ABA therapists seek to teach new skills and modify behaviors that are interfering with learning or quality of life. There are many therapeutic techniques used in ABA. We’ll review some of the most common therapy techniques that you may encounter, to give you some familiarity with the term and how you may observe it applied in your child’s therapy sessions.

Each child’s treatment is individualized though, so it’s important to note that not every child’s therapy program will utilize each of these techniques.

If you have questions about the particular ABA therapy techniques used in your child’s treatment, it’s best to consult their BCBA or case supervisor.

#1. Positive reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is at the core of behavior analysis. We use positive reinforcement to increase socially significant behaviors such as adaptive communication skills, self-help skills, and more. Positive reinforcement occurs when something is added following a specific behavior, resulting in an increase in that behavior moving forward. Positive reinforcement may be used in ABA therapy for any skill that we want to see occurring more often.

Positive reinforcement is the process of adding an item or stimulus following a particular behavior, resulting in an increased likelihood of that behavior in the future. A reinforcer can technically be anything-any stimulus or environmental change. Positive reinforcement may occur through social attention or interaction, via access to a tangible item, or through sensory experiences. Everyone is motivated by different things, so reinforcers are highly individualized.

Consider this example of positive reinforcement, for a child who is motivated by attention and praise. Imagine this child is working with their behavior technician on independent dressing skills. The behavior tech is teaching the child to zip their coat. Through assistive prompts, the child is able to engage the zipper and zip it up. The behavior technician immediately begins praising the child and giving high-5s. They might say “wow, you zipped your coat. Awesome job!” If this added stimulus immediately following the behavior (praise and a high-5s) results in an increase in the future occurrences of zipping, then the behavior was positively reinforced.

It is important to note that positive reinforcement is not simply providing access to “good things”. Providing praise or tangible items may or may not result in the child demonstrating that skill more often. In order to be considered positive reinforcement, it must result in an increase in the behavior of interest.