Wow.
I definitely shouldn’t have searched Applied Behavior Analysis on here. It’s mind blowing how many people don’t understand the actual and more up to date idea behind ABA. I don’t doubt that some people have had negative experiences with it, but the goal is absolutely not to dehumanize an individual, “cure” them, or make them seem more neurotypical. The main idea is to enable individuals with any number of different disorders to live a more independent life. It is certainly difficult for an individual to function independently, as an adult, if they were never taught that taking other people’s food is not okay or that making animal noises to portray emotions doesn’t help people understand how you’re feeling or how to help you. I have witnessed ABA being used, have used it at work, and intend on going to grad school to become a BCBA, because of the success I have seen. The children I work with tell me all the time how much they enjoy hanging out with me. And the cool thing is, they don’t even realize I’ve used ABA protocol with them every single day.
