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Do you ever wonder what is the difference between behavior therapy or ABA therapy? Is it the same? Who does behavior therapy and ABA therapy? Or what works better for your child?
Well, many times you may be referred for an ABA therapy and you may end up finding one behavior therapy or vice versa, and struggle to understand whether it is the same or not.
Behavior Therapy is an umbrella term under which many therapies are included, one of which is ABA is known for interventions for individuals with autism and other developmental delays. As the name states Applied Behavior Analysis ( ABA ) is the application of evidence-based behavior techniques.
A lot of times when doctors, occupational therapists, speech therapists, or other members of the remedial team refer to problem behavior of children with autism or other developmental delays to go for behavior intervention. This would be the time most people would have heard about behavior therapy or ABA therapy. And you may end up finding a clinical psychologist, rehabilitation psychologist, or an ABA therapist. And that raises the question: are they all doing the same or different?
Clinical Psychologists work with all individuals using different perspectives of psychology and their primary role is diagnosis and treatment of mental health disorders and other disabilities. Rehabilitation psychologists work with people with disabilities or chronic health conditions using different perspectives of psychology. As the name indicates the former two professions work using all perspectives of psychology. There are different psychological perspectives, and one of them is behaviorism. Behavior therapy is based on the behavioral school of psychology alone.
An ABA therapist works entirely based on behavior Analysis or behavioral school of psychology. Internationally behavioral analysis is no longer considered a part of psychology but rather a separate branch of science. However, it is a developing science in India. Hence the identity of the field is often overshadowed by General psychology.
When a child is referred for behavior therapy to a clinical or rehabilitation psychologist or an ABA therapist they all work based on evidence-based behavior interventions. The role of the professionals may overlap here, however, the strategies and techniques may vary based on the specialization.
Behavior interventions focus on the improvement of behaviors of individuals by reducing inappropriate behaviors and adding appropriate behaviors. Some of the problem behaviors often indicate the need for teaching appropriate behaviors. . What are the problem behaviors? Can we stop all inappropriate behavior using ABA/ behavior therapy? Well, That's for the next discussion.
Coming back to today’s topic, is behavior therapy or ABA therapy the same? In short, clinical and rehabilitation psychologists work based on different approaches from psychology, one of them is behavior therapy, while ABA therapy is completely based on behavioral therapy or the science named behavior analysis.
What was your personal experience in behavioral therapy or ABA therapy? Did you find them different or the same, and what professional did you find for your child’s behavior therapy? Please leave a comment.
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