Have you ever wondered if ABA can help with anything other than autism? It certainly can! Read along to learn how to apply ABA to improve the quality of your daily life, as well as the lives of those around you!
Aside from Autism, what else can ABA help with?
Believe it or not, applied behavior analysis (ABA) can be applied to all aspects of life. From work life to social life to personal life, and everything in between.
When it comes to the workplace, ABA is known as Organizational Behavior Management (OBM). OBM can be used to improve performance of staff, reduce safety related accidents, and so much more. Many organizations are using ABA without knowing it when they utilize bonuses!
To the surprise of many people, ABA can also be used in social settings with friends. Let’s say you have a friend who likes to tell inappropriate jokes – you can use ABA to get him to stop. By not laughing or responding to his jokes, he will likely not tell them as often. You can also use ABA to help friends make positive changes, such as increasing how often they exercise. By using the basic principles of ABA, you can reward friends for meeting their goal of exercising 3 days a week with a date to their favorite coffee shop. They are going to continue to exercise because they want the reward of having coffee with you!
ABA can also be used in your personal life in many ways. Do you want to clean your house more often? You can use a similar strategy as you used with your friends to help them exercise, and you can set a goal for yourself to clean one room in the house every day and as a reward treat yourself to your favorite dessert on Sunday. Do you have some habits you want to quit? For example, you could start using a “swear jar” if you want to stop swearing. By adding in this consequence, you are applying one of the basics of ABA.
In addition to helping adults, ABA can also be very useful when training pets or teaching children new skills. Every time you give your dog a treat when he sits after being told, or when you ignore your cat meowing incessantly, you are using principles of ABA. Every time you tell you son “great job!” when he makes his bed in the morning, or when you ground your daughter for missing curfew, you are using principles of ABA. Do you sense a trend here?
The possibilities are absolutely endless, and many of us use ABA on a regular basis without even knowing it! Let’s continue using ABA to help make positive changes in our own lives and in the lives of those around us!
