ABA teaches auditory processing/listening comprehension skills through a systematic approach based on the individual child. Starting from just understanding single words, ABA teaches at the child’s pace using data-based decisions to guide the therapist where the child’s strengths and deficits are.
Comprehension/listening skills training can begin with simple, one word directions, like “Sit.” instead of saying “Come, sit over here.” Especially for a child who may not be talking yet, he may not know what word to listen to in a sentence and if he only hears part of the sentence, there can be a lot of confusion for the child and therapist. After the child masters a series of single-step directions, two-step directions are introduced and trained until mastered the same way single-step directions are. The skills will build on from there to several step instructions based on what is appropriate for the child.
The same technique is used for listening comprehension programs. These start with basic two word combinations, like “I went”, then the therapist would ask, “who went?”. Once a series of these targets are mastered, then three word sentences are used and more questions are asked regarding the “who” and “what” in the sentence provided by the therapists. After these skills are mastered, then two sentences will be used, eventually leading to small paragraphs that are read aloud to the child who is then asked questions to find out what she is picking up. As mentioned before, all of these skills are acquired at the child’s pace using data-based decisions to show where their strengths are and what deficits to target.
Two products that can aide in strengthening auditory processing skills in children with Autism are “Fast ForWord” and “Earobics”. Fast ForWord is a series of educational computer training programs that engage the students’ to have him or her target deficits in comprehension. “Earobics” is a multisensory reading intervention that schools use to strengthen their reading curriculum to meet the needs of their students. Earobics builds individualized reading instruction through technology, multimedia materials, and professional development.
For more about Applied Behavior Analysis, ABA, check out these posts: