Services

Including:

• Assessment
• Differentiated curriculum design
• Guidance on required materials and environmental arrangements
• Assistance in selecting therapists/tutors to hire for the ABA programme
• Training for the learner’s team, including parents, therapists/tutors, teachers and other service providers on the principals of ABA and VB, the implementation of the ABA programme and data collection
• Data analysis
• Behaviourally and professionally written reports
• Ongoing programme consultation; including regular training and monitoring of the ABA team on implementation of the programme and data collection
• Liaison with other professionals on the child’s team (e.g. occupational therapist or speech and language therapist)
• Assistance in selecting appropriate educational or residential settings
• Tribunal representation (if required)

A detailed behavioural assessment is conducted using assessment tools relevant to learners of any age on a home programme or school or residential setting. These assessments are used to gain a behavioural evaluation of, but not limited to, social skills, language skills, daily living skills, challenging behavior and barriers to learning. Some assessment tools used are:

• VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior Milestones Assessment and Placement Programme)
• ABLLS-r (Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills)
• AFLS (Assessment of Functional Living Skills)

Using the findings from the assessments a detailed report is written that describes behaviourally the skills of the learner in a range of domains including but not limited to:

• Manding (Requesting)
• Tacting (Labeling)
• Intraverbal (Conversation)
• Listener Skills (Receptive Language)
• Echoic
• Motor Imitation
• Visual Perceptual/Match-to-Sample
• Play Skills
• Social Skills
• Classroom Routine and Group Skills
• Linguistic Skills
• Reading
• Writing
• Maths
• Bathing
• Eating
• Barriers to learning
• Challenging Behavior Assessment
• Home, Community and Basic Living Skills

The report takes an analytical look at each domain and makes detailed recommendations, specific to the context for which the assessment is being done, in each area of functioning.

For school-based ABA programmes, the national curriculum can be differentiated to enable the learner to benefit from achieving the same or similar learning objectives as their peers in an individualised and accessible manner.

This services includes the conducting of a Transition Assessment and report for learners:

• Moving from special education to a mainstream setting
• Moving from an ABA to a non-ABA setting or vice versa
• Moving from school or home to Post-19 settings
• Moving from home or school to residential settings

The principles of ABA can be applied to any situation where behaviour change is required, whether increasing desired behaviours or decreasing undesired behaviours. Training sessions are conducted for parents, teachers or other service providers where learning is required in order to implement services and support for learners with intellectual and developmental disabilities.Training sessions are tailored to the particular needs of a client (which are assessed through a pre-session visit). Training duration's can vary from half a day to two days in length. The core elements of a training session can comprise of a combination of the below areas, and the total content included depends on the length of the training procured.

• The conceptual foundations of ABA
• The role of a Behaviour Analyst
• Selected procedures and principles of ABA
• Provide a theoretical understanding of a Behavioural Classification of Language
• How to use the VB-Mapp or ABLLS-r
• How to use procedures developed from the research on verbal behaviour analysis

Learners may exhibit severe challenging behaviours including self-injurious behaviors (SIB) such as hand biting, skin picking and head banging. This service involves conducting a Functional Assessment, through direct (observation) and indirect assessment. Once a hypothesis for the function of the behaviour is determined, a Functional Analysis of the behaviour is undertaken to verify the hypothetical function, so that the particular behaviour can be correctly addressed through a clearly written Behaviour Support Plan. The implementation of the procedure aims at reducing rates of challenging behaviour and replacing challenging behaviors with an appropriate behavior that serves the same function. The functional assessment and analysis along with the Behaviour Support Plan is written up in a full report.

Detailed behaviourally based reports can be provided for tribunal, statementing or other funding related contexts. The learner’s achievements in their current ABA programme are assessed using the extensive data collected throughout the implementation of the programme and used to write a carefully designed report.