THE ABA PILOT PROJECT

The program that is discussed in this paper is the ABA Pilot Project for Autistic Children. Information about this program can be found at: http://www.mfeat.ca/index.htm which is the website for the Manitoba Families for Effective Treatment of Autism (MFEAT), an organization of families in the province of Manitoba, Canada who promote and support treatments proven to be effective for autism and related disorders.

Regarding the ABA Pilot Project for Autistic Children, ABA stands for Applied Behavioral Analysis which, according to Cohen (2002) utilizes both behavioral and social learning principles to remediate several of the symptoms and behaviors associated with autism as well as to teach children new and more desirable behaviors. According to Hamilton (2000) the ABA perspective of autism is based on learning theory and holds that autism is a syndrome of behavioral deficits and excesses that have a neurological basis, but are nonetheless amenable to change in response to specific, carefully programmed, constructive interactions with the environment.

Review of the ABA program reveals several behavioral and social learning theory methods discussed here. First, the program relies heavily on shapingö which involves the delivery of positive reinforcement of behavior already in the repertoire of the child which approximates a desired behavioral goal (e.g. playi

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tered. In more behavioral terms, the discrete trail involves: 1. A discriminative stimulus consisting of the instruction or environmental cue to which the teacher would like the child to respond. 2. The prompting stimulus or cue from the teacher to help the child respond correctly. 3. The response consisting of the skill or behavior that is the target of instruction (or a portion thereof if shaping is being used). 4. The reinforcing stimulus which is a reward designed to motivate the child to respond and respond correctly. 5. The inter-trial interval consisting of a brief pause between consecutive trials. Thus, if a child were being taught play skills, discrete trail learning would be applied many times per day, day after day, until the child mastered the particular skill being taught. The ABA Project applies behavioral and social learning principles and corresponding techniques to the autistic childrenÆs motivation. Children with autism frequently are not as motivated to work as other children, even other groups of exceptional children (Hodgdon, 1999). Using discrete trail learning methods, the Project therefore builds motivation in the child by rewarding performance of desired behaviors with tangible external reinforcement
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Approximate Word count = 1249
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)

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