What is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)?
Although the roots of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) can be traced to the 1938 publication of “The Behavior of Organisms” by B.F. Skinner, most behavior analysts would agree that the founding of ABA coincides with the first publication of the “Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis” in 1968. ABA was defined by Baer, Wolf, and Risley in this initial publication and the definition is relevant still today:
Applied Behavior Analysis is the science in which procedures derived from the principles of behavior are systematically applied to improve socially significant behavior to a meaningful degree and to demonstrate experimentally that the procedures employed were responsible for the improvement in behavior.
Applied Behavior Analysis is the science in which procedures derived from the principles of behavior are systematically applied to improve socially significant behavior to a meaningful degree and to demonstrate experimentally that the procedures employed were responsible for the improvement in behavior.
