Is Applied Behavior Analysis best for early Autism Intervention?

Bill was born in a reasonably wealthy and educated family. The stars aligned in the sky perfectly alright, leaving no bad omen for the newborn. But little did the Flores family know about the shocking turn their lives would take in the next few months…

As Kimberley and Ryan – Bill’s mom and dad respectively – geared up to celebrate their son’s first birthday, Bill started showing some behavioral signs that were atypical of other children of the same age. He hardly made eye contacts and mostly gave an expressionless look in social situations. Soon afterwards, Bill almost ceased to coo.

Their family doctor could instantly relate all these symptoms to a developmental delay, most likely autism spectrum disorders, and advised Ryan and Kimberley to immediately consult a pediatrician.

Turned out, the family doctor was right.

At the tender age of 23 months, Bill was diagnosed with autism. Ryan had a friend who worked as a teacher in one of the local special needs schools. As a staunch advocate of applied behavior analysis (ABA), he convinced Bill’s parents to hire an ABA therapist for intense, early intervention.

On closely examining little Bill’s condition, the hired therapist set the learning goals and started delivering 20 hours of applied behavior analysis-based intervention a week. The well-organized intervention quickly reaped big benefits for Bill. His adaptive behavior improved a great deal with intensive applied behavior analysis. Best of all, there was a marked progress in his IQ score at the end of the program.

What was possibly lacking in Bill’s early intervention regime?

An experienced BCBA charges $40 on average for an hour of intervention. The high cost is mainly due to the amount of time and efforts the therapist must put in to understand the learning goals of the child and then to chalk out the most effective intervention plan. Now with an app to assist the therapist, the entire process can speed up considerably. Want to know about a structured autism apps that can be therapist’s best friend? Click here.