ABA therapy vs occupational therapy
Aarone Cefalo, OTD OTR/L
Many people often wonder what the difference is between Occupational Therapy and ABA Therapy. If you’re trying to decide between ABA Therapy vs Occupational Therapy this post aims to break down the differences between the two and when each therapy would be appropriate for your child.
What is ABA Therapy?
Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy focuses on skill learning, behaviors and responses, and interaction with the environment. ABA can work with a child in multiple areas including communication, activities of daily living skills, and play skills. ABA often focuses on how to adapt/change the environment to promote success with different skills. ABA uses shaping and chaining to address skill learning. Shaping is starting at the current skill level and reinforcing behavior that brings them closer to their overall goals. Chaining is breaking down a larger task into smaller tasks.
What is Occupational Therapy?
An occupational therapist focuses on occupations, or in other words things that occupy our time. The main occupation of children is play. Pediatric occupational therapists focus on improving or helping with skills through play. Occupational therapists focus on multiple areas including activities of daily living (self-care skills), fine motor skills, sensory, social skills, and emotional regulation. Occupational therapists use a variety of treatment strategies to work on children’s goals. Occupational therapy breaks down tasks and analyzes them to figure out which specific skills are difficult for the child and then address them in ways that are meaningful to the child through play.
What are some of the similarities?
Both work on identifying skills that are difficult for kids and finding ways to help them improve their skills. ABA and OT both focus on breaking down a task and working towards making smaller steps of a task to reach the goal. They both have training in working with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
What are some of the differences?
OT focuses on helping children learn new skills through play. ABA focuses on helping children learn new skills through changing their behavior. ABA uses mostly shaping and chaining to help children reach their goals. OT uses a variety of treatment strategies to help children reach their goals. ABA works mostly with Autism Spectrum Disorder. OT works with multiple different diagnoses. OT focuses on self-motivation (play as the reward) for a child to reach their goals. ABA uses reinforcers for children to perform preferred behaviors to reach their goals. OT has education in more of the medical field. ABA has education in more of the psychology field.