Nia BowersLiving with a complex neurodevelopmental condition can bring a multitude of hurdles, affecting how they perceive the world and interact with other people inherently. One such condition is Autism or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), a learning disability that can impact the social, communicative, emotional, and behavioral state of a person.
For autistic children, these challenges can manifest uniquely, often making standardized education approaches insufficient for their development. According to the CDC, around 3.2% of children aged 4 & 8 years have been identified with ASD in the United States, and with a growing prevalence of the condition, better treatment programs are of the essence. Go Behavioral, a global mental health organization, offers a comprehensive range of services with a single goal: to help children with autism reach their full potential.
Children with autism show symptoms between the ages of 6 and 12 months, while many don’t receive a diagnosis until the age of three. The condition manifests in children through sensory sensitivities, difficulties in executive functioning, like communicating with others, and challenges in generalizing skills across different environmental settings. These obstacles are not indicative of a lack of intelligence, but instead, reflect the evidence of a different neurological wiring that calls for a personalized approach to learning. This is where techniques like Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) come into play.
“The children we see at Go Behavioral learn a lot by observing. They just need to view behavior that’s socially acceptable as the model behavior that they can incorporate in their own life,” says Dr. Deena Moustafa, the founder of Go Behavioral. “This again needs to be executed carefully with a personalized approach, and that is possible with ABA therapy.”
ABA is an evidence-backed, scientific approach that applies principles of learning and motivation to bring about meaningful change in behavior. The theory, laid out by American psychologist B.F. Skinner focuses on understanding how behavior can be encouraged and how learning can take place with positive reinforcement, otherwise known as Operant Conditioning.
Go Behavioral
It uses positive reinforcement, such as rewards, to invoke and encourage desirable behaviors and reduce behaviors that may interfere with learning or daily life. “At Go Behavioral, we break down complex skills into smaller, teachable steps, which are then reinforced through a reward system,” Moustafa explains. “By strategically incentivizing their actions, they look forward to adopting desirable behavior.”
While ABA has become one of the most widely practised interventions for autism, improving cognitive, language, and adaptive skills, it’s still not without its criticisms and limitations.
Often, ABA sessions occur in isolated settings within clinics and therapy institutions, which may not always translate into real-world behavior. Moreover, it focuses on compliance and on “normalizing” behaviors without understanding the emotional nuances of an individual with autism. This could lead to children masking their traits rather than fostering genuine development. Additionally, ABA therapy is rooted in a reward system, which could lead to them seeking quick gratification behind every behavior they display.
Go Behavioral, based in Florida and California, is paving the path for a transformative change in solving the underlying limitations of ABA therapy. With a holistic approach in practice, Go Behavioral addresses one of ABA’s most critical shortcomings – the gap between therapy and real-life applications.
“While our work inside the walls of the clinic is crucial, a pivotal aspect of their development lies in what they experience in the real world, and we ensure that we’re involved in every aspect of that. We want to help ease their transition to their environment with the tools we’ve provided them,” Moustafa emphasizes.
Strengthened by BCBAs, clinical psychologists, and RBT professionals, Go Behavioral brings a holistic therapy technique, embedding behavioral support into a child’s natural environment, such as at home, in school, and within their communities. Their approaches are woven into the rhythms of their daily life, empowering both the child and the caregiver. To ensure that everyone within the child’s ecosystem is equipped to facilitate their development, Go Behavioral prioritizes educating the caregivers, teachers, and even peers with all the tools to support and reinforce learning.
By keeping education as a cornerstone of their therapy programs and recognizing the importance of consistency, familiarity, and context, Go Behavioral is redefining what effective therapy looks like.
Additionally, they also modify their reinforcement system to ensure that the children are absolved from having any expectation of receiving rewards in exchange for desirable behavior. By limiting the duration between receiving rewards, it enables the children to be acclimated to the idea that their positive behavior will not always warrant a reward.
“Initially, they receive a reward for every desirable behavior. Later, it progresses to receiving something after three instances of desirable behavior, and then five. Eventually, this fades out the expectation because they don’t know when they’ll get the reward, but they’ll also keep seeking it through their behavior,” Moustafa explains. “All our actions are motivated by some kind of incentive. It’s inherently human to want something in return for our actions. We use this natural tendency to regulate their behavior.”
Autism is not a disease to be cured, but a difference to be understood and supported. ABA therapy remains a cornerstone for the treatment of autism, but its limitations require an understanding of the complexity and nuances of real human lives. Organizations like Go Behavioral are leading this change by pushing therapy beyond the clinic walls. With a focus on creating inclusive environments to enhance treatment, Go Behavioral is establishing that learning doesn’t start and end with a therapist; it happens everywhere, every day, with everyone.