When I started out on this journey, it was naturally with the paths provided to me i.e. whatever the Local Authority/GP recommended to me. I didn’t know any better, I was just about learning what the word “autism” meant and apart from constantly being told what Ryan “cannot” and “would not” be able to do, I literally had no idea which way to turn.

They say things happen for a reason and so someone up there was definitely looking down on us when someone within the professional world told me (off record, of course) that I should try “ABA”. She said that she’d worked as an ABA therapist previously and that “Ryan seemed like the type of kid that would respond well to ABA”. Well. I’d never heard of ABA before and had no idea what this acronym even stood for. But someone had just told me that Ryan would respond well to it – and that was the glimmer in the cloud for me. I was going to do ABA!

After a week of intensive research I understood and got to grips with Applied Behavioural Analysis. This was a therapy mainly used in the US (although widely used in the UK also) that was unfortunately NOT recommended or supported by most Local Authorities despite it having huge success rates with many families. But did that put me off? No way! I wanted to learn more about this controversial therapy.

What is ABA?

ABA stands for ‘Applied Behaviour Analysis’. ABA is a science that helps us understand why people behave in particular ways, including how they acquire skills or develop challenging behaviours. The science of ABA has been used to develop a number of therapies and strategies to help people change behaviour and be more successful across a range of life domains. Although there are many ways in which ABA can be applied, the part I was looking into focuses exclusively on issues relating to autism.

Therapies grounded in ABA, such as Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI), are among the best examples of evidence-based therapies for autism. There is a wealth of evidence that has been published, reviewed and, in most cases, independently replicated, which demonstrates the effectiveness of ABA-based teaching programs for individuals with autism.

For autistic children, ABA-based programs typically focus on teaching skills such as communication, playing, toileting, eating a wider variety of foods, and academic and school-readiness skills. Programs might also target reducing dangerous behaviours, such as biting, hitting, self-injury or running away.

This sounded great – and even better that I didn’t stumble across it online but someone who had physically tried and tested ABA had recommended it to me. I wasn’t naïve though. Like everything else in life, there are always pros and cons to everything we do, and ABA wasn’t an exception. For every article, story, blog, video that showed how amazing ABA was, I also found one discrediting it and talking about why parents should not use ABA as an intervention for their child. And I weighed up the pros and cons. The cons were that it was too repetitive, some likened it to methods used to train dogs, it was effectively a bribery mechanism and it tried to make your child “less autistic”.

I really thought about it. In the US there wouldn’t really be too much of a hesitation to use ABA as it is widely used and the majority of insurance providers even pay for ABA therapy. But in the UK where it’s used as a more “hush hush” therapy – there was lots to consider. Would it work? Why are there so many people against it? How much would it cost me? And more importantly, would doubt ABA jeopardise all the other therapies I’m doing or being provided?

Guys it really was a thorough decision I took. I honestly weighed up the pros and cons but I decided to take a leap of faith and follow what all of these other parents have – and try it. If it didn’t work, or there were elements I didn’t like then it was easy – I would just stop.

And that’s exactly how it happened! After looking for a BCBA (the most senior-qualified ABA consultant) and getting my tutors (and family!) trained up, in December 2017 we were ready to go! We started off with just 5hrs a day which seemed fair – and S (my wonderful tutor) was able to implement and practice both at the setting (3hrs) and then another 2hrs at home after. Our BCBA was amazing – a modern supervisor who adapted the program to suit us. For example, we had a large family and Ryan had a twin – everything that we did at home and we’re expected to carry out to follow the program had to suit the family too! My husband and I had always said from the very beginning – if we felt that Ryan’s personality was changing in a way that we felt was worse, then we would stop ABA instantly.

But this never happened. In fact within the first year of setting up the home program Ryan was able to make direct eye contact – sharing his beautiful smiles with us all the time! Eye contact occurs when two people look at each other’s eyes at the same time. In humans, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and can have a large influence on social behavior. Ryan is nonverbal and so having this eye contact gave us one additional form of communication with him – a very important method for our family.

ABA really worked for us and many others will say the same. I think the important message from me is that you shouldn’t just rely on provided guidance (by your LA or other bodies) and also don’t let the negative info and reviews put you off. Do your research. Ask all the questions. Trial and test everything. No one will make a better informed decision for your child except you – and so you need to be armed with all the information to be able to do so.

Love and hugs

RJ 💜