ABA Therapy for Nonverbal Toddlers

Book excerpt: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) can be beneficial to encourage communication for early childhood special needs children that are nonverbal, minimally verbal, or late talking toddlers. This book introduces errorless teaching that is used to teach preschool learning activities and concepts without errors or mistakes by the child. ABA methods for kids can help to avoid or decrease frustration by making learning fun by building confidence and enthusiasm with teaching instructions. Selecting preferred reinforcement is discussed so new skills, as well as self-control and patience can be rewarded. Teaching techniques for receptive and expressive language skills for children with autism spectrum disorders are provided. This includes helpful methods to talk with your toddler and encourage communication. There are instructions for making your own story books so they can be used to develop basic concepts that will help to prepare children for kindergarten readiness skills. Another part of ABA therapy is behavior control to decrease challenging or inappropriate behavior such as aggression or self-injury behavior (SIB). This book does not address these issues because they are not always present with nonverbal children. This book should not be a substitute for advice from a BCBA, SLP, Early Intervention Specialist or any other professional that can work one-on-one with a child.