Fredericksburg Parent

16 Fredericksburg Parent and Family • April 2022 Ask the Expert a sk t h e e x p e rt WRITTEN BY EMILY FREEHLING Managing and guiding behaviors is one of the primary tasks of parenting. For parents of chil- dren with autism spectrum disorder, this task can sometimes feel impossibly difficult. Whether it's a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store, or a breakdown in performing daily actions like greeting classmates, many children on the autism spectrum learn to use behaviors to communicate their wants and needs when they are unable to do so through more typical social actions. Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is a scientifically validated therapy that helps children to replace behaviors that may be disruptive or unsafe with more positive modes of communication. Compass Counseling Services is a behavioral health agency that has been serving children and families through- out Virginia since 2004. Compass provides home- based ABA services to children under 21 who demonstrate significant impairment in adaptive functioning that is related to either developmen- tal delays or other health conditions. Lucia Morey is a board-certified behavior analyst for Compass who offers services in both English and Spanish. As our April Expert, Lucia and the Compass team talk about how ABA works, and how families can benefit from the therapeutic tools Compass offers. Q: Why is behavior at the center of your work? Behavior is communication. Our goal with ABA is to help children build communication skills that can replace the behaviors we want to see reduced. This looks different for every family and every age group. With very young children who can't talk, we can work on skills like how to get dressed, how to ask questions, how to ask for what they want (whether verbally or through another communication method) or how to sit still for a minute or two and work on a problem. We also work with older children up to age 21. For this age group, we have worked on everything from writing a resume or an e-mail, to applying for a job, ordering food, having appropriate conversational exchanges with a peer, going to the grocery store—the range of what we work on is pretty wide. Q: How are parents involved in therapy? The parent is the backbone of our services. Outside of therapy sessions, the parent is going to be the one maintaining the consistency of what we have taught. It really has to be a team effort. We are teaching children to communicate their needs, and successful communication requires not only a communicator, but also a listener who speaks the same language. For children with autism, this looks different for every family. We have parents come into the sessions and practice the skills with the clinicians. For example, if a child is not able to speak vocally, we may have them learn to use cards to communicate what they want. For this it is super important for the parents to be present so that the child learns that they can use these cards with the parent, as well. We really want the child to learn to initiate communication, and to express what they want on their own. So clinicians help parents avoid stepping in to cue the child in ways they may not be aware of. Counseling Services Board Certified Behavior Analysts help children learn important communication and life skills.

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