The aim of parent-implemented ABA is to empower parents with basic ABA skills, enabling them to support and teach their children effectively. Although some parents can take time out of their schedules to work one-on-one with their child, this is usually not practical. Instead, we can use Naturalistic Environment Teaching (NET), using naturally occurring learning opportunities to target relevant skills! Since parents will facilite learning opportunities throughout the day, we can provide services at a significantly lower intensity than traditional ABA.

So, how do we make low-intensity parent-implemented ABA work? Let’s say that the child has a goal of motor imitation. We can ask the parents to include their child when they are meal-prepping as an example. If they are mixing ingredients in a bowl using a whisk, encourage them to give their child an opportunity to imitate them. The same goes for if they are washing the dishes or loading the dishwasher. Encourage them to include their child in as much of their daily routines as possible! Similarly, if the child is working on identifying community helpers, parents can create opportunities while out and about. If they are at a restaurant, they can work on finding the waiter. If they are at the bank, parents can ask “Where’s the teller?” If they are headed to the supermarket, they can identify the cashier!

In my experience, as parents became more spontaneous with identifying and creating learning opportunities, I’d also see them getting creative with their SDs and targets. I saw stimulus and response generalization occurring much quicker than in traditional settings.

Have you given parent-implemented ABA a shot? Share your experiences with me at srishti@abasimplified.com – I’d love to hear from you!