You pour your heart into your work, spending hours crafting individualized ABA strategies for families. You train parents, model interventions, and provide detailed recommendations—only to find that follow-through at home is inconsistent. You see the potential for real progress, but without consistency, the child’s development stalls. It’s frustrating, disheartening, and makes you wonder: How can you help parents bridge the gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it?
You’ve adjusted your parent training approach, simplified instructions, and even created visual aids to make ABA strategies easier to implement. You’ve sent follow-up emails, offered extra coaching sessions, and reminded parents of the importance of consistency. But despite their best intentions, parents struggle to break old habits and replace them with effective behavioral techniques.
Imagine if ABA strategies became second nature to parents—something they implemented automatically, without even thinking about it. What if, over the next month, you could transform parent engagement by helping them build habits that stick? How much more progress could their child make if effective interventions became part of daily life rather than just another therapy task?
The Challenge of Follow-Through: Why ABA Strategies Don’t Always Stick
As a BCBA®, you know the frustration of recommending effective ABA strategies to parents, only to find that follow-through at home is inconsistent. Parents aren’t ignoring your advice—they’re simply operating on autopilot. Their daily interactions with their child are shaped by deeply ingrained habits, making it challenging to implement new techniques that require intentional effort.
But what if we, as behavior analysts, applied our own science to help parents build habits that support their child’s progress? Research has demonstrated that parents who receive structured ABA training show greater adherence to intervention strategies (Bearss et al., 2015). By using principles of behavior change, we can help parents establish ABA strategies as natural parts of their routines, reducing the need for constant reminders and increasing long-term success.
The Importance of Habits in Parent Training
Habits play a crucial role in daily life because they allow us to perform tasks with minimal cognitive effort, freeing up attention and mental energy for other demands. When something becomes a habit, we no longer have to actively think about doing it—it happens automatically. This is why habit formation is essential in parent training; when ABA strategies become habitual, parents can implement them consistently without feeling overwhelmed.
Research supports the idea that habits reduce decision fatigue and improve long-term adherence to behaviors. Neal, Wood, and Quinn (2006) found that behaviors performed in stable contexts become automatic over time, making them more resilient to disruption. By embedding ABA techniques into a parent’s existing routine, we help them form lasting habits that are more likely to persist under stress.
Additionally, Gollwitzer (1999) introduced the concept of implementation intentions, which suggests that linking new behaviors to specific cues (e.g., “When my child asks for a snack, I will prompt them to use their communication device first”) significantly increases follow-through. This aligns with ABA principles of antecedent-based interventions and reinforces the importance of structured habit-building in parent training.
The Science of Habit Formation in Parenting
Research in behavioral psychology highlights that habits form through a loop of cue, routine, and reinforcement (Duhigg, 2012). Applying this model, we can structure ABA strategies into parents’ daily lives using:
- Anchoring to Existing Routines – Pair new ABA techniques with habits parents already have.
- Shaping Gradual Change – Introduce one change at a time to prevent overwhelm.
- Immediate Reinforcement – Reinforce parents’ efforts to increase consistency.
- Building Automaticity – Encourage repetition until the new behavior becomes second nature.
- Tracking Progress – Help parents monitor their consistency and celebrate small victories.
Additionally, research by Wood and Neal (2007) on habit formation suggests that behaviors linked to environmental cues and repeated consistently are more likely to become automatic. This underscores the importance of integrating ABA strategies within a parent’s existing daily routine to enhance adherence and success.
Step-by-Step: How to Help Parents Form Lasting ABA Habits
Step 1: Identify Current Routines and Anchor New Strategies
Parents already have set patterns—morning routines, mealtimes, bedtime rituals. The key is to seamlessly integrate ABA strategies into these moments. For example:
- If you’re teaching a parent to reinforce communication requests, tie it to mealtime: “Before you hand them the juice, pause and wait for an attempt to communicate.”
- If prompting transitions is a challenge, integrate it into the school drop-off routine: “Before opening the car door, give a countdown from five.”
A study by Lally et al. (2010) found that it takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to become automatic, emphasizing the need for consistency in implementation. Further, research by Patterson and Chamberlain (1994) on parent management training supports the integration of structured intervention strategies into daily routines to increase the likelihood of follow-through.
Step 2: Shape One Small Change at a Time
Expecting parents to implement multiple strategies at once can be overwhelming. Instead, focus on shaping behavior by reinforcing gradual progress.
- Week 1: Focus only on reinforcing communication during meals.
- Week 2: Introduce reinforcement for following directions during during the bathing routine.
- Week 3: Add prompting techniques during transitions.
By systematically layering changes, parents are more likely to sustain new habits. Additionally, providing parents with a structured plan gives them a clear roadmap to follow, reducing stress and increasing motivation. Schreibman et al. (2015) found that parent-mediated interventions significantly improve skill generalization in autistic children, reinforcing the importance of structured, gradual habit development.
Step 3: Use Immediate Reinforcement to Support Parent Behavior
Parents need reinforcement too! Positive feedback from the BCBA®, visual progress tracking, and even self-reinforcement strategies (e.g., celebrating small wins) can enhance motivation.
- Provide parents with a simple tracking sheet or app to note successes.
- Verbally reinforce their consistency: “I noticed how well you waited for their request at breakfast—you’re really building this habit!”
- Encourage self-reinforcement: “At the end of the day, acknowledge your wins. Did you implement the strategy at least once today? That’s progress!”
- Suggest parents use tangible reinforcement, such as a self-reward system where they treat themselves to something enjoyable after consistently implementing a new technique.
Studies in applied behavior analysis suggest that self-monitoring and reinforcement increase adherence to new behaviors (Miltenberger, 2015). Encouraging parents to track their efforts and celebrate small successes can significantly improve follow-through.
Overcoming Common Barriers to Habit Formation
Even with the best planning, parents will encounter obstacles. Here’s how to address common challenges:
- Forgetting to Implement – Use visual cues like sticky notes or phone reminders. Incorporating structured tools from the ACHIEVE Parent Training Curriculum can help parents develop effective reminder systems tailored to their daily routines.
- Feeling Overwhelmed – Reassure parents that progress is gradual and perfection isn’t required. Our CEU course Reducing Parent Stress Through Effective Parent Training (only available in the Master ABA Dojo membership) provides strategies you can use to help parents manage stress and build sustainable habits.
- Lack of Immediate Results – Set realistic expectations and celebrate small improvements. Parent Engagement Reimagined: Turning Goals into Meaningful Progress (2.5 CEUs) offers insights into setting achievable milestones and tracking progress in a meaningful way.
- Competing Priorities – Acknowledge that parents are balancing multiple responsibilities and encourage flexible implementation rather than rigid adherence to new routines. Enhancing Interactions: How to Use the ACT Matrix to Build Partnerships with Parents and Staff (2 CEUs) provides a framework for improving communication between parents and therapists, ensuring more adaptable and effective strategies.
- Parental Burnout – Provide self-care strategies and emphasize that small, consistent efforts matter more than perfection. The ACT of Collaboration: Using the ACT Matrix to Empower Parents (1 CEU) helps parents stay engaged without feeling overwhelmed by unrealistic expectations.
By recognizing and addressing these barriers, parents can build long-term habits that ensure consistent and effective ABA implementation.
The Long-Term Impact: Sustainable Change Without Burnout
By shifting the focus from immediate skill acquisition to sustainable habit formation, parents experience less stress, greater confidence, and a stronger connection with their child. As BCBAs®, our role is to facilitate not just behavior change in children, but also in the adults supporting them.
By embedding ABA strategies into existing routines, shaping gradual change, and reinforcing parental consistency, we help create an environment where evidence-based interventions become second nature. Over time, this shift leads to more meaningful progress, better generalization of skills, and less frustration for everyone involved.
Additionally, teaching parents how to analyze their own behaviors and adjust their reinforcement strategies can empower them to continue adapting to their child’s needs over time. Providing structured parent coaching sessions, role-playing scenarios, and troubleshooting strategies can further increase their success rate.
Research by Stokes and Baer (1977) on generalization suggests that reinforcing behaviors in natural settings increases long-term maintenance of skills. This aligns with the goal of integrating ABA strategies into daily routines to enhance retention and real-world applicability.
Final Thoughts
Helping parents turn ABA strategies into habits isn’t just about improving follow-through—it’s about empowering them to feel successful in supporting their child’s growth. By applying the science of behavior change to our parent training, we can create lasting, positive outcomes that extend far beyond the therapy setting.
If you’re looking for more strategies on parent training and effective ABA interventions, check out additional resources at Master ABA or explore CEU courses at Master ABA Academy.
References
Bearss, K., Johnson, C., Smith, T., Lecavalier, L., Swiezy, N., Aman, M., … & Scahill, L. (2015). Effect of parent training on adaptive behavior in children with autism spectrum disorder: A randomized controlled trial. JAMA, 313(15), 1524-1533.
Duhigg, C. (2012). The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business. Random House.
Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998-1009.
Miltenberger, R. G. (2015). Behavior modification: Principles and procedures. Cengage Learning.
Patterson, G. R., & Chamberlain, P. (1994). A functional analysis of resistance during parent training therapy. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 1(1), 53-70.
Schreibman, L., Dawson, G., Stahmer, A. C., Landa, R., Rogers, S. J., McGee, G. G., … & Halladay, A. (2015). Naturalistic developmental behavioral interventions: Empirically validated treatments for autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 45(8), 2411-2428.
Stokes, T. F., & Baer, D. M. (1977). An implicit technology of generalization. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 10(2), 349-367.
Wood, W., & Neal, D. T. (2007). A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface. Psychological Review, 114(4), 843-863.
