, direct observations, and creating an action plan.
- Functional Communication
A form of treatment after an effective and thorough assessment that involves providing a child with a different way to communicate that doesn’t involve the negative behaviors associated with the frustration of their inability to communicate.
- Tact
Tact is an expressive label for verbal behavior where the speaker tastes, sights, smells, and hears something and then comments or describes it.
- Behavior Intervention Plan
The behavior intervention plan is a treatment plan that takes the results from the Functional Behavior Assessment to devise a plan of action for the child to improve behaviors in certain areas.
These are just a few terms you’ll likely hear; there are, of course, many more terms used but the 10 listed above are the basics to get you started in understanding the lifelong journey of autism. Understand that if at any point your therapists talk about something you don’t understand, don’t be afraid to stop them and ask them to explain something.
The More You Know
The more you know about autism and ABA therapy, especially the terms most commonly used in your child’s treatment, the better understanding you’ll have of what exactly is going on, how your child is progressing, and whether adjustments need to be made to their current treatment. Remember, this is just as much of a new life journey for you, the parent, as it is for your child, and educating yourself more on your child’s ASD diagnosis will make the journey a lot less bumpy.
