Dear Ms. Weiss and Newsday,
We are writing in response to your recent article titled, LI boy with autism, therapy student get in tune with Zoom. Thank you for raising awareness about the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the lives and education of children with autism. On top of time spent in quarantine with a limit placed on fun and engaging activities outside the home, kids with autism were also required to quickly adapt to remote learning or were at risk of falling behind. In addition, many kids with autism had to adjust to therapy sessions being delivered online. For some kids with autism, this may have resulted in frustration and a feeling of being overwhelmed. As you rightly mention, without reliable methods for communicating their frustration, kids with autism may resort to engaging in challenging behavior to express their wants and needs. We were happy to read about how music was integrated into Shane’s therapy sessions, how this improved Shane’s ability to participate in and enjoy his therapy sessions, and the positive impact this had on Shane.
Many of the strategies incorporated in Shane’s sessions, such as integrating a person’s preferences, building a positive relationship with the therapist, and creating an enjoyable learning environment (factors that certainly led to Shane’s progress!) are also important features of an effective Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program. ABA is an evidence-based approach for individuals with autism. It is backed by data from hundreds of peer-reviewed research studies and recommended by the United States Surgeon General. As a framework, ABA uses the principles of learning theory to bring about changes in socially significant and objectively defined behavior. Practitioners apply these principles using a range of evidence-based teaching and behaviour support strategies to increase socially appropriate behaviors, to build and maintain functional life skills, and to decrease interfering behaviors. ABA-based programs have been demonstrated to produce large developmental gains, reducing the need for specialized services in the future.
Your article highlights several practices which are common to ABA programs and which Ms. Auty used to help Shane to tolerate and participate in his remote learning sessions. Pairing is a process by which the therapist introduces preferred activities (like music) with less preferred activities (like remote learning) in order to increase interaction and reduce frustration. It this case, the use of music helped Shane focus on the computer and enhanced his participation in online instruction. Shane was then able to engage in the newly learned behavior of singing outside of his therapy sessions, providing evidence of generalization (another important feature of ABA-based programs).
By pairing music with the daunting process of using remote learning platforms such as Zoom, Shane was able to find enjoyment in this process and to utilize it as an effective tool for learning. If your readers are interested in learning more effective and scientifically proven strategies for helping children with autism reach their full potential, we invite you to visit our website at www.ASATonline.org.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Daly, MA, BCBA, LBA
Dr. Erin Leif, PhD, BCBA-D
Association for Science in Autism Treatment
