These are just a few examples from FreshStart(s) past which show you the true power of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). These are not fake miracles, but real experiences supervisors and staff have noticed with their clients shortly after beginning to work with them. We hope you can see the positive impact these changes can make on a family’s life- including yours.
A client who moved from Spain and had a dual diagnosis, completely non-verbal, began to speak English independently.
A client who was completely anti-social began participating in his after school care programs, when he never did before.
A client who would only drink one specific type of smoothie, now drinks water and eats waffles.
A client finally was able to generalize using the restroom in different settings, and now has bowel movements in public locations and at school.
A non-verbal teenage client finally started reading small sentences and understanding their meanings by pointing at the correct answers with no assistance.
A client who used to only pinch until blood was drawn learned to tap lightly on the therapist’s arm to gain her attention.
I’ve been with a client for a year now who when I first started with him was only able to say a few one syllable words with limited pronunciation. Now he is using complete sentences to communicate! His pronunciation has also improved substantially. I can have small simple conversation with him now!
A client of mine went from needing constant assistance/prompting in order tie his shoes to now being able to complete this practice completely independently!
This client had difficulty when it came to social interactions, for example, when others would said “hi” or “how are you?” he would respond with a short “hi” or “fine,” not much further. He now can have more natural, lengthy and full conversations and responds with more dynamic answers without prompting! Amazing!
I have one child who did not interact with other children when we started with her, now she joins in and runs with them during play, calls their names, and waves hello to them!
I have a client who was having severe aggression problems towards specific classmates, outside of which he rarely interacted, now he interacts with many other children and has learned to communicate more effectively than resorting to aggression.
I had a non verbal client who was toilet training and being physically guided to the bathroom every 20 minutes in hopes that he would successfully use the bathroom and learn when to ask to use the bathroom. In the middle of session one day, he stopped playing, took my hand, and walked us over to the bathroom which was his way of communicating that he needed to use the bathroom, and he went successfully!
While working with a client in school, I was with him daily as he needed prompting to complete his work and remain on task. Every day when I arrived, he needed prompting to write in his agenda, but one session, I showed up and he was so excited to show me that he wrote in his agenda without me telling him to do so.
After several weeks of consistent feeding training, this kiddo went from having a lick of a food to being able to complete a whole bowl without engaging in tantrums or non-compliance.
During a team meeting, we compared baseline data from the first 3 sessions with one of my little ones compared to now, 10 months later, and the change was DRASTIC! Behaviors that occurred at a rate of 40 times an hour are now occurring at 0-2 times an hour. A child who once only emitted sounds, asked me for “more Cheerios”. Or another child who would barely be able to hold a conversation and elope from mom at the mall is now walking hand in hand, while having long talks about anything and everything with such detail surpassing typical language for a child her age. Every single session contains small breakthroughs, like maintaining eye contact, that will someday build into so much more, conversation and friendships. Those little breakthroughs, although so minute, remind me everyday of why I love what I do.
I have one current client who has greatly improved as well. He is now able to communicate what he wants by making requests all on his own now! Definitely an amazing breakthrough!
These are just a few examples of that ABA can do! We hope you read up on ABA and understand why it is recommended so often…. And remember, we are happy to help!