APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS
APPLICABLE
What will my child be learning, and how will it apply
to his/her life? Goals and interventions are chosen
based on their social significance to the client and
the family.
Clinical settings give patients opportunities to prac-
tice these situations in mock and contrived environ-
ments. These contrived settings are a great starting
point for many early learners. However, if the skill is
not generalizable in other environments, the effec-
tiveness of a clinical setting diminishes.
Home programming may be a larger help for the ap-
plication of many daily living skills. The learner has
the opportunity to practice these skills in a “real life”
setting or the “natural environment.”
to make sure that the “BATCAGE” of programming
is fulfilled. Both settings can heed great behavioral
change. It is up to us, the consumers, to continue to
push, research, and evaluate the effectiveness of our
children’s programming using the “BATCAGE” as our
starting point.
Works Cited
Baer, D.M., Wolf, M.M., Risley, T.R. (1968). Some
Current Dimensions of Applied Behavior Analy-
sis. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 1, 91-
97. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/
PMC1310980/
Health Insurance Coverage for Autism (2018, Au-
gust) Retrieved from https://www.autismspeaks.
org/health-insurance-coverage-autism,
GENERALIZATION
Generalization refers to behavior when it occurs out-
side its learning environment. It is one of the most
important parts of ABA therapy.
Will a home or clinical program generalize across set-
tings, people, and time? A good program, whether
in the home or in the clinic, should always be pro-
grammed for generalization. Generalization teaches
the learner how to access reinforcement within his/
her environment. Home programming should en-
compass all aspects of instruction, including access
to the community. Clinical programming should
overlap within the home and community for gener-
alization purposes.
EFFECTIVENESS
How will I know if the programming is working? The ef-
fectiveness of ABA programs are measurable (data,
data, data!). Honestly, for a program to be effective,
behaviors that are being targeted for increase or de-
crease should show behavior change.
Behaviors that learners engage in should show im-
provement to an “effective” degree. Home program-
ming may address the most needful behaviors that
occur in the home and affect family life. Clinical set-
tings may only be able to address behaviors that are
seen in that setting.
ABA: Home or clinical setting? What is the right choice
for me? Whichever setting you choose, it is important
64 | Autism Parenting Magazine | Issue 87
Vanessa Beibide-Zanetich (aka
The Special Education Teacher) is
a board certified behavior analyst
with a master’s degree in special
education and a graduate certifi-
cate in behavioral studies in au-
tism. She has worked with children
as a teacher for over 15 years in
general education and in special education settings.
Ten of those years she spent serving as a teacher for
students with autism, delivering ABA services, spe-
cifically verbal behavior, and discrete trial train-
ing. For the last three years, Vanessa has been work-
ing as a BCBA, supervising home services, delivering
parent training services and social skill programs,
and consulting in schools. Vanessa has experience in
assessing for relevant skills and creating programs
using tools such as the ABBLS-R, VB-MAPP, AFLS, and
Vineland 3. Currently, Vanessa creates and supervis-
es in-home ABA-based programming focusing on
skill acquisition and socially relevant skill instruc-
tion. She consults in schools focusing on socially ap-
propriate behaviors, data-driven instruction, and
ABA programming. She trains and consults with
teachers using evidence-based instruction. Vanessa
is the clinical director and owner of The Special Edu-
cation Teacher LLC.
Website: www.thespecialeducationteacher.com
Facebook: @thespecialT