07 Apr 2020

BY: admin

ABACAS Team

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Telehealth ABA Services – Why, What and How?

With the effect of COVID-19 and families adapting to social distancing rules, we have seen an increase in requests for telehealth ABA sessions. Telehealth involves working with a case manager or an experienced therapist through video conferencing. We don’t have to be in the same room as you!

Our telehealth services can be divided into two different pathways: parent training and/or child therapy.

What does parent training ABA Telehealth Services involve?

For parent training, we teach the skills to help parents effectively manage children at home. This may include: dealing with problem behaviours, shaping of verbal behaviour, skills generalisation, etc. For these sessions, it is highly encouraged for all key adults to be involved as we are aiming for consistency across all settings.

And Direct Telehealth ABA Services?

Direct child ABA therapy isn’t for everyone. As a minimum, children must be able to do the following:

  • Look at the screen whenever his/her name is called via video.
  • Identify items on the screen receptively and expressively (e.g. ‘what colour is this?’ or ‘touch jumping’).
  • Generalise mastered skills via video (e.g. responding to one-step instructions, imitation, requesting for desired items, etc.).
  • Attend to a screen without engaging in problem behaviour (e.g. elopement, aggression to others or properties, escape behaviour – wanting to watch YouTube videos instead of doing work, etc.).
  • Respond to social praise or tokens delivered via video.

Therapy sessions will also need an adult available to participate in sessions. This way we can help shape and generalise behaviours in the home setting.

What if I’m not sure whether ABA Telehealth Services are for me?

Therapy doesn’t have to stop because of COVID-19. Please do not hesitate to contact your case managers today to talk through your options. We will try hard to come up with a program of support to keep your child learning.

Rachel Puan

Case Manager, ABACAS

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