Before starting at Skybound as a Speech and Language Therapist, I didn’t have any previous experience with Behaviour Analysis, but I had worked with clients who could have benefitted from it greatly. Once I started at Skybound, I began linking my new knowledge back to those clients. How different would my practice have been if I had known about social disapproval being reinforcing for some clients? Or how you can use behavioural momentum to support a client to make a sound that they find difficult?
My First Experiences with Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA)
My first experiences with ABA were with the wonderful behaviour analysts at Skybound. I remember when I first started, I supported intensives focusing on skills I had never worked with before—like toilet training. I learned how Behaviour Analysis could support these skills in ways I hadn’t considered before.
Then, I began to explore the collaboration between Speech and Language Therapy (SLT) and ABA. During one intensive, we focused on speech. The session looked very different from how I had previously approached speech therapy. We used PROMPT and TalkTools to support a client in making sounds they had never made before—all while using behavioural strategies to keep them happy and engaged. Seeing this approach in action was eye-opening!
How SLT and ABA Collaboration Impacts Clients
In more recent sessions, I have seen the true benefits of SLT and ABA collaboration. I work with clients on a range of targets, including speech, Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC), and feeding, and in all cases, the skills I’ve learned and my collaboration with ABA colleagues have been invaluable.
- With one client, we worked on encouraging spontaneous use of their AAC, ensuring they felt confident and motivated to communicate independently.
- During an intensive with another client, we focused on developing SLT targets and incorporating them into a flexibility programme, making learning more adaptable and engaging.
- In another case, the team worked hard to ensure a client remained happy and engaged so we could explore new targets—an essential aspect of making progress in speech therapy.
Speech therapy can be hard for our clients, often we are doing new skills or trying sounds that they may have never made before. When we use behavioural support it means that we can best support our clients to try new things.
A Success Story: When Collaboration Made the Difference
One standout moment for me was working with a client on developing speech to make functional requests, like saying ‘me’ for attention. When I first started working with them, they had a limited number of speech sounds and very few were used functionally.
Through our work together, we have expanded their ability to produce new sounds and use them meaningfully. We are now focusing on blends like up, sup, and me, as well as acquiring new phonemes like th to help form even more words.
Collaboration is key in these sessions. The ABA team ensures the client is happy and engaged using proactive strategies, including techniques like ‘calm’. In speech therapy, we use behavioural techniques like behavioural momentum and concepts like stimulus control to support the client in making progress. This integrated approach makes a huge difference in keeping sessions positive and effective.
What ABA-SLT Collaboration Looks Like in Practice
Working alongside ABA professionals has changed how I approach therapy in so many ways. Here are some key ways we collaborate in day-to-day practice:
- Supporting engagement – Ensuring the client is happy and motivated throughout sessions.
- Using behaviour support – Helping clients complete the number of trials needed for speech work.
- Generalisation – Encouraging skills to be used across different settings, throughout the day and in various programmes.
- Transitioning speech into function – Supporting the move from practicing sounds to using them in meaningful communication.
- Identifying reinforcers – Finding the right motivators to keep clients engaged.
- Developing a Behaviour Support Plan (BSP) – Creating structured approaches that the whole team can follow to ensure consistency.
By integrating these methods, we ensure that therapy is effective, engaging, and tailored to each child’s needs.
The Power of Interdisciplinary Practice
Behaviour Analysis has massively changed my practice and given me new skills to help my clients. At Skybound, interdisciplinary practice is at the heart of everything we do. When SLTs and Behaviour Analysts collaborate, we can make an even bigger impact on our clients’ development.
The Speech and Language Therapy team at Skybound offers both assessment and therapy sessions, supporting a range of communication and feeding needs. Find out more here.
Curious about how our Speech and Language Intensives work? Our SLTs have put together a short video to walk you through what to expect.
Interested in TalkTools? Find out about our innovative approach here.
