ABA is a science that focuses on the analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation of social and environmental modifications to produce meaningful changes in human behavior. ABA includes the use of direct observation, measurement, and functional analysis of the relationships between the environment and behavior.

ABA uses changes in environmental events, including antecedent stimuli and consequences, to produce practical and meaningful changes in behavior. These relevant environmental events are usually identified through a variety of specialized assessment methods. ABA understands that an individual’s behaviour is determined by past and current environmental events in conjunction with organic variables, such as genetic endowment and physiological variables. Thus, when applied to ASD, ABA focuses on intervening in the difficulties of the disorder through modification in the individual’s social and learning environments. (CASP, 2022)

The Academic Skills Program (PCA) aims to develop academic skills in structured environments simulated in a classroom.

With the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis, individualized teaching plans are defined, focusing on the potential of each child, to facilitate their inclusion in school, in a favorable way.

A structured and planned teaching model according to the needs of each individual. Its main characteristics are repeated, teaching attempts, presentation with instructions, reinforcement after responses, and intervals between tasks or activities.

Benefits:

• Possibilities of multiple presentations in the same training session, which favors generalization

• Individualized teaching

• Help in the development of delayed skills.

Patients with ASD have deficits in social communication. During childhood, these difficulties generate anxiety, delaying speech development. During adulthood, challenges include difficulty in understanding implicit social rules, difficulty in expressing feelings, and literal use of language, among other challenges.

This ABA-based intervention approach’s goal is to present different forms of communication skills (verbal and non-verbal) that are essential for living, reducing the chances of problematic behaviors in children and adults with ASD and others.

With Functional Communication Training, we promote efficient communication, improvement in conflict resolution, reduction of problematic behaviors, and reduction of anxiety generated by a lack of communication skills, ultimately leading to improved socialization.

Encouraging social skills in childhood and adolescence can influence the behavior of these individuals for the rest of their lives. Patients with ASD need to be taught how to acquire skills that promote socialization, since they do not develop them naturally.

Social skills training is an intervention approach that allows the development of socialization and functional communication responses. Whether through verbal and nonverbal communication, written or visual, developing active listening, the ability to start a conversation, introduce oneself and say thank you, as well as identifying one's feelings and the feelings of others and adjusting one's behavior accordingly.

Executive functions are the set of cognitive skills that are fundamental for controlling and regulating our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. Everything we do in life, such as working, studying, taking care of ourselves, and others, depends on how well our executive functions are developed. In ASD, ADHD, and other neurodevelopmental disorders, it is common for there to be processing failures in these functions.

Training with this approach allows patients to improve attention, memory, planning (thinking and choosing actions that are useful to achieve a goal), improvement in reasoning for problem- solving, the ability to initiate expressions of affection, dialogue and of different natures, cognitive flexibility (being able to follow changes in routine without interfering behaviors), inhibitory control (finding functional ways to control your impulses) and also develops the ability to frequently unconsciously monitor actions and behaviors.