The Verbal Behavior Approach: How to Teach Children With Autism and Related Disorders

When my son was diagnosed with autism, it became clear that ABA was the best type of therapy available to treat autism. We quickly enrolled him in a GREAT ABA program, and he was quickly making progress. He was seeing a speech therapist at this time through our state early intervention program. However, using appropriate language in a functional manner was VERY difficult for him. This book comes highly recommended from professionals in the autism field, and the verbal behavior approach is one approach to ABA, which is considered Best Practice for autism therapy. I was reading through the book rather casually, when a common speech therapy approach was basically denounced by the authors. This common ST approach was being used on my son at the time, with a pretty visible negative impact on his ability to use speech appropriately. It was so bad and so obvious that I immediately dismissed his speech therapist. I began using other ideas suggested in the book, and immediately started noticing a difference in his language. He went through professional ABA therapy for two years- a service I was VERY happy with- and I still prefer a VB approach when it comes to teaching language. In his professional ABA programs, he was taught to label objects before learning how to request objects. Everything his therapists attempted to teach him, he learned with ease, but it wasn't until we introduced a VB approach that he learned to use language SPONTANEOUSLY! This book helps you tap into your child's motivation in order to make language important to your child. His language and speech is at age level now, and I don't worry about him at school, because I know if he needs something or has a problem, he knows how to ask for help. While individual progress in autistic children will vary, depending on many different factors, this book made language acquisition SO much easier for my son, and without it, I believe we would still be using professional services and fighting to catch up to his peers. By the way, I've been to several support groups over the years, and these god-awful ST approaches the authors of this book condemn are ruining children's lives. For example, if your speech therapist teaches your child the word "more" before teaching your child the words for ANY commonly desired object of theirs, they have already set your child's speech back quite a bit. They've already done more damage than good. If I could do ANYTHING over again regarding my son's diagnosis and subsequent treatment, I would have read this book WAY before getting involved with Speech Therapy.

If you are searching for information to support a loved one who has symptoms of autism or any suspected developmental delays, this book might just change your life. First, I need to share that the progress we have seen at home wasn't something I learned by skimming through this book. I have read and reread the information in this book and still refer back to it very frequently. The progress we have seen has required thousands of hours of intentional teaching using Mary's techniques. It has been a lot of work on the part of everyone in our family but within a few months of applying Mary's techniques my grandson was consistently responding to his name again whenever when it was called after a full year of regression. We all felt helpless and hopeless as it seemed that he was slipping farther and farther away into his own world and not responding to anything we did to try to play with him or teach him how to communicate. After reading Mary's book, we were able to identify things we needed to use to motivate him. This same child who could not attend to any direct teaching was gradually able to calm down enough and become motivated to learn when we paired learning activities with positive reinforcement. The screaming and temper tantrums were greatly reduced. He stopped banging his head and his anxiety and sensory aversions improved with daily exposure to learning activities. A few months later, he could name family members and identify several objects. Sometimes it seemed like we were stuck and could not see progress but I kept using the same techniques consistently every day. He finally learned how to point to things to show us what he wanted. Mary's philosophy is so empowering. Her medical knowledge empowered us to get referrals to specialists to identify and treat the underlying medical issues such as allergies, eczema, feeding difficulties, sleeping difficulties, and chronic constipation. Mary encourages parents to do everything possible once signs of autism are present to begin working with your child immediately. I am so thankful I took that advice because I would not want to look back 20 years from now and wonder if I should have done more. The methods Mary uses in this book to decrease problem behaviors and increase language are proven to be effective and based on many years of scientific research. After seeing the success from her book, I saved up enough to join Mary's online course. This has been the best investment I ever made to support my grandson in the recovery of all the skills that he lost to regressive autism. Our initial evaluations 18 months ago indicated moderate to severe autism, severely delayed expressive and receptive language skills, and moderate delays in social, motor and adaptive skills. Now he speaks in sentences!. We still have some issues we are dealing with but the future is so much brighter now knowing we have a child who can follow simple verbal directions and express his wants and needs. I never even knew this much progress could be possible! If you are on a wait list for an autism diagnosis or if your child shows some signs of developmental delays but did not qualify for an autism diagnosis this book is for you. If you have the diagnosis already and want to learn more about what you can do at home to support your child this book is for you. If you are a professional who works with children and want to learn how to shape behavior and do it in a way that is not emotionally harmful, does not use any negative reinforcement or punishment, and fully supports a child's emotional development this book is for you. If your child was recently diagnosed and the word autism feels like a death sentence with no possible way to recover, you must read this book to learn that in some cases, young children with autism can recover enough to be indistinguishable from their peers! The Verbal Behavior approach takes the science of ABA and breaks it down into an easy to implement format that anyone can use to help a child reach his or her fullest potential! I hope someday Mary finds the funding to distribute this information to every family who is impacted by autism. I hope insurance companies and state agencies will mandate and fund a parent training component to help families that are impacted by autism. There is nothing else out there (that I know of) that takes the science of ABA and simplifies it enough to help parents implement it in the home. Mary's book and online courses could have an enormous impact to help turn autism around for millions of families if a parent training component could be included with intensive ABA services and I hope to see that happen! Until then, if you are wanting to do everything you can to support someone you love who is showing symptoms of autism, I implore you to buy this book and check out Mary's video blogs and podcast titled "Turn Autism Around." Mary Barbera shares information she has gathered from real life experiences as a BCBA, registered nurse, and as a parent of a son with autism. Mary is always very cautious not to provide specific treatment advice but I am so thankful she took the time to write this book!

After being more than halfway through the book I wanted to write a review because it is really good! Being a BCBA for almost 10 years I wanted an easy read for my supervisees, plus many of them had already read it. I couldn't assign something to them that I hadn't read myself so I picked up a copy. Even as an experienced BCBA the authors simplistic way of presenting this information is excellent. I wish I had read this early. Our standards discuss that BCBAs should present information to caregivers in a way that is understandable. This book does just that. While it's not loaded with jargon, it does have terminology. Similar to new terms that you'd expect to hear from any field of study. Since I liked this book so much I was curious to read the 1 and 2 star reviews. In general ABA has it's criticisms. From reading these reviews it's clear that the negative reviews have had very little exposure to the science and teaching methodologies of ABA. Speaking with a BCBA may actually help to clarify some questions that they have about this book or about the field in general. This book is not intended to diagnose autism and I'd be hesitant on using any book to "cure" anything. This books, to me, is reflective of what tools and teaching strategies practitioners use in the field when working with children on the autism spectrum disorder. This would be incredibly useful for a parent who already has a child who is receiving ABA services and wanting to know more about what the therapist and supervisor is teaching in-home.

As a parent navigating an autism diagnosis, this book has been a lifeline. The approach is explained clearly and practically, without overwhelming jargon. It gave me concrete strategies to use immediately with my child, and I've already seen positive changes in our communication and interactions. It's one of the most dog-eared and highlighted books on my shelf. Highly recommended for anyone looking for a compassionate, evidence-based guide.

Very good information

I purchased this book in 2016 and only wish I had known about it sooner. I have read it twice (some parts more often) and subsequently taken two of Dr. Barbera's online Webinars for dealing with children and teens on the spectrum. I use the information from this book on a daily basis at work because quite frankly everything she recommends works. I am able to watch a non-vocal child communicating more and more frequently since I integrated the methods in the Verbal Behaviour Approach into her school day. I highly recommend that anyone who either works with or has someone in their family or circle of friends on the Spectrum read this book. It is easy to understand, filled with vital information.

Amazing book really! I’ve already had basic understanding of APA terminology but this book is insightful. And will make things click especially if u just trying to figure out/ navigate ABA. And it gives a fair comparison to other approaches so will help decide if VB is right for you, too. And by the end of it you’ll be able to practically apply what you’ve learned. So, it is not only theory book.

Comprehensive guide for therapists and parents to help autistic children learn to communicate. Written in lucid language, it provides a vast amount of strategies which can be put to use in day to day life. Only wish that Dr. Barbera produced training DVD along with the book to help parents learn how to implement ABA/VB program at home