Joey is a 3 year old male whose parents have seemed counseling due to his changing behavior. The parents made sure to check on Joey's health with various tests, all of which came back normal. Joey began losing his vocabulary and engaged in repetitive behaviors. His parents have also noticed Joey not wanted to be touched and being more irritable. Joey has autism but his parents are unsure of how to raise him. "Children on this spectrum are characterized by difficulties in social development, showing impairments in the basic skills necessary for building a theory of mind: joint attention, imitation, and the turn-taking routines needed to cement solid interpersonal relationships" (Broderick & Blewitt, 2020).

Awareness

Joey's parents said themselves they are confused on how to raise a child with autism. It is shown that they know little about autism and how to follow through with treatment. Autism is often under diagnosed in minority children so it is beneficial that this instance was diagnosed while the child is still young (Travers & Krezmien, 2018). Increasing awareness on Applied Behavior Analysis could help tremendously and give them a resource for help. ABA not only benefits the child but also offers parent trainings which could help alleviate their anxieties. ABA can help increase communication and skill acquisition while decreasing maladaptive behaviors (Dhawan, 2021). Utilizing ABA will allow the therapists to work on any maladaptive behaviors the child in exhibiting and reinforce positive coping mechanisms and skills.`

Challenges

This could be challenging for me as a counselor because there is certain advice I can not offer. I will have to make sure both me and the clients understand that I can not provide ABA advice or implement behavior plans. I think this could be hard for the clients as they will most likely have many questions and want advice. Being able to make the clients understand the different thinks myself and the Board Certified Behavior Analyst do could be challenging.

Summary

This is a challenging scenario for the parents but it important as a counselor to support them and validate what they are going through. It is also important to understand as a counselor what advice you are able to give and what is the BCBA's part. ABA can be a helpful resource for the family and could work hand in hand with counseling. The counselor and BCBA are also able to collaborate to support the parents and child as much as possible.