Mission Philosophy
Applied Behavior Consultants, Inc. (ABC) is a human
services agency that is dedicated to enhancing the quality
of life for people with developmental disabilities and
learning disorders. ABC's commitment in the delivery
of services is to act with compassion, work from a team
approach, and provide what is in the self-interest of
every individual and family we serve. We believe we can
best serve this mission by operating within the theoretical
practices of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) derived
from the philosophy of 'Behaviorism.'
What this mission statement means in practice is for
every individual receiving ABC services, intervention
will be implemented within the following general parameters.
A functional assessment will be performed on all presenting
problems followed by a functional analysis to determine
the contextual contingencies, discriminative stimuli,
setting events and consequences that effect the behaviors
targeted for change. Treatment procedures will be designed
to systematically build in socially significant behaviors,
decrease problematic behaviors, and generalize pivotal
behaviors to maintain appropriate behavior change.
Although, Applied Behavior Consultants,
Inc. services children and adults with developmental
disabilities, ABC specializes in Early Intensive Behavior
Intervention (EIBT) for children with Autism also known
as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The majority of
the children ABC serves are under 10 years of age who
receive ABA treatment in a school environment or in
the family home. All ABA programs begin with a comprehensive
functional assessment (as described above) including
an extensive evaluation of the child's language, play,
and social repertoires. The VB-MAPP (Verbal Behavior
Milestones Assessment and Placement Program, Sundberg,
2008) or ABLLS (Assessment of Basic Language and Learning
Skills, Partington & Sundberg, 1998) tool is used
to identify core language deficits that prevent the
child from communicating and listening effectively,
engaging in basic play, and socializing with peers
and adults. For children
0 to 5 years of age, The Carolina Curriculum for Infants
and Toddlers or Preschoolers is also used to determine
where each child functions developmentally in comparison
to same age peers. Skill deficits identified from
these assessment tools are then probed within ABC's generalization
levels, referred to as REAL (Recreating Environments
to Accelerate Learning; Terzich, 1996), to determine
the level of generalization training necessary to maintain
the behaviors in the child's daily repertoires (home,
school, community, etc.).
Intervention programs are designed
to build the repertoires that are necessary to teach
the child to interact with others in a purposeful and
meaningful way. Thus, the language repertoire first
taught in each child's program is critical communication
(Frost & Bondy, 1997) which
teaches the child socially appropriate ways to request
and initiate his/her wants and needs (mands). All lessons
that follow are built upon this foundation of language.
When behavior problems arise (excesses) a descriptive
and functional analysis (functional assessment) are performed
on the behaviors that interfere with the child's learning
or jeopardize the safety of the child and/or others.
Based on the outcomes of the functional assessment, proactive
procedures are developed. Behavior reducing procedures
contain preventative strategies; treatment procedures
that systematically reduce or eliminate behavior excesses
(when needed); and more important, functionally equivalent
alternative responses to replace the problem behavior.
Our goal for each person is a more effective, independent
and improved quality of life. To effect this end, we
are committed to providing our professional staff with
the highest level of training and supervision consistent
with the cutting edge technology of our field.
For a more detailed description of ABC
services click here. |
