Applied Behavior Analysis

What is Applied Behavior Analysis?

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a science of human behavior that applies evidence-based practice to real-life contexts and settings with the goal of teaching, improving, or changing socially significant behavior (e.g., teaching new skills while decreasing maladaptive behavior).

What is ABA therapy?

ABA therapy typically involves applying empirically supported interventions used to address concerns associated with deficits in communication, daily living skills, social skills, or other behavioral concerns (e.g., food refusal, aggression, disruptive behavior, self-injury). This means that the interventions and the principles on which they are based have been proven to work, that the results have been reviewed and published within the scientific community, and that their findings can be or have been replicated among others. Research has shown ABA therapy to be effective in infants, children, adolescents, and adults, both with and without developmental and intellectual disabilities.

ABA therapy and interventions typically include all of the following:

• objective and reliable measurement of behavior
• interventions and results that are replicable
• well-established experimental designs that allow for objective evaluation of intervention outcomes
• effective and durable treatments