Speech therapy and ABA often work hand-in-hand to address communication difficulties in children. These services have the potential to improve several areas of a child’s development.
According to research, parents can help improve a child’s outcomes while receiving these interventions by participating in their child’s therapy. When parents are actively involved in the process, they’re able to learn the goals, strategies, and therapeutic techniques that can be used to help the child continue to practice and make gains at home.
However, treatment notes and discussions with the therapists can be loaded with unfamiliar terminology like antecedent, manding, prompting, shaping, and praising. Within the fields of speech therapy and ABA, distinct terminology is used.
We’ll help bridge the gap here by providing a clear understanding of the commonly used terms in speech therapy and ABA, and a look at the difference between some seemingly similar terms.
“Manding” vs. “Requesting”
Manding: In ABA, this refers to a child asking for a desired object or activity. Depending on the child’s language skills, mands can be verbal (saying a word) or nonverbal (such as through gestures or pictures). Developing manding skills through prompting and reinforcement is a common goal in ABA.
Requesting: In speech therapy, “requesting” refers to several different forms of communication that a child may use to ask for something, and can include direct requests as well as indirect requests within social situations This could be by saying a word or using nonverbal communication such as pictures, signs, gestures, or an AAC (Augmentative Alternative Communication) device.
The Difference
The goal of teaching “manding” in ABA is often to replace a negative or undesired behavior with a functional means for a child to ask for something. It is often targeted through behavioral interventions. “Requesting” in speech therapy can include a broader range of communicative acts and is elicited through speech and language interventions.
“Shaping”
In ABA: Shaping is used to gradually teach and refine behaviors. Successive approximations of the target behavior are reinforced.
In speech therapy: In speech therapy, shaping often refers to gradually improving the accuracy that specific speech sounds are articulated by the child. The term is also used to refer to techniques used to help a child gradually develop a specific communication skill.
Example: Fluency shaping strategies (such as speaking at a slow rate) aim to help those who stutter to speak more fluently. Or, to teach a child to say consonant blends like the “sp” sounds in “spill”, the speech therapist may start by working on the child’s production of the “s” sound, then gradually blending it with the “p” sound.
The Difference
"Shaping" in ABA is geared towards developing behaviors, and in speech therapy is used to develop an improved use and accuracy of speech and language skills.
“Reinforcement”
In ABA: Reinforcement can be positive (providing something desired) or negative (removing something undesired). It refers to a consequence that increases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future.
In speech therapy: The speech therapist uses various forms of reinforcement such as verbal praise, tangible rewards, and natural consequences (like being able to successfully communicate a message). This is provided during play, games, or communication tasks to encourage and motivate the child to engage in the activity and practice certain speech and language skills.
The Difference
In ABA, reinforcement is a key component of modifying a child’s behaviors to teach desired behaviors and reduce undesired ones. Reinforcement in speech therapy is used both to encourage the child to participate in therapeutic activities and to reinforce communication skills.
More Vocabulary to Know
ABA
Antecedent: Something that occurs before a behavior which may trigger that behavior.
Consequence: What happens after a behavior. The consequence can be positive, reinforcing the behavior to happen again, or negative, reducing the likelihood of the behavior occurring again.
Baseline: An initial measurement of behaviors before any intervention occurs. Baseline data is used as a reference to measure progress over time.
Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA): An evidence-based process of gathering and analyzing information to help identify why a child may be performing certain behaviors.
Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP): A formal, written improvement plan created based on the results of the FBA, which specifies recommended actions for improving or replacing certain behaviors.
Natural Environment Teaching (NET): A personalized teaching method that involves teaching skills in a child’s natural environment (such as in their home) and following the child’s lead.
Speech therapy
Prompt/Cue: A strategy used to help a child perform the desired speech or language skill. For example, to lead a child into answering a “why” question, he or she can be prompted with the starter phrase “because…”. Cues like touching the mouth or reminding the child to move their mouth a certain way can help them say a specific speech sound the correct way.
Accuracy: How well the child uses a certain communication skill. This is often a percentage (ex: the accuracy he or she produces a sound).
Modeling: A strategy used in speech therapy that involves the therapist or caregiver demonstrating a correct speech or language skill for a child.
Generalization: The ability to use a skill learned in one context (such as a speech therapy session, with the therapist) to different situations (like at home with family or on the playground with peers). A goal in speech therapy is to generalize a child’s speech and language skills across contexts.
Additional Resources
TherapyWorks offers ABA and Speech Therapy, in addition to Occupational and Physical Therapy both in person (in Illinois, Michigan, and Ohio) and through teletherapy (nationwide). If you would like to learn more, or discuss your child’s specific needs, please don’t hesitate to reach out to TherapyWorks!
References
Cihon, J. H. (2022). Shaping: A Brief History, Research Overview, and Recommendations. Handbook of Applied Behavior Analysis Interventions for Autism: Integrating Research into Practice, 403-415. DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-96478-8_21
Leafe N, Pagnamenta E, Taggart L, et alWhat works, how and in which contexts when supporting parents to implement intensive speech and language therapy at home for children with speech sound disorder? A protocol for a realist reviewBMJ Open 2024;14:e074272. doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-074272
Freeburn, J. (2022). Speech therapy: being understood clearly. In Functional Movement disorder: an Interdisciplinary case-based approach (pp. 341-352). Cham: Springer International Publishing. DOI: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-86495-8_25
