Почему именно АВА терапия?
Today, one of the most effective methods of correcting autism is behavioral therapy or the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) method. ABA therapy is an intensive training program that is based on behavioral technologies and teaching methods.
ABA as a scientific discipline studies the influence of factors in the environment on behavior and manipulates these factors to change human behavior.
The ABA method for working with children with autism was first used by Dr. Ivar Lovaas and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles in 1963. It was based on the idea that any behavior entails some consequences, and if the child likes the consequences, he will repeat this behavior, and if he does not like it, then he will not.
With this approach, all complex skills, including speech, creative play, the ability to look in the eyes, and others, are broken down into small blocks - actions. Each action is learned separately with the child, then the actions are combined into a chain, forming a complex action. The adult does not try to give initiative to the child, but rather rigidly controls his activities. Correct actions are consolidated to the point of automatism, wrong ones are strictly suppressed. Hints and stimuli, both positive and negative, are used to achieve the desired behavior.
A fixed skill is considered only when the child can perform this action without errors in 80 percent of situations, regardless of the atmosphere in which the task was given and by whom.
In the framework of the ABA training program, the child is always a follower, his freedom and initiative are limited by the choice of the teaching adult. An individual step-by-step development plan is drawn up for each child. A child can simultaneously master two or three unrelated skills, the teacher builds up a clear system of complication and gradual mastering of more and more new skills.
The ultimate goal of ABA is to give the child the means to explore the world around him on his own.