Capturing what joy looks like can sometimes be challenging for adults with severe intellectual disabilities. This video demonstrates expressions beyond spoken language. Mike and Kay Carr are the founders of Autism Labs and parents of Michael, their thirty-three-year-old son with low-functioning autism. With the help of the University of Texas Special Ed & Speech Departments, Kay and Mike have researched and implemented effective at-home systems to promote Michael’s safety, communication, and independence. Follow along to learn simple and effective strategies from behavioral analysts, caretakers, and parents as we journey through the challenges of autism together, incorporating insights from applied behavior analysis for autism.
Finding Joy: Working with Michael Through Applied Behavior Analysis
Hello, I am a board certified behavior analyst (BCBA), I am Hayden Hunt, and I work closely with Michael and his aid team to teach and maintain their life -enriched skills. Michael is an adult with intensive autism, and every day we try to promote freedom, purpose and happiness in his life. One of the main tools applied behavioral analysis (ABA) in achieving it is a powerful, evidence-based approach to teaching socially important skills. While ABA often promotes debate, this post highlights its essence: improve the quality of life for individuals by focusing on its unique strength, needs and expressions of joy. Today, I will share how ABA supports Michael, what Joy looks like in his life, and how we can shape meaningful moments with the cooperation of our family and team.
What ABA Really Means for Us
ABA is a systematic approach to understand and change behavior. In your heart, ABA is about using strategies based in science to teach skills and reduce obstacles that disrupt the quality of life. For Michael, this may mean working on communication, holiday, or daily life skills that empower him to navigate his world more independently. One of the major principles of ABA focuses on socially important behaviors – which directly affect a person’s life. These behaviors vary from person to person. For Michael, they learn from expressing preferences using their communication tools that he learns the way he enjoys independently in activities he enjoys. The goal is not only skill-building, but to promote a life filled with joy and purpose. While future posts will dive deep into ABA strategies, today we will focus on how happiness appears in Michael’s life and how we use evidence-based methods to support it.
What Makes Michael Happy
Do you know that when you see someone really happy, feel? With Michael, it is infallible. While he uses a communication tool that has buttons for words like “happy” or “excited”, his real bliss shows in many other ways – through his contagious laughter, the way he sings his favorite song Hears, or how it is peaceful when he is running his hand through water. Sometimes he is just sitting there, making his favorite silly noise with the biggest smile on his face. Those moments remind us that happiness does not require words.
How We Help Michael Thrive
Michael uses a communication device with buttons for words like ‘happy’ and ‘excited,’ but his joy is so much bigger than what any button can say. You see it when he hears his favorite music, feels water running over his hands, or cracks up at a silly sound.
Even when nothing specific is happening, he has his own way of showing happiness—through big, goofy noises, huge smiles, and an energy that fills the room. Being around him, you start to see the world through his joy, and it’s impossible not to smile with him.
The Role of ABA in Shaping Joyful Lives
Communication is key to sharing joy. Through ABA, we help Michael use his device to express his feelings, preferences, and needs. By encouraging and celebrating his efforts, we give him the confidence to take an active role in his experiences.
For example, if Michael presses ‘excited’ during an activity he loves, his team responds right away—acknowledging and celebrating what he’s communicating. Over time, this positive reinforcement helps him connect his emotions to the words on his device, making it easier for him to express himself.
Building Independent Leisure Skills
We all have those things we do just for the pure joy of it, right? For Michael, that could be playing with his sensory toys, watching his favorite videos, or just being outside. We use ABA to help him learn how to do these things himself, breaking it down into smaller, easier steps.
Say he gets a new sensory toy. We might start by just helping him pick it up. Then, we’ll explore the different textures and sounds together. Before you know it, he’ll be playing with it on his own and having a blast.
Fostering Daily Living Skills
Learning to do everyday stuff is a big deal, and ABA can really help. Think about it – brushing your teeth, making a snack, getting dressed – those things make you feel good and give you more freedom.
For Michael, even little things like pouring his own drink or picking out what he wants to wear can make him feel so proud. We use things like prompt fading and reinforcement to help him learn at his own speed.
The Contagious Nature of Joy
Michael’s the kind of guy who gets a kick out of the little things. Yeah, he enjoys the big stuff, but catch him by the window watching sunlight spread across the floor or zoning out to the hum of his fan – that’s his happy place. The more you notice what makes him smile, the more you start catching those sweet, simple moments in your own life too.
The Contagious Nature of Joy
Michael’s the kind of guy who gets a kick out of the little things. Yeah, he enjoys the big stuff, but catch him by the window watching sunlight spread across the floor or zoning out to the hum of his fan – that’s his happy place. The more you notice what makes him smile, the more you start catching those sweet, simple moments in your own life too.
Sharing Joy with Others
When Michael’s happy, it just spreads through the room. You can’t help but smile when he’s excited about something. His parents and the folks who help take care of him – they light up too. It’s like all their hard work pays off in those little moments when they see him really enjoying himself.
Developing Content Around Joy
Our team knows every kid and adult with autism is different – there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. We’ll keep sharing what actually works, but more importantly, we want to tell real stories about people like Michael. It’s all about showing how everyone has their own special way of finding happiness and letting it show.
Evidence-Based Strategies
In our upcoming content, we’ll dig deeper into what works in ABA therapy. You’ll see stuff like:
- How to make good behaviors stick by making them feel rewarding – like giving a high five when someone nails a new skill.
- Getting kids to use what they learn everywhere, not just during therapy. Like if they learn to say ‘hello’ in sessions, helping them do it at the park or grocery store too.
- Making learning part of regular daily life – think practicing counting while baking cookies or learning colors while sorting laundry. Real-life stuff that just makes sense.
Michael’s Unique Program
We make sure everything we do fits what Michael needs and likes. Whether we’re helping him find new ways to tell us what he wants, or building on the stuff he’s already good at – it’s all about making therapy work for him. The whole point is to help him grow while keeping that smile on his face.
Takeaways for Families and Caregivers
Here’s what we’ve learned from working with Michael that might help if you’ve got someone with autism in your life:
First off, happiness looks different for everyone, right? Maybe your kid isn’t jumping up and down excited, but they’re flapping their hands or making that quiet humming sound they do when they’re content. Those moments? They’re gold. Try to spot what makes them light up and weave more of that into their day.
Play to their strong points. Like, if your kid’s a whiz with numbers but struggles with words, let’s roll with those math skills. Build on what clicks for them instead of getting hung up on the tough stuff.
And hey, take it easy – there’s no rush. Some days will be better than others, and what works today might not work tomorrow. That’s totally normal. Just roll with it and switch things up when you need to.
Ask for Help
Getting help from experts like BCBAs isn’t something to feel weird about – they’ve seen it all and can give you some solid tips and tricks for helping your loved one. Seriously, these folks know their stuff and can make life a lot easier. Just reach out if you’re feeling stuck.
Final Thoughts: Shaping Joy and Purpose
Look, ABA isn’t just about checking boxes and teaching skills – it’s about helping kids like Michael actually enjoy life and connect with people. For him, that means letting him be himself, express his happiness his way, and experience things at his own speed.
Working with Michael honestly brightens our days. The way his face lights up when he gets excited about something – man, it just gets you right in the heart. We’re sharing his story hoping it’ll help other families find their own wins, big and small.
Got something on your mind? Want us to talk about specific stuff in our next posts? Just drop us a line. The more we all share and learn from each other, the better we can make things for kids with autism and their families.
Follow us on YouTube: @autismlabs
Hi. My name is Haden Hunt. I’m a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and I work alongside Michael and his support team to teach and maintain skills that promote a more independent and joyful life. A very important system used by Michael’s support team and parents to teach and maintain these skills is Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). We will talk more about what ABA is and how to use ABA strategies in later videos. Today, I want to preface that ABA should focus on socially significant behaviors and aim to improve the joy and quality of life of individuals. This may look like teaching communication skills, independent leisure skills, or daily living skills. Capturing what that joy looks like can be difficult, especially when the language that Michael has is mostly limited to a communication device. There are emotional words such as happy and excited that Michael has learned to press on his device, but he usually has more emphatic means of communicating joy in his life. When Michael communicates this joy, it’s absolutely contagious.
When he’s feeling joyful, he’s usually quite loud and he makes silly noises, and he will smile if he’s having a particular experience. Sometimes he’s not. Sometimes he’s just making these happy noises that he does.
We will continue developing content that discusses evidence-based strategies and methods unique to Michael’s program that are implemented to shape joy and purpose into his life. We hope that this video has provided a fresh perspective on how others may express their joy. And please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have or topics you would like for us to cover in the future. We’ll see you next time.
