Physicians

Behavioral Intervention Group (BIG) works with physician-referred children who exhibit developmental delays as well as those already diagnosed with autism or other developmental disorders. Through our Applied Behavior Analysis therapy services, BIG can provide the skills, teaching environments, and learning opportunities necessary to improve the quality of life for these individuals. BIG offers ABA therapy services with a highly personalized approach, allowing for customization of each child's program to specifically meet his or her needs. Since autism affects every child differently, the teaching environments, methods, and strategies used in our ABA therapy programs vary depending on each child. The ABA therapists at BIG utilize a combination of the different applications of Applied Behavior Analysis in order to maximize a child’s ability and desire to learn. By providing them with the best evidence-based treatments available – designed and supervised by experienced Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBA) – the children referred to BIG benefit from the therapeutic and instructional components essential to setting them on the path toward a more successful future.

WHY ABA

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the process of systematically applying interventions based upon the principles of learning theory to improve socially significant behaviors to a meaningful degree (Baer, Wolf & Risley, 1968/1987; Sulzer-Azaroff & Mayer, 1991).

Although there is no known cure for autism, it can be treated so that the symptoms are not disabling
A non-verbal child can gain the ability to communicate
A non-social child can gain interaction skills
With treatment, children with autism are not cured but can overcome the disabling aspects of the condition.

THE BIG DIFFERENCE

“Thirty years of research demonstrated the efficacy of applied behavioral methods in reducing inappropriate behavior and in increasing communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior.” - United States Surgeon General (1999)

“ ...controlled trials have shown both the efficacy of programs based in the principles of ABA and that certain individual characteristics (age, IQ, and functional impairments) are associated with positive outcomes.” - Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (2011)

“One type of a widely accepted treatment is applied behavior analysis (ABA). The goals of ABA are to shape and reinforce new behaviors, such as learning to speak and play, and reduce undesirable ones.” - National Institute of Mental Health (2011)

“A notable treatment approach for people with an ASD is called applied behavior analysis (ABA). ABA has become widely accepted among health care professionals...” - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2012)

“Therapies and behavioral interventions are designed to remedy specific symptoms and can bring about substantial improvement...Therapists use highly structured and intensive skill-oriented training sessions to help children develop social and language skills, such as Applied Behavioral Analysis” - National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (2012)

“The field of applied behavior analysis has grown substantially in the past decade, enabling more children with autism and their families to obtain needed services. This growth appears to be related to an increase in the number of children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and to the recognition of the effectiveness of behavior analytic services.”- American Psychological Association (2012)

“The OPM Benefit Review Panel recently evaluated the status of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for children with autism. Previously, ABA was considered to be an educational intervention and not covered under the FEHB Program. The Panel concluded that there is now sufficient evidence to categorize ABA as medical therapy. Accordingly, plans may propose benefit packages which include ABA.” - The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (2012)

CABAS® METHODOLOGY

BIG follows the Comprehensive Application to Behavior Analysis to Schooling (CABAS®) methodology. CABAS® is a research-driven system-wide approach providing individualized programs for children with disabilities developed by R. Douglas Greer Ph.D. and colleagues of Teachers College, Columbia University, New York. The CABAS® system is designed to approve desired behaviors rather than disapprove undesired behavior; and the curriculum is designed to emphasize teaching through positive reinforcement. The CABAS® approach uses the principles of positive reinforcement by identifying effective forms of reinforcement and the manipulation of intermittent and other schedules of reinforcement. The creation of learner motivation is essential to the implementation of the principles of positive reinforcement within the CABAS® system.

“CABAS® programs are characterized by the following components of quality: individualized instruction, continuous measurement of teaching and student responses or curriculum-based assessment, graphic display of student learning and achievement of educational standards, the use of scientifically-tested tactics for instructional decision making, logically and empirically tested curricula and curricular sequences, educationally and socially significant goals of instruction, positive teaching environments where coercive procedures are avoided, and teachers who are strategic scientists of pedagogy (Greer, Keohane, & Healy, 2002). CABAS® applies the underlying principles of behavior analysis and advanced principles of teaching and verbal development to all components of education which include the role of the students, parents, teachers, school supervisors, and administrators, and its board and university training program. Guided by the daily streams of data they record, teachers at CABAS® schools (and other schools that use ABA) have been able to reach children who were previously considered unreachable."(from the Unorthodox Behaviorist) I am attaching the document.

CHARACTERISTIC OF TEACHING USING CABAS® METHODOLOGY

All is instruction is individualized
Teachers continuously measure teaching and student responses.
Graphs of the measures of student performance are used for decisions
Logically and empirically tested curricula and curricular sequences are used
Principles of the basic science and tactics from the applied research used to teach educationally and socially significant repertoires.
Teaching driven by moment to moment responses of each individual student and existing research findings
Classroom is a positive environment
Teachers are strategic scientists of pedagogy
Expertise in the science is used to make moment-to-moment decisions based on the continuous collection of data and its visual inspection.
Progress of students is always available for view. (Greer, 2002)"

BACKGROUND

67 years of Basic Science Research
46 Years of Applied Behavior Analysis Research (Over 200 Research Tactics)
27 Years of CABAS® Research (Entire Model and Components) involving over 40 Research Studies
22 Years of Research in Verbal Behavior Analysis at Columbia University Teachers College
26 Years of Research in CABAS® Schools
7 Years of Research in Verbal Developmental Protocols
Four to Seven Times More Learning in CABAS® Programs than General Education and Non-Systems-Wide ABA Programs