Implementation of Applied Behavior Analysis Principles in Fostering the Faith of Children with Autism at Melati Ceria Special School, Palangka Raya

Abstract

This article examines how principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) can be contextualized in faith formation for children with autism at Melati Ceria Special School, Palangka Raya. The discussion is positioned at the intersection of special education, behavior analysis, and Christian religious education. A qualitative descriptive, literature-informed case analysis is used to organize the discussion around reinforcement, prompting and fading, shaping, task analysis, visual supports, modeling, and generalization. Because the files supplied for manuscript preparation contain author information and the journal template but do not contain primary field notes, interview transcripts, participant numbers, or school-level outcome data, the article does not invent empirical statistics. Instead, it develops an implementation framework that can be aligned with the school's real practices and subsequently tested through field research. The analysis indicates that ABA principles are most useful for faith formation when they are applied to observable learning behaviors—such as attending to a Bible story, participating in prayer, identifying Christian symbols, practicing gratitude, joining worship routines, and demonstrating caring actions—while preserving the spiritual meaning of the activities. Effective implementation requires individualized goals, positive reinforcement, systematic prompting, gradual fading, repeated practice, family collaboration, and opportunities to generalize learned behaviors across classroom, home, church, and community settings. The article argues that behavioral structure should function as a bridge to meaningful participation rather than as a substitute for faith itself