Adaptive behavior includes skills through which an individual shapes himself, while at the same time connecting with the environment and demarcating between it and himself. Through this process, the individual satisfies his needs and meets the expectations and requirements of the environment. It is a learned behavior that an individual must master and store in memory so that they can recall that knowledge when they need it. Preschool children with special needs have problems with adaptive skills, so they need special help and support. The first years are the most important for child's learning, especially for children with special needs. The Master's research examined how the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) approach can help a preschool child with autism spectrum disorder and mental retardation to learn adaptive skills and reduce autoaggressive behavior. The ABA approach is an effective behavioral approach in treating children with autism spectrum disorder. The main goals of the ABA approach are to transform unwanted behavior into more socially acceptable ones and to teach and consolidate new adaptive skills. The research is a case study involving a five-year-old boy attending a kindergarten development department. We designed a program for him following the ABA approach, which lasted 15 weeks. In the beginning, individual meetings were more frequent in the first few weeks - three times a week, then twice a week, and once a week for the last few weeks. We used ABAS-3 (The Adaptive Behavior Assessment System-III), a system for assessing adaptive behavior from infants to the elderly, to assess adaptive behavior. With its help, we planned goals for the child and included the obtained information in the individualized program of the child. With the ABAS system, we also assessed the adaptive behavior according to the implemented program and assessed the achieved changes. We found that ABAS-3 can be an effective tool in setting goals and designing individualized programs for preschool children with special needs. The results of the evaluation with the ABAS-3 system did not show this, but there was a positive change according to the implemented program that we prepared. The boy improved in the area of adaptive skills, and in addition, the presence of autoaggressive behavior decreased.
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