OPINIONS & PERSPECTIVES

None of the As in ABA stand for autism: Dispelling the myths*

KAROLA DILLENBURGER1

& MICKEY KEENAN2

1Queen’s University Belfast, Ireland and

2University of Ulster at Coleraine, Ireland

Keywords: applied behaviour analysis (ABA), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), misunderstanding

Introduction

Interventions that are based on scientific principles

of applied behaviour analysis (ABA) are recognised

as effective treatments for children with autism

spectrum disorder (ASD) by many governments

and professionals (Office of the Surgeon General,

2000; Ontario IBI Initiative, 2002). However, many

still view ABA as one of many treatments for

autism and contend that it should be part of an

eclectic mix of interventions. This paper addresses

this issue by outlining what ABA is and how ABA is

related to the array of treatments for ASD. With

approximately 1 in 100 children diagnosed with

ASD, it is important for professionals to understand

ABA accurately.

Getting it right

ABA is not a ‘‘therapy for autism’’ (Chiesa, 2005);

instead, it is the science on which a wide range of

techniques are based that have been used to help

people with a variety of behaviours and diagnoses,

autism being one of them.

Like most other sciences, behaviour analysis

encapsulates three distinct but related fields:

(1) Philosophy of the science: behaviourism.

(2) Basic experimental research: Experimental

analysis of behaviour.

(3) Applied research: Applied behaviour analysis

(ABA).

(1) Behaviourism: The philosophy of the science of

behaviour

Behaviourism defines behaviour as anything a person

does. Behaviour can have one or more dimensions,

such as frequency, duration, and/or latency; can be

overt (public) or covert (private); can be observed

and recorded by one (self) or more persons; and is

lawful, in as much as it is influenced by environ-

mental events.

The key point of behaviourism is that what people do

can be understood. Traditionally, both the layperson

and psychologist have tried to understand behaviour by

seeing it as an outcome of what we think, what we feel,

what we want, what we calculate, and etcetera. But we

don’t have to think about behavior that way. We could

look upon it as a process that occurs in its own right and

has its own causes. And those causes are very often

found in the external environment. (Cooper, Heron, &

Heward, 2007, p. 15)

One of the main advantages of defining behaviour

as ‘‘anything a person does,’’ apart from being

inherently a holistic perspective, is the way that it

permits ‘‘private behaviour’’ (e.g., thinking and

cognitions, and feelings and emotions) to be

considered when developing explanations. A child

who behaves in certain ways (e.g., makes no social

contact, engages in repetitive, self-stimulatory beha-

viour) is typically said to have ASD, and ASD is

referred to then as the reason (i.e., cause or

*This manuscript was accepted under the Editorship of Roger J. Stancliffe.

Correspondence: Dr Karola Dillenburger, School of Education, Queen’s University Belfast, 69/71 University Street, Belfast, BT7 1HL, Ireland.

E-mail: [email protected]

Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, June 2009; 34(2): 193–195

ISSN 1366-8250 print/ISSN 1469-9532 online ª 2009 Australasian Society for the Study of Intellectual Disability Inc.DOI: 10.1080/13668250902845244

explanation) for the said behaviours; ‘‘he does this

because he has ASD.’’ In reality though, the term

ASD is merely a ‘‘summary label’’ (Grant & Evans,

1994) for the full range of the child’s behaviours, not

the cause of them.

The philosophical basis of modern behaviour

analysis stems from the early work of Skinner (e.g.,

Skinner, 1938) and sits in stark contrast to the earlier

methodological behaviourism, in which only publicly

observable behaviour was considered relevant to

psychology (Leigland, 1992). In contrast, today’s

behaviour analysts consider ‘‘everything a dead man

cannot do’’ as in the purview of analysis.

(2) Experimental analysis of behaviour

The laboratory-based experimental analysis of beha-

viour has evolved from over 100 years of research and

has lead to the discovery of many principles of

behaviour; for example, respondent (or classical)

conditioning, operant conditioning, derived rela-

tional responding, and so forth (Sidman, 1994).

(3) Applied behaviour analysis (ABA)

Applied Behaviour Analysis is the science in which

tactics derived from the principles of behaviour are

applied systematically to improve socially significant

behaviour and experimentation is used to identify the

variables responsible for behaviour change. (Cooper et al.,

2007, p. 20)

ABA brings improvements and change in socially

relevant behaviours within the context of the

individual’s social environment; is conducted within

the scientific framework; focuses on functional

relationships and replicable procedures; is concep-

tually systematic and reflective; achieves measurable

changes in relevant target behaviours that last across

time and environments; is accountable, public,

doable, empowering, optimistic; and is more effec-

tive than eclectic treatments. Aversive methods are

avoided in favour of interventions based on func-

tional assessment and functional analysis and posi-

tive reinforcement.

Dispelling the myths about ABA and autism

The effectiveness of ABA-based intervention in ASDs

has been well documented through 5 decades of

research by using single-subject methodology and in

controlled studies of comprehensive early inten-

sive behavioural intervention programs in univer-

sity and community settings. (Myers & Johnson, 2007,

p. 1164)

Many lay people as well as professionals equate the

pioneering work of Lovaas (1987) with ABA.

However, behaviour analysts at the Princeton Child

Development Institute demonstrated the effective-

ness of early, comprehensive, intensive ABA 2 years

prior to the publication of Lovaas’s study (Ferster &

DeMyer, 1961). Since then, more than 19,000

papers have been published using ABA within a

variety of areas, including well over 500 studies

concentrating on children with ASD (Anderson &

Romanczyk, 1999).

When ABA is mistakenly categorised as a therapy

for autism, rather than as a science, it is listed

alongside a range of techniques such as Discrete Trial

Training (DTT), Picture Exchange Communication

System (PECS), Verbal Behavior Analysis (VBA),

Precision Teaching, generalisation and skill main-

tenance training, Pivotal Response Training (PRT),

prompting and prompt fading, imitation and

instruction, Aggression Replacement Training (ART),

shaping, Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI),

chaining, differential reinforcement, incidental teach-

ing, extinction, and others (Green, 1996). However,

it is the knowledge base gathered from the science of

ABA that underpins all of these techniques. For

practitioners, this means that learning specific tech-

niques is not the same as learning the science.

Training and professional certification

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB,

2007) certifies and regulates ABA professionals.

There are two levels of certification. Board Certified

Behavior Analysts (BCBA) must have at least Masters

degree level training in behaviour analysis as well as

1,500 hours supervised independent fieldwork ex-

perience prior to taking a rigorous 4-hour exam. At

present there are nearly 3,500 BCBAs worldwide.

Board Certified Associate Behavior Analysts (BCABA),

who since January 2009 are now termed Board

Certified assistant Behavior Analysts (BCaBA), must

have at least Bachelor degree level training in

behaviour analysis and 1,000 hours supervised

independent fieldwork experience prior to taking

the exam, and must be supervised by a BCBA

afterwards.

Discussion

In this paper we made three important points to

dispel the myths of the relationship between ABA

and autism treatment:

(1) ABA is an applied science that has evolved

from more than 100 years of research.

194 K. Dillenburger & M. Keenan

(2) This scientific research has produced a

wealth of evidence-based intervention proce-

dures, which are in turn derived from or

related to several more basic behavioural

principles.

(3) These procedures have been applied with

considerable success in the treatment of

autism. However, readers should not equate

ABA with any particular application or

program (e.g., Discrete Trial Training).

The scientific method applied to the study of

individual’s behaviours was pioneered by ABA. It is

not autism specific, but it guides the development of

techniques that address any socially relevant beha-

viour. When applied to children who display autistic

behaviours, ABA is method driven only in the sense

that the scientific method guides decision making

with respect to data collected. By responding to the

specific needs of each individual within their social

context, ABA offers a holistic and comprehensive

alternative to an eclectic mixture of techniques

that are not anchored in a science of behaviour

(Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, & Stanislaw,

2005; Zachor, Ben-Itzchak, Rabinovich, & Lahat,

2007).

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Opinions & Perspectives: Applied behaviour analysis 195