Behaviour Therapy Services in Ontario
With the circumstances that COVID-19 has created, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed, and at times frustrated with the new expectation of working from home, coping with the stress of the virus, and caring for your family. Many parents have also taken on the extra role of homeschooling while working themselves.
With so many changes in routine and the increase in expectations at home, parents may be dealing with more meltdowns and non-compliance than before. We want you to know that we are here, and ready to support you in any way we can. Anderson Therapy Services has experience providing services in the Greater Hamilton Area, in addition to across Ontario and Northern Regions with the First Nations Communities. Needless to say, virtual services are not new to us, and we feel confident that our team can support you through coaching and training to see positive behaviour change!
What is Behaviour Therapy? How can it help?
Our team of BCBA (Board Certified Behaviour Analysts) use principles of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) to address areas such as:
- Decreasing challenging behaviours
- Improving communication skills
- Increasing listening skills (e.g., instruction following)
- Social Skills
- Self-care and Daily Living Skills
- Play and Leisure
- Motor Skills
- Learning and Academic Skills (e.g., learner readiness skills)
A little history on Behaviour Therapy…
Although that may seem like a very vast area of expertise, it all relates back to Experimental Analysis of Behaviour! Not to get too nerdy on you, but this relates all the way back to 1948 when B.F Skinner developed operant conditioning with the help of some rats. Since he did this leg work for us, we can apply his principles to humans and create socially significant changes that can increase quality of life for children and their families.
What does Behaviour Therapy look like?
That’s the beauty of it! Behaviour therapy is not “one size fits all.” Each intervention (assessment, goals, plan) is designed to meet the needs of the individual learner and their lifestyle. The first step will be to gather information through conversations with those who spend the most time with the child, to help us get to know them and subsequent assessments will be done (e.g., video observation of skills or behaviour challenges etc.) Priority goals will be selected from there and together we will write a plan. We will be with you every step of the way, making changes as we need to, to get to our final goal.
Benefits of Behaviour Therapy Online:
- Real-time observations of behaviour as they happen – our flexibility of service will allow us to virtually be ‘in your home’ when behaviours occur. This will allow for more accurate assessment and ‘live / in the moment’ coaching from one of our BCBAs
- Convenience – the ease of on-line therapy in your home (a) reduces the need for commuting to and from an office, (b) means no rushing to scheduled appointments, (c) avoidance of difficult transitions and (d) overall less challenges for busy families that otherwise would require childcare or bringing siblings along to attend.
- Consistency – meeting with our staff on-line allows for all relevant persons’ in a child’s life to hear the same information at the same time and to problem solve together (e.g., zoom meeting with parents, grandparents, school teacher, Behaviour therapist). Consistent implementation will facilitate skill acquisition & expediate reduction of challenging behaviours.
