Learning Communication Skills with ABA Therapy

Each child who has autism exhibits signs and symptoms in different ways. This fact is why the term autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was coined a little more than 10 years ago — to describe how the effects of the neurodevelopmental disorder can truly span a wide spectrum.

While every child on the autism spectrum is truly unique, there are some common signs and symptoms that most display and some common challenges that they face.

One major challenge is communication. In fact, deficits in communication — both verbal and nonverbal — end up being the most pronounced autism symptom. This is why improving communication skills, and even teaching the basics of them, is so important.

Early-intervention treatments such as applied behavioral analysis, or ABA therapy, then focus heavily on teaching communication skills. Let’s take a look how this works in practice.

Learn more about the communication struggles of children with autism

Table Of Contents

What is ABA Therapy?

ABA therapy is an evidence- and science-based approach to behavior and learning. It’s considered the gold standard for treatment of autism for many reasons.

For one, ABA therapy is flexible and personalized. Each individual patient has a treatment plan customized to their unique strengths and challenges. The therapy is administered on a one-to-one basis, and it’s also adapted and adjusted over time as the child makes progress toward clearly-stated goals.

Using positive reinforcement and repetition, ABA therapists help to teach children with autism the communication skills that many struggle with. There are many different ways in which this is done, which we’ll dive into further below.

Another major advantage of ABA therapy is that it integrates parents, caregivers and other family members who spend a lot of time with the child. In this way, ABA therapists are able to teach these people the basics of the treatment so that they have the tools to emphasize the lessons that are taught once sessions end.

What Communication Skills Does ABA Therapy Teach?

There are many different forms of communication, and ABA therapy seeks to improve a child’s skills in various ways. A lot of how the therapy itself looks will of course be dependent on the child’s unique needs.

In general, ABA therapy will seek to improve a child’s language and communication skills as they relate to requesting items that they want or need, describing or specifically naming things that they see in their environment, following instructions and other receptive language skills, reading what are known as sight words, appropriately engaging in social communication with their peers, and using alternative communication modes if needed, such as using communication devices or sign language.

In many ways, ABA therapy is an intensive form of what parents teach their children every day. The goal is also the same — to improve language skills so that children can get what they want and need, and communicate with others around them, which in turn will likely decrease challenging behaviors such as tantrums and outbursts.

How Does ABA Therapy Teach Communication Skills?

There are a number of strategies that ABA therapy will follow to teach communication skills.

A core foundation of ABA therapy is positive reinforcement. The theory is that when children with autism get some kind of positive reinforcement and/or reward for exhibiting a desired behavior, they are more likely to repeat that behavior in the future.

For example, if the goal is to get the child to point to a glass of milk and the child successfully does it, the therapist may praise the child and give them some extra time with a toy they love. This same principle can get applied to any communication skill that is being taught.

ABA therapists will often use prompts to help guide patients so they can improve their communication skills. This might include visual prompts such as picture cards that tell the child it’s time to brush their teeth or do some other task.

Over time, as the child is consistently rewarded for achieving the task, the ABA therapist might gradually start removing the prompts — also known as fading them out — which allows the patient to then develop the communication skills independently.

Since communication is much more than only words, ABA therapy will also incorporate training related to social skills. This will help children with autism to communicate appropriately with different people in different social settings.

Some common examples include teaching children how they can initiate a conversation, how they’re supposed to take their turn during a discussion, how they can learn what body language means and so on.

All of these things may seem like second-nature to neurotypical individuals, but can be very challenging for children with autism to understand.

Blue Gems ABA Helps Children Build Communication Skills

Teaching communication skills is a huge part of ABA therapy. It will be a focus of your child’s treatment from the early stages of the therapy and throughout, based on their unique individual needs.

At Blue Gems ABA, our experienced team of BCBAs create customized ABA therapy plans for all of our patients. In this way, we can help them learn the communication skills that they need to live a happy, healthy and fulfilling lives.

To learn more, please contact us today.