Parenting is a tough job, and this is especially true for parents of children with Autism or Aspergers Syndrome. My personal experiences working with Autistic or Aspergic children were extremely rewarding, but challenging and at times draining – and this was only for 12-15 hours a week.

As a university student, I worked with a joyful, imaginative and fun young lady who would become distressed by changes in the weather or her routine. She would get ‘stuck’ asking repetitive questions over and over about time. Together, we managed to ease her anxiety over time through the use of pictures. Children with autism often have difficulty adapting to changes in routine and expressing themselves effectively. Before we began using pictures, this poor teenager would suffer melt-downs and occasionally slap or push. She would feel devastated afterwards. I was amazed as this behaviour became less and less frequent with the use of images (when a child is shown and uses images of routines, transitions can be easier as the child can see what is happening now and what happens next).

Another young boy I home schooled had an eccentric and affectionate character as well as an unusual sense of humour. He loved deep hand or back massages and working with his hands (eg rolling clay or dough) seemed to soothe and focus him. I never experienced behaviour issues, but his parents (who were incredibly supportive, loving and strong people) were concerned that when he became upset they needed to physically restrain him for hours until he calmed down.

Several 3 and 4 year olds that I worked were inclined to ‘bolt,’ running out into the street or trying to jump out of moving cars. These situations are incredibly stressful for carers. Parents of children on the Autism spectrum require and deserve a great deal of community support.

Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) is a field of study examining the relationship between the environment and behaviour. ABA is an approach to change behaviour by either increasing desirable skills or decreasing undesirable ones. ABA describes the intervention for behaviour change and measures the changes in a person’s behaviour. It is used as an instructional approach with a variety of ages in a variety of environments.

The ABA teaching paradigms are divided into 3 sections:

• Antecedent (instruction and prompt)
• Behaviour (response)
• Consequence (reinforcement or error correction)

The use of the term ‘behaviour’ can be confusing if you are not familiar with ABA therapy. ‘Behaviour’ does not have positive of negative connotations; rather, it is anything you can see or hear (observable and measurable by others). The term used for aggression is ‘challenging’ or ‘inappropriate’ behaviour.

The ABA principles of reinforcement are used to encourage higher comprehension skills, including language, social, motor, academic and coping skills. ABA is used to build upon a child’s skills to enhance their development and learning, while also reducing the behaviours that interfere with their learning.

ABA therapists aim to:

• Increase positive behaviours
• Teach new skills: gross and fine motor skills, school and play skills
• Maintain skills and behaviours
• Arrange environments to ensure success
• Increase motivation and attention
• Generalise/transfer behaviours between environments (make a smooth transition between school and home, for example)
• Enhance predictability
• Provide structure and routine

ABi (assessments and Behaviour Interventions) in Sydney is a trans disciplinary team of special educators, occupational therapists, speech pathologists, child and family counsellors and psychologists. Their programs are based on the ABA principles and they use a family-centred model, training grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles to provide interventions and participate in the child’s program planning and goals. ABA therapy does not suit every child, however it is currently the best known method for teaching appropriate behaviours in children on the Autism spectrum.

The Lizard Children’s Centre in Sydney also provides a range of services for the treatment of children using ABA. Lizard’s Applied Behaviour Analysis Clinic is recognised as one of Australia’s leading providers of effective intervention for young children with autism and related disorders.