Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy is a great tool to help children with developmental deficits, such as social-emotional behavioral delays. Children achieve developmental milestones at different rates.Â
From smiling up at the family, rolling over, sitting up unsupported, learning to crawl, walk, and run to communicate with speech, and getting toilet trained, each stage is a developmental milestone. Most parents keenly watch for these as their children grow from infancy through toddlerhood to school age. Developmental delays refer to situations when some children take far longer than their peers to reach these milestones.Â
In a social context, a child’s behavioral skills determine how they communicate with new people, such as at their daycare, school, or playdates.Â
Social-emotional-behavioral delays refer to an inability to express and manage reactionary or maladaptive behaviors, form relationships, and interact with peers in groups. Early identification of such delays is a great way to ensure adequate support can be provided to the child.Â
At Award Behavioral Health, children with social-emotional-behavioral delays can benefit from ABA-geared support and therapy to help them achieve their developmental milestones using a supportive and evidence-based program.
Providers trained in ABA help children develop self-management skills, which reduces the risk of emotional maladaptive behavior, thereby modifying problem behavior and promoting functional independence.
Ongoing frustration and reactionary behaviors are common occurrences for children with neurodiversity and developmental delays. ABA therapy can help children overcome their daily challenges by giving them the tools for emotional and behavioral compliance, environmental self-awareness, and self-management.Â
When children with Autism Spectrum Disorders cannot communicate their needs or understand others, they may display problematic behaviors. By providing functional communication skills to children, ABA therapy helps them communicate, interact, and participate appropriately. A child with social-emotional delays can be helped by ABA therapists by identifying, labeling, and expressing themselves.
Self-governance of reactionary behaviors is an invaluable, lifelong skill. It is possible to help children recognize triggering experiences in order to successfully self-manage an impending functional crisis by consistently implementing these behavioral strategies.
Children with social-emotional delays often find it challenging to meet the usual norms of social interaction. This includes making eye contact and paying attention to complex social cues and verbal notes. The process can be upsetting and difficult.
While these children may not achieve an intuitive grasp of social context, ABA empowers children by providing step-by-step, measured instructions on navigating these social situations and avoiding feeling overwhelmed.
ABA therapy is self-correcting because the child’s therapist observes behavior continuously during every therapy session. Ongoing feedback is recorded and communicated to the child in response to their behavior.
Consistent repetition of this process helps the child recognize the behavior that gives them the desired outcome and eventually results in behavior modification that shapes the foundation for continued responsible behavior.
At Award Behavioral Health, children with social-emotional and behavioral development delays can be supported using ABA therapy. Our licensed ABA supervisors devise individualized care plans for each child in the program.Â
If you think your child may benefit from ABA therapy for social-emotional behavioral delays, please contact Award Behavioral Health for a consultation.
For appointments, call us at (800) 249-9569 or contact us online.Â
