Autism
Behaviorally Organized Verbal Environment: Active Language Learning
ABOVE ALL was designed with
three goals in mind.
1. Provide effective behavioral treatment for children with autism.
2. Provide these services in the most
cost-effective manner.
3. Provide students with an opportunity to
apply their education and gain valuable applied experiences.
ABOVE ALL is a program
designed to provide in-home behavior therapy to children with Autism.
The program is founded on the scientific approach to understanding and changing
human behavior called Applied Behavior Analysis. Through the use of various
behavior analytic techniques, the therapists are able to identify the skills
that each individual child with Autism is lacking (language, attending, play and
social skills) and teach them. Additionally, problematic behaviors
(self-stimulatory, aggression, tantrums) can be decreased through positive and
effective techniques.
While many other treatments tout claims of
curing Autism, ABA is the only one that has been scientifically evaluated and
reliably shown to lead to significant gains. Without any treatment approximately
5% of children with Autism will recover (i.e., be integrated into a regular
education classroom) while up to 47% of children receiving intensive in-home
behavior therapy have fully recovered. While it is true, that not all children
receiving behavior therapy will completely recover , it is clear that they will
make significant gains! The research has shown that the sooner you begin ABA and
in general the more therapy children get, the better the outcome will be.
Likewise, the literature clearly identifies the importance of parents providing
therapy themselves and consistently applying Applied Behavior Analysis
techniques throughout the day with their child. Therefore, ABA should be the mainstay of any and all intervention efforts.
In the ABOVE ALL model a
PhD Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) experienced in providing
behavioral services coordinates the project, supervises, and trains graduate students. These graduate students then in turn
train and supervise undergraduate students. This model allows for students to
provide the bulk of the in-home services thus reducing the cost to the families. This is
crucial since the ideal in-home therapy program consists of 20-40 hours of therapy
per week. This model also ensures that as experienced graduate students leave
the program, new students are getting trained and taking their place, to ensure
each child is receiving the best therapy possible. The autism community is in dire need of behavior therapists, so as
ABOVE ALL therapists graduate and move on they will be able to help others, wherever they go!
The ABOVE ALL program is housed at
FSU's Panama City Campus and is coordinated
by Dr. Colin Peeler as a means to meet the needs of the community and provide students
applied experiences in the field. Graduate students in the Master's
program in Psychology with a Specialization in Applied Behavior Analysis can
provide services as part of their practicum (after completing the
pre-requisites) or Directed Individual Study (DIS) credits. Graduate students are
typically responsible for program development, data collection, analysis,
and presentation, supervision and training of undergraduate therapists, and
providing therapy. Undergraduate students in the
Bachelor's of Science Psychology program can become part of the team and provide
services for DIS credit. The DIS credits can count towards completion of the
elective requirements of the degree (see the degree plan sheet and the General
Bulletin for details). All students are expected to attend
weekly supervision meetings to review their progress as a therapist, the child's
progress in therapy, and discuss program changes.
ABOVE ALL provides
3 levels of ABA services: Consultation, Intensive Consultation, and Partnership
ranging in level of involvement from a periodic consultation (once or twice a
month) to 30-40 hours of therapy a week. Regardless of the level of involvement
by ABOVE ALL we focus on teaching parents how to use ABA to teach their
children. Since children with Autism often require repeated trials and
experiences to learn a new skill, "therapy" needs to occur all day.
With the current shortage of qualified therapists parents learning and using ABA
throughout the day is essential for each child's success. While the number of
therapists we have to provide therapy hours are limited we may be able to
provide some training to facilitate and guide in-home therapy.
