THE EFFECT OF THE ABA (APPLIED BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS) METHOD ON THE KNOWLEDGE AND EFFICACY OF TOOTHBRUSHING IN AUTICAL CHILDREN

Abstract

The dental and oral health of autistic children is generally not good. This is exacerbated by the inability to brush teeth properly, due to disruption of the child's concentration and interaction, making it difficult to receive instructions on how to brush teeth.  Dental and oral health problems in autistic children are the same as dental health problems in normal children. The difference is the behavior that autistic children display where they are unable to follow instructions or are uncooperative. Objective: To determine the effect of dental health education using the Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) method on the knowledge and efficacy of toothbrushing in autistic children. Method: The type of research design is quasi-experimental with a pretest and posttest non-equivalent control group design utilizing intervention and control groups with a purposive sampling technique totaling 15 intervention groups and 15 control groups. The instrument used for this research was a questionnaire to assess the knowledge and efficacy of brushing teeth in children with autism. Results: There was an influence and increase in knowledge and efficacy of toothbrushing in both groups with a value of (P<0.05), however the increase was higher in the intervention group. Conclusion: There is an influence of dental health education using the ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) method on the knowledge and efficacy of toothbrushing in autistic children