Autism Services

St.Amant offers Autism Services programming through its Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) Program. ABA uses behavioural science and techniques in a planned and systematic way to assess, teach and improve socially significant behaviours to help an individual with autism to live a full and fully functional life.

Our program is funded by the Province of Manitoba to provide intensive behavioural intervention for children diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Preschool children receive home-based early intensive behavioural intervention for up to three years, while school aged children can receive intervention for up to three years or Grade 4 (whichever comes first). The Behavior Analyst Autism Consultation Service (BAACS) provides additional support to children who have completed the 3-year school-age program. The funding for this service is a new effort and is determined year by year at this time.

ABA involves determining how behaviours are acquired or modified by specific experiences that precede behaviour and occur as consequences of behaviour. An individual’s behaviour and behavioural potential is seen as determined by three factors – the individual’s biological structure and current physiological state, personal history of environmental experiences and current environmental conditions. The latter is the only determinant that can be manipulated and is therefore the object of behaviour analysis.

ABA involves emphasis on changes and adjustments in the current environmental conditions with the objective of promoting learning and positive change in behaviour. Practitioners aim to improve socially important behaviour by using tools based on principles that have been evaluated in reliable and objectively measured experiments.

ABA aims to:

• Teach new behaviours or increase and maintain relevant and desired behaviours
• Generalize or transfer behaviour across situations or responses
• Restrict or narrow conditions under which interfering behaviours occur
• Reduce interfering behaviours
• Through these processes, enhance the quality of life for the child and their family.

The St.Amant ABA programming is tailored to each child and is based on an evolving body of knowledge. ABA interventions are supervised by qualified behavioural analysts familiar with current research in the field.