Follow the Research

Extensive research has shown that children with autism do not readily learn from typical environments. However, they can learn from instruction based on the principles of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and B.F. Skinner’s Analysis of Verbal Behavior (VB). In order to be effective and result in educational benefit, the instruction must:

1. be designed and regularly updated by consultants with extensive training and experience in the ABA/VB principles and their application to children with autism.

2. be administered by teachers and teaching assistants (paraeducators) trained in these programs and teaching procedures by these consultants. The teaching procedures and programming must be regularly shaped and modified by the consultants in order to accommodate the child's instructional/program needs as new skills are acquired.

3. involve programs across the verbal operants and other skills in both discrete trial learning (DTL) and natural environment teaching (NET).

4. involve large numbers of trials per day/week. This can only be achieved by intensive (30-40 hrs/wk) of one-on-one instruction.

A recent report from the Surgeon General endorsed this manner of instruction, noting that “Thirty years of research demonstrated the efficacy of applied behavioral methods in reducing inappropriate behavior and increasing communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior.”