According to a well-researched document on familiarity by Maxime Felder [2021], people tend to behave naturally in familiar places because they feel comfortable in that environment. They will act as they would normally, and nothing will be forced when it comes to their interactions, engagements, attitude, and behavior. The person of interest behaving naturally is of utmost importance for therapies. Suppose the individual doesn’t feel comfortable and instead feels restless, insecure, and vulnerable. In that case, the therapy outcome will be unproductive since they won’t be able to communicate their emotions and feelings honestly and clearly.
If some adults can get uncomfortable and insecure in an unfamiliar room or environment, think about how some of the children and young adults will react. Surely, they will behave in a much more disastrous manner and render the therapy session absolutely useless. To counter this issue, the behavior analyst professionals introduced a new program called ‘In-Home ABA Therapy’. If the children and young adults don’t wish to come to the ABA therapy sessions, why not just bring the therapy to them?!
In-Home ABA Therapy is a program that ensures the success of the therapy sessions because the treatment is provided to the individual in an environment they are extremely familiar with. Therefore, they are entirely comfortable and relaxed for the therapy session. Since this type of ABA Therapy is done at home, some parents have tried to provide the therapy to the child themselves; however, almost all of them made no progress. Autism isn’t easy to deal with and should only be treated either by professionals or under their supervision.
Here are some of the examples of In-Home Therapies:
1 – Play Therapy: Teaching and learning through the process of playing and doing fun activities. The main objective of play therapy is to allow the professional behavior analyst to construct communication skills and social interactions so that the child can successfully engage in novel activities in the long run.
2 – Speech Therapy: This is a more complex type of therapy where certain areas of speech and communication are tapped when conversing with the child to develop talking skills. This program is specifically designed for experienced professionals to converse with autistic children and create a strong bond between them.
3 – Applied Behavior Analysis [ABA]
Applied Behavior Analysis or ABA is considered the gold standard of therapy to handle Autism symptoms. This program allows the professional therapists to set specific and measurable goals and objectives that allow the process of teaching skills to go smoothly.
Choose the skill to teach the child and break it down into simple steps. Start by displaying the first step to the child and if the child can repeat it successfully, then make sure to praise them for doing a good job. If not, be gentle and ask them politely to repeat the step they were just shown. Once the child has learned the first step, move on to the second. Visual aids can help the child link the steps together correctly.
4 – Floor time: The Floor time therapy program is pretty similar to the play therapy, but it is built around the ideology that the professional therapist should try to increase the communication between them and the child. The Floor time therapy techniques allow the therapist to encourage the child to take an active part in back and forth verbal and non-verbal interactions and communication so that the child can begin to learn the appropriate way to talk and engage with others.
5 – RDI. Relationship Development Intervention: This therapeutic technique is specifically developed for the therapist and the child’s parents. It effectively uses developmental theories and aids the therapist in helping the child build communication and social skills. But this program creates goals, objectives, and activities that help the child learn and grow more systematically and measurably.
6 – Parent Child Interaction Therapy: A significant minority of individuals with autism, especially children, observe aggressive behaviors that make it challenging to take part in social activities or leave home. This program helps the therapist and parents to create a strong and secure attachment to the child which serves as the foundation for creating effective limits to the aggressive behaviors the child is allowed to demonstrate.
Help Your Child Fight Autism
I PEEP BXS is a professional organization dedicated to helping children and young adults fight against Autism Spectrum Disorder. Professionals leading this therapeutic institution are Board-Certified Behavior Analysts with years of experience in helping individuals overcome their Autism and lead happy lives, filled with quality and opportunities. If your child or teenager shows any symptoms of developmental disability, do not hesitate to get them the professional help they immediately need. The help they can get at I PEEP BXS. We look forward to welcoming your child or teenager into our sanctuary dedicated to fighting autism.
