Is ABA Therapy Helpful for Autistic Teens Navigating Puberty?

Navigating puberty is not easy for most teens. It’s a time of transformation, both physically and mentally, and all this is happening at a time when their school life and social circles are often changing.

Middle school and early high school can seem like a whole new world from elementary school, and many new groups of teenagers often come together to merge school environments at this time, too.

It’s no wonder that teens often display emotions and behaviors that they haven’t before, and some can struggle through this time in life.

Puberty provides extra challenges to teens with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who may already be facing difficulties with social interactions, communication, schooling, daily living and more.

Yet, applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy) is a tried-and-true treatment that can provide teens with autism a structured way to better navigate the challenges of puberty.

Below, we’ll discuss some of the ways that this is done.

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Personalized Approach

While everybody experiences changes during puberty, not everyone’s changes are the same. This means that a personalized approach is really what works best if you want to provide effective support for a teen navigating puberty.

ABA therapy is always personalized to the patient’s unique strengths, challenges and preferences, no matter what the target skill or behavior is. Through observations and discussions with the patient and their family, therapists can create customized treatment plans that will cater to each individual patient.

This helps children with autism more effectively navigate the specific puberty challenges that they are facing.

Communication and Social Interaction Building Blocks

Deficits with communication and social interactions are two of the hallmark symptoms of autism. Unfortunately, those skills are also essential for teens to have if they want to “fit in” and establish and maintain meaningful relationships.

ABA therapy can help children and teens with ASD form the building blocks of these two crucial skills in many different ways. Depending on the specific deficits and needs of the child, the therapy team will craft a treatment plan that helps them build their communication and social interaction skills.

This might include using social stories and visual aids to help patients express their feelings and/or learn how to initiate conversations and have back-and-forth dialogue. It might also include teaching teens with autism how to better identify and interpret non-verbal cues such as body language, sarcasm and facial expressions — all things that they’re likely going to be exposed to even more as teens.

These skills will serve as the building blocks for their success in both social situations, school environments and future workplaces.

Overcoming Anxiety with Positive Reinforcement

Along with a surge of hormones during puberty also often comes feelings of worry, concern and anxiety. This is common in all teens, regardless of their developmental abilities.

Many teens with autism already struggle with anxiety and feelings of being overwhelmed due to their neurodevelopmental disorder. This could be because of sensory sensitivities they have or just general anxiety they feel in new situations or with new people.

ABA therapy can help teens with autism overcome their fears and better manage their anxieties so they can be more comfortable in the situations they’re likely to encounter. By using positive reinforcement, for example, therapists can help teens with ASD learn how to initiate conversations with others.

They can role play meeting other teens and how they might react to different situations in school. Building adaptive skills such as these will help teens with autism make friends and also participate in some group activities with much more confidence.

Blue Gems ABA Supports Teens with Autism

Puberty is a challenging time for any teen, but especially so for teens on the autism spectrum. The feelings of anxiety and fear they may already have only get heightened as teens navigate puberty.

At Blue Gems ABA, our team of experienced therapists helps support teens with autism by crafting personalized treatment plans that specifically address whatever challenges and deficits they face. We also take into consideration each patient’s strengths and preferences so that we can design a therapy plan that’s right for them.

To learn more, please contact us today.