Angelman Today January / February edition 2014 | Page 46

ABA Therapy – Applied Behavior Analysis
By Mark Mautone, M.A. ABA
When educating children with
Angelman Syndrome (AS), many
parents look for the best schools
that have teachers with extensive
experience working with children
with special needs. The programs
that the parents observe are
classrooms that educate children
with different disabilities. These
classrooms are categorized as
Multiply Disabled (MD). These
classes are always perceived to be
the “generic” solution for children
who possess deficits that are
difficult to address in other
classes. With saying that, these
classrooms can be very effective
for most children. However one
type of educational setting that is
overlooked, is a classroom that
implements the principles of
applied behavior analysis (ABA).
ABA is mostly associated with
the field of autism. ABA is the
science of applying
experimentally derived principles
of behavior to improve social
significant behaviors. (Cooper,
Heron, & Heward, 2007).

Behaviors are observed in many
forms such as blinking an eye,
waving a hand, saying “Hi”, or
walking. Most people do not look at
these behaviors as a “behavior”
because they are automatic for most
people. Unfortunately, society has
always associated “behavior” with
negative actions. Let’s start to
think differently. Social significant
behaviors are behaviors people
produce that are meaningful actions
that are observe in many forms that
are present in society. This may
include decreasing
maladaptive/stereotypic behaviors

Before we go any further let’s
briefly define what “social
significant behaviors” are and
their function. To do so, I am
going to breakdown the term in
the simplest form. Social means
relating to people or society.
Significant refers to having
meaning. However, when the
word “behavior” is mentioned,
most people think of maladaptive
or stereotypic behaviors such as
hitting, spitting, kicking, or
repetitive motor/vocal behaviors.
In reality, everything we do is
considered a “behavior".

and/or increase appropriate learning
and social behaviors.

WWW.ANGELMANTODAY.COM

Most research in ABA relates to
individuals who are diagnosed with
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
However, like individuals with
ASD, social, communication and
behavior deficits are also evident in
children with AS. In the past, ASD
and AS were perceived as very
similar disorders. Although
research is limited in using ABA
with children with AS, there are
two studies (Summers, J &
Szatmari, 2009 and Summers, J &

Hall, E. 2008) that show
evidence that select principles
of ABA are effective educating
a child with AS. These
procedures included discrete
trial, shaping, chaining,
reinforcement and task analysis
of skills (Summers, J &
Szatmari, 2009). Summers, J &
Hall, E. 2008 investigated the
correct implementation of ABA
teaching procedures by parents
with AS using an ABA skills
training manual. The results of
this study showed differences in
results across 4 parents. Two of
the parents showed
improvement in responding
across 4 of 5 domains, one
parent did not demonstrate
change, and the last parent had
mixed results that may have due
to the child’s disruptive
behavior according to the study.
Even though there is limited
research on applying the ABA
methodologies there is
sufficient evidence to show that
educating a child with AS is
effective.
As a professional who is not
only educated in ABA
methodology, I am also a
teacher who applies these
principles on a daily basis. A
few months ago I had the
opportunity to meet an
extraordinary young boy named
Max. Max is diagnosed with
AS. Max’s mother, Sybille
requested me to work with her
son using ABA procedures.
After I evaluated Max, it was
certain that we needed to work
on sitting at the table and the
January / February 2014