About BACA
Th
e Behavior Analysis Center for Autism (BACA) uses the principles and procedures of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) to teach language, social, self-help, academic, daily living and life skills to children and young adults with autism and related disorders throughout Indiana. BACA is committed to the continuous education and training of its staff by hosting regular seminars and training sessions from its esteemed clinical team.
|
Call 317-436-8961
for more
information today!
 
|
|
| |
|
Welcome to BACA's
SPOT Newsletter!
Here you'll receive
information on BACA's speech and OT services, how our professionals implement ABA principles and their involvement in upcoming conferences in each field.
|
|
We're Hiring Speech Pathologists!
|
|
The Behavior Analysis Center for Autism is hiring full and part time speech pathologists for the Fishers and Zionsville, IN, locations!
|
Behind the Scenes
Aimee Irwin, M.A., CCC-SLP, BCBA
 My job as a speech-language pathologist at BACA is different from a typical SLP position, and some of the reasons I love my job are due to these differences. My caseload is low compared to many other positions. I see six clients each day for direct treatment sessions. During and after each session, I teach the ABA therapist (behavior technician) how to work on speech and language skills so that these skills can be targeted through the week. This is just one collaborative part of my job. I also meet monthly with team supervisors (BCBAs in charge of clients' ABA programs), and we discuss specific speech and language targets and barriers to learning for each client. These meetings help me to learn how to reduce problem behavior during my sessions, allowing them to be more productive and the clients to learn speech and language skills more quickly. The main reason I got into this field is I love seeing kids learn to communicate, and I think the collaboration at BACA between the ABA team and myself helps me to be a better SLP and helps me teach my clients new communication skills.
|
|
One of the most difficult parts of my job
(and probabl
y  for many behavior technicians) is working with clients that you know have a lot to say but have no way of saying it. This is one reason I have made access to communication one of my primary areas of concern when I work with a client. This is a large topic!!! In a simpler definition for our center, access to communication could include how well a client imitates fine motor positions to create signs that are intelligible to the reader of the signs and/or how well a client can manipulate a physical communication system. There have also been times when it has included how well a client can control air to create sounds but this has only been a handful of kiddos so I won't address that in this post. Imitation of fine motor positions breaks down into assessing strength, stability, dexterity, visual attention, motor planning, and spatial awareness among other areas. In our centers, the team (Team Supervisor, Training Specialist, Behavior Technicians, among others) assists in identifying words or phrases that are being focused on at the time (usually includes motivating items or current theme words). Then, I can assist on modifying the sign based on the movement a client has or work with the client to attain the clarity the reader needs to comprehend the sign. With communication devices, I will assess target acquisition by addressing any underlying deficits in strength (core, shoulder, hand), eye-hand coordination, balance (primarily in sitting but may be in stance), scanning, spatial awareness, finger isolation and positioning. A physical communication system could also include typing on an iPad/computer or writing. These systems require me to assess many of the same areas identified above. If we think about how we cope with our day, we communicate our needs and wants throughout it. How our clients access their communication to identify wants and needs should be a focus of ours, as clinicians.
|
|
| |
|
