Everyday ABA Techniques

Here is a simple list of everyday strategies I often give to the parents I work with:

1) When your child talks, always model a longer version of what (s)he is saying. (S)he may began to try to imitate this more advanced version.

Example: Child: "Juice"
Parent: "I want juice." (and hands juice)

2) Use pronouns correctly. Many children tend to use the third person, so model correct pronoun use.

Example: Look at Sam! He is drawing a train!
There's Mom! Her dress is pretty.
Come to me.

3) Use time delay. When a child reaches or grabs for something, pause with the item. Often a pause is enough to elicit a verbal request from the child This can also be used to elicit a longer request from children who are fully verbal.

Example: Child grabs for book. Parent holds book out of reach and waits. If child does not vocalize, parent models correct phrase or sentence.

A fully verbal child points to a game and says, "Game!" Parent gets the game but holds it out o reach until the child says, "I want to play the game." or "Can we play game?"

4) For every question you ask, make at least 4 comments.

Examples: When reading a book, comment about the pictures, such as "Pooh looks happy!" "She is crying." Make more comments about the book compared to quizzing your child about what (s)he sees.

When your child is drawing a picture and you know what it is, don't still ask what it is every time. Sometimes just comment, "What a cool firetruck!"

5) Overall, just talk to your child like (s)he is any other child. The more regular language (s)he hears, the more (s)he will pick up.