A lot of our families ask me about behavior therapy. Sometimes there seems to be a negative connotation about behavior therapy, but that shouldn’t be the case. My own children, who are on the autism spectrum, were in behavior therapy for years, and they still are. It’s helpful to think of it not so much as behavior therapy, but as behavior control.
Organization
When kids come to us they’re often very disorganized, because they live in such an overwhelming world. They spend all their time responding behaviorally to the environment rather than integrating it. We have to work through many behavior issues before we can finally get to a place where the kids will work with us, and we can get some quality treatment done.
Environment
Often times we may recommend behavior therapy so that we can work in conjunction with it. This way the child will learn how to comply with their environment and manage themselves in it, rather than run away or respond behaviorally. It’s important to remember that we are all people of habit and pattern—it’s just what we all do. When our kids respond behaviorally they aren’t bad kids, they’re just responding in the way that they’ve learned to, and it’s their habit.
Compliment Other Therapies
The behavioral therapists can help us understand the behavior, and help us figure out what is causing it and how to change it. And this way our kids get the benefit not only of behavior therapy, but other therapies as well. OT, PT, speech, vision therapy, school—all these things work together for the best benefit to your child. We understand that therapy is expensive, and you definitely want to get the most of your investment!
We hope this helps to clarify what behavior therapy is, and why we might recommend it. If you have any questions, please email us at info@ceptherapy.com.
