Why Fluency?

Fluency is defined as the ability to respond with accuracy, with little hesitation and at a fast pace (Binder, 1996).  Some everyday examples of fluency are: a barista making a cafe late, a sushi chef making rolls, and a hairdresser cutting hair.

Fluency is also applied to learning language, academic skills, play skills, and social skills.  All are deficit areas for children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Asperger’s Syndrome (AS), and Pervasive Developmental Disorder- Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS).  Children with these developmental disabilities are often described as needing “extra thinking time” or “slow to process information”, when in reality they need to learn to use their skills fluently: correctly and without hesitation.  For example, a child approaches your son or daughter on the playground and initiates play: “Hi, what’s your name?”.  This social request needs a fast response made by your son or daughter, otherwise that peer will lose their interest and walk away. Such social requests also require children to respond to their peers in socially appropriate ways in order for those peers to maintain their interest in your son or daughter. Social situations, opportunities to learn new language skills, or apply learned language skills into academic and play settings all happen at a fast pace in your child’s life, and these moments can quickly pass if your child does not learn to fluency.  Fluency instruction targets both the speed and accuracy of your child’s responding in social situations, language skills, self-help skills, play skills, gross and fine motor development, and academics.
If you have any questions about how Fluency is applied in an ABA program, please feel free to contact us.