School readiness is a crucial aspect of child development, and in children with learning disability or behavior disorder, there is increased preparation required. ABA therapy is an exceptionally effective treatment that prepares children for learning the basic skills on which school success relies. School readiness is only understood by most people as knowing academics, but there is social, emotional, and behavioral readiness, all of which are domains in which ABA therapy can make a big impact.

In this article, we’ll explore how ABA therapy supports school readiness, why early learning starts at home, and how parents can collaborate with therapists to create a strong foundation for their child’s education.

Understanding School Readiness

School readiness is more than memorizing your ABCs and counting. It’s acquiring what is possible if a child is able to:

• Follow routine and direction
• master need communication
• Talk with teachers and friends
• Maintain attention in task
• Regulate feelings and transitions

If the kids are not learning those, then they’re going to be floundering at school. And then ABA therapy, where it breaks down skill into steps to do and rewarding good behavior.

How ABA Therapy Prepares for School

1. Building Communication Skills

One of the key objectives of ABA therapy is to maximize a child’s communication ability to its highest level. Verbal or non-verbal, a communication ability is required in order to survive in school. Mand training (training the children to mand their needs) and PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) are two of the ABA techniques used to get the children to talk, reduce frustration, and live independently in school.

With increased language and socialization, the children will be more engaged in class and with other individuals.

2. Social Skills Training and Interaction with Other Individuals

School readiness is among the most significant areas of learning under the skill of interacting with other individuals. The children are trained to share, be polite, and be a friend. Social skills are taught overtly in ABA therapy using:

• Modeling good behavior
• Power of healthy social interaction
• Role-playing exercise

Learning these skills at home prior to going to school puts the child off to school confident that he or she can interact with the teachers just as with the peers.

3. Becoming Independent in Routine Behavior

Schools also require the simple tasks to be performed on their own, like zipping their bag on their own, opening the lunchbox on their own, and reading the class timetable. It has been utilized where activities are being divided into steps and learned step by step in ABA therapy.

For example, if a child cannot put on shoes, the ABA therapists would divide it step by step:

• Picking up the shoe,
• Holding the shoe,
• Wearing shoes, etc.
• Putting it on the right foot
• Getting the right fit
• Lacing the laces (if necessary)

Finally, the child is independent, and school behaviors are less frustrating and more achievable.

4. Shaping Focus and Attention

Close attention in an effective classroom environment needs to be acquired. Children can struggle with attention through distraction, struggle with a series of instructions, or get bored. ABA therapy allows for through the following avenues:

• Practice of positive reinforcement as a method of acquiring extended attention
• Introduction of play and activity as a method of acquiring sustained attention
• Use of visual supports and schedules promoting on-task behaviors in children

By institutionalizing on-task in the home setting, it is also likely that children can be instructed in self-regulation and concentrating at school.

5. Transition and Emotional Regulation

Children must transition activity several times throughout the day—break to lessons, meals to lessons, and lessons. ABA therapy allows transition to successful changes to be applied in children through:

• Visual timetables reminding them what is next
• First-then routines (e.g., “First we clean up, then we go out and have fun”)
• Self-management skills like controlled breathing are taught.
• Home practice with known children habituates them to school transition.

Parental Role in School Readiness

Professional training though ABA therapy is training but parents also can facilitate learning this type of skill at home. Parents can facilitate school readiness as follows:

1. Establishing a Routine Schedule

Children are used to routine. ABA daily routine of meal-play-bedtime assists in making children safe and also lays the groundwork for being well-organized in school.

2. Play Learning

There is no need for formal learning to be the standard. Incorporating play learning into daily routines—puzzles, sorting games, role-playing—naturally enhances mental and social skills in children. Play is always incorporated in ABA therapy with skill training, and parents can participate.

3. Shaping Good Behavior

Positive behaviors are also made available by parents using ABA processes like praise reinforcement or token system. For example, the obedient child gets rewarded and will receive more in order to motivate him or her.

4. Role-Playing Classroom Situations

Parents can further role-play classroom situations with the child prior to attending school. They are:

• Raised hand to talk
• Taking turn for an activity
• Waiting a minute

Such minor exercises prepare the children for actual classroom situations.

If you are in need of ABA therapists Atlanta, GA, we stand ready to provide effective, individualized ABA therapy services designed to meet the unique needs of your child. Our experts aim to establish fundamental skills such as communication, social interaction, and living independently in order to equip children with skills necessary for them to be successful at home, school, and in life. We offer center-based and in-home therapies through evidence-based interventions to initiate sustained change. 

Conclusion

Other than being school-ready or academically, school-readiness is also independence, being social, communication, and being self-controllable. The ABA training makes the child prepared for school life in the classroom and that is where the parents should begin.

With their support above the therapists, through facilitation of walking with and support and reinforcement of target behavior, the parents can now have the child taken to school and walk with them to do so well in a safe and productive school life.