{"id":1694,"date":"2022-09-15T08:46:42","date_gmt":"2022-09-15T08:46:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/appliedabcstg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=1694"},"modified":"2025-06-23T11:21:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:21:09","slug":"what-is-natural-environment-teaching-in-aba-therapy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appliedabc.com\/es\/what-is-natural-environment-teaching-in-aba-therapy\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Natural Environment Teaching In ABA Therapy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Have you ever tried learning something new by watching a video or following a written set of instructions? When it was time to put all that learning to work in a real-life environment, you may have found it to be totally different than anticipated.
\nThe same concept holds true for children with autism spectrum disorder who are learning new social skills or behaviors through Terapia de An\u00e1lisis de Comportamiento Aplicado (ABA)<\/a>. While learning skills or behaviors in a controlled environment can be a great way to form an initial understanding, those skills or learned behaviors may not always translate perfectly to a real-world setting.<\/p>\n

What Is Natural Environment Teaching?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As the name suggests, natural environment teaching (NET) takes place in a natural setting, such as a classroom or a store, when a more complex, less structured approach is required. This scientifically proven teaching method lets ABA practitioners use their surroundings to help children with autism understand, develop, and hone learned skills.<\/p>\n

In a research paper written by Amy Mosier titled \u201cApplied Behavior Analysis Techniques: Discrete Trial Training & Natural Environment Training,\u201d Mosier explains why children with ASD receiving NET are able to verbally interact better with certain stimuli compared to other forms of ABA therapy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is because NET is focused around play. Since NET is done in the child\u2019s most natural setting, it is believed by many theorists that this environment is the most effective for facilitating skills crucial for communication and language development. Thus, this teaching method would naturally lead to the spontaneous production of those skills in that environment.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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What Are Some Examples of Natural Environment Teaching?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

What an ABA therapist can do with Natural Environment Teaching is only limited by their creativity. Often, NET will be used to help a child practice a specific skill set. For example, if the child is learning how to clean a window, then their therapist can bring them to different places that have windows ranging from a room in a house to the closed window of a car.<\/p>\n

Mark W. Steege et al., in Applied Behavior Analysis: Beyond Discrete Trial Teaching<\/a>, provides another example of Natural Environment Teaching that includes positive reinforcement to encourage desired behaviors.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsider a situation in which a preschooler is playing with blocks. The blocks are different colors, and each has a capitalized letter of the alphabet printed in large white letters. Taking advantage of the child\u2019s attention to the blocks, the teacher verbally states: \u2018Show me the blue block.\u2019 The child responds by pointing to the blue block, and the teacher responds with social reinforcement (e.g., \u2018Great job showing me the blue block\u2019).<\/p>\n

NET gives children with ASD a chance to practice things like learning to clean or recognizing the difference between colors in a slightly different process depending on the context, helping them gain confidence and the ability to truly understand what the target behavior is and how to adapt to a changing environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Benefits of Natural Environment Teaching<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Natural Environment Teaching can help children with autism in several ways.<\/p>\n