ABA – The Strengths of Having a Collaborative, Multi-Disciplinary Team
Why is ABA more effective when combined with other disciplines? Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) Therapy works on a variety of areas with a child, from language, to feeding, to transitions, to self help skills, the list goes on and on! The speech pathologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists that may also be on your child’s team are the experts in their respective areas.
The More Experts, The Merrier!
The ABA therapists are the experts in behaviors, motivations and positive reinforcements! Now imagine this team sharing information between each other to go from a few hours per week of speech recommendations to 20 hours a week of speech implementation! Or a sensory diet that the OT has laid out that can happen with your child’s participation every day throughout their ABA sessions! Or a behavior plan that helps their physical therapist positively motivate your child to participate in engaging physical activities! The list of benefits, cross over and collaborative opportunities could go on forever!
Having a cohesive therapy team is an imperative component to a child’s overall success. When beginning Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy, an effective BCBA always looks to the other disciplines for collaboration and maintains that collaborative relationship and communication throughout your child’s care. By collaborating with your child’s other therapists, the BCBA is able to gain more information around a child’s potential deficits and current skill set.
Consistent Expectations
ABA teaches a variety of skills and behavior interventions that pull from the expertise of each separate discipline your child may be receiving. When the BCBA has the ability to work with a core team, it allows for carryover of implementation of skills across disciplines and consistency of interventions for the child. In a word, your child has consistent expectations across each therapist they work with!
One of the most important factors of ABA therapy is consistency, which also helps with generalization of skills across all environments and those individuals your child interacts with. When working with a Center where all disciplines are available, it allows for constant consistency and generalization to take place.
Additional Benefits
Here are some additional benefit examples of ABA therapy combined with other disciplines:
- Carryover of appropriate communication can occur, when the BCBA and Speech Pathologist (SLP) work together to create a plan. For example, the SLP can provide what sounds are suitable to target within the ABA session.
- The BCBA can provide behavioral support to the other disciplines if the child is engaging in escape or attention seeking behaviors.
- The occupational therapist can provide a sensory diet that can be conducted during the child’s ABA therapy sessions.
- The occupational and speech therapist can collaborate with the BCBA to create an effective feeding plan for picky eaters.
- The physical therapist can work with the BCBA to determine appropriate gross motor techniques to engage in throughout the day.
These are just a few examples of the power of ABA combined with other therapies that your child may engage in.
ABA Therapy at CPTWC
At CPTWC, we pride ourselves on creating strong therapy teams for each client that we serve. Collaboration is a core value that we take very seriously within the organization. We give our therapists scheduled planning time every week to meet, collaborate and plan so that your child’s sessions are maximizing their fullest potential!
There is a clear difference in having a team “under one roof” vs. having a team that “is attempting to get in touch with each other over the phone.” See for yourself! Give us a call today at 773-687-9241 to schedule an assessment or to receive information about our amazing team of pediatric specialists!