Wednesday, September 24, 2008

ABA or AVB?

There has been quite a bit of discussion as to whether ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) programs are better than AVB (Applied Verbal Behavior) programs and which program design is best for what type of child. It is important to understand that Verbal Behavior programs are designed based on the principles of ABA. Some people are under the impression that ABA programs only utilize Discrete Trial Teaching (DTT) and do not focus on Verbal Behavior. While there are (unfortunately) consultants and agencies which mostly utilize DTT in their programs, DTT is not interchangeable with ABA. Again, DTT was designed based on the principles of ABA. DTT can be utilized to teach a variety of skills, including Verbal Behavior. I know the alphabet-soup associated with the treatments for educating individuals with developmental delays can be very confusing. I hope this short explanation can help to shed some light as to what a few of the terms mean. All the methodologies discussed are based on the work of Skinner. The procedures of instruction have been altered and improved slightly since he published "Verbal Behavior," but the concepts are all traced back to his work.
HTH,
Kirstin

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