ABA Therapist

[aba]

Hi! I am an ABA therapist working with children/teens with ASD and developmental delays. I am currently a BCaBA, but just took my BCBA exam yesterday (hopefully I will pass!). I work as a program supervisor as well as a direct care behavioral therapist. I "specialize" in feeding therapy. 

I would love to answer any questions related to ABA, or offer support:) 

[rooster222]

I would love to hear more about your work and background. I currently work in a special ed classroom but have recently been thinking about getting into ABA therapy. Please share anything you can about how you got into the field and what you like/dislike, etc...

Thanks!

[Deleted]

I'd love to hear your views on feeding therapy for with ASD kids. I have two, age 3 and 6.

Over the years I've received conflicting advice and program recommendations. We've steered clear of aggressive feeding therapy for now. I've heard some of the local programs (STL) force-feed or withhold food. Thoughts?

We've had OTs work to slowly overcome new food anxiety, but our progress is negligible. My kids basically live on dairy, starchy foods and over-processed "fruit" like applesauce or juice.

We're doing in-home ABA with some great people now, and I'm sure we'll get around to food, but we're working really hard on social skills right now.

[aba]

Vanessadoof,

I actually "specialize" in feeding therapy so I am happy to talk about feeding! I agree, that very "aggressive" feeding protocols are not the way to go. I have worked in a setting where the feeding therapists were very aggressive. Basically, they were forcing the children to eat. Sometime they would hold the child's hands/arms down (NOT hurting them of course), and basically force the food in. Feeding therapy DOES take a lot of patience and many children will cry, scream and to to fight, but I would NEVER hold a child down or force food in their mouth. 

I personally feel that if your child does not have any medical reason for food restriction (such as swallowing problem), it is best to go about feeding therapy with an ABA approach, especially is ABA is working well in other areas. A significant number of children have feeding issues/disorders than are fully behaviorally based.


I did a feeding session today so I'll tell you about the session so you can get an idea of how feeding typically works in ABA...My little boy did not want to eat his main food from his lunch. He DID really want his cookies. All I did was tell him that he could have a piece of cookie after taking one small bite of his pasta. After about 5 minutes of screaming and refusal, he did eventually accept the bite of pasta (he has eaten pasta many times before) and got to eat his cookie. We did this for a couple bites, then I required a bit more from him. After about 10 minutes, I had him accepting 3 regular bites of pasta before eating a small piece of cookie. Of course, cookies are not necessarily, so I had no problem "withholding" the cookie until he ate his pasta:) 

Each child's feeding problem will be a bit different, but generally we use the same principle of reinforcing appropriate behavior (accepting the food) in order to increase that behavior over time. Problem behaviors such as screaming are put on extinction which means we simply ignore that behavior. 

The Marcus Autism Center website has some great information and resources for parents! I have met Dr. Sharp and he is fantastic! www.marcus.org/Clinical-Services/Feeding

[auntie]

We had success with food chaining.