Establishing a Behavioral Context for Learning for Students with Autism

The principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) have demonstrated utility for promoting learning and behavior change in students with autism spectrum disorders. ABA provides an effective technology and strong research substantiation for the systematic development of environments and methodologies that are conducive to learning. The physical and temporal environments must be managed to highlight salient stimuli and support the direct teaching and shaping of appropriate behavior while using clear antecedent cues and discriminative stimuli in a climate of reinforcement. Systematic instruction requires the use of empirically based techniques within a context of errorless learning, data-based individualization of instruction, predictability, consistency, and programmed generalization. ABA requires that noninferential assessment demonstrate a functional relationship between student outcomes and the context and strategies implemented.