The term “behaviour analysis” was first used by Skinner in the last century to describe his application of behaviourism—radical behaviourism. The human application of Skinner’s work became known as applied behaviour analysis or ABA for short. It is important to note that ABA stands for applied behaviour analysis and not applied behavioural analysis. There is no “al” ending after behaviour within the phase “applied behaviour analysis”. When you see the phrase, “applied behavioural analysis” you immediately know that it is being used incorrectly. This is a common mistake in the media and among service providers who lack basic training in applied behaviour analysis.

ABA has very wide application. You might even think of ABA as the fabric of an umbrella covering the whole of the field, whereas the spokes of the umbrella represent different applications of ABA. One spoke of the ABA umbrella might include performance management—a field in which ABA helps business succeed, another spoke might include behavioural medicine involving headache and other pain management. Another spoke on the ABA umbrella would include early intervention for young children with autism. Although this is certainly the application of ABA on our web site, you should be aware that ABA has wide applications and many of them have nothing to do with young children or people with autism.

ABA Defined

Although many ABA researchers have slightly different ideas as to how ABA should be defined, most would agree that ABA:

• Is a science
• Concerns itself with behaviour
• Focuses on how the environment can effect behaviour change

We combine these three components to form our working definition: ABA is the study of how environmental modifications bring about behaviour change.

What Does Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Mean?

Each of the three words in ABA has a specific meaning. In fact there are 7 defining elements within all applications of ABA:

1. Applied : The intervention will be of value to the person(s) receiving it.
2. Behaviour : Focuses on observable and measurable behaviours.
3. Analysis : Focuses on behaviours that can be influenced by the environment. In other words, we can control the occurrence and nonoccurrence of the behaviour by making changes to the environment.
4. Effective: Focuses on changing behaviour meaningfully. As you will see from the attached two graphs, although both treatments reduce the problem behaviour of face slapping, only the second graph would likely be considered meaningful to the parents trying to remedy their child’s problem behaviour.

• Generality : Refers to the effect of the behaviour change. It:
• Lasts over time
• Develops in other environments
• Extends to other behaviours
• Technological : All procedures are completely identified and precisely defined.
• Conceptually Systematic: Procedures are based on the basic principles of behaviour.

How does all this apply to my family and my child?

Because ABA is a science, at Best Behaviour Consulting, you won’t find us making ad hoc recommendations, “try this idea, and if it doesn’t work, then try this idea, and if it doesn’t work, don’t worry we have lots of things to try in our grab bag of tricks...”  We believe that a child presents problem behaviours for a reason. We need to uncover this reason. Trying generic strategies can sometimes work, but some research shows that when Consultants recommend behaviour plans without first finding out why the problem behaviour is happening, the behaviour can sometimes get worse. The Science of ABA, strives to avoid this side-effect.