I just saw a post talking about aba and what kind of harmful practices that are widely used in it that is traumatizing and harmful to autistic ppl and I just want to give a scenario to NTs that they might be able to understand, specifically around sensory tolerance exercises and stimming.
Youâre forced to be in a room, you canât leave this room and someone takes something that is very important to you. Maybe itâs your phone, a childhood comfort item, a treasured gift, or an important picture of someone or a pet that youâve lost, something that is emotionally important to you.
They say you can have it back when you complete a task. The task is to listen to the screech of microphone feedback for a certain amount of time. They play it at a low volume, itâs annoying but okay. âGood job!â They give your item back for minute or so, before taking it away again. Thatâs not fair, the item is yours, youâre bothered now. They play it louder this time. Itâs uncomfortable, you wince a little. âGood job, youâre a super star!â They give your item back for a little longer, before taking it away again.â Youâre getting irritated.
The screech is louder now, itâs startling and painful. You instinctually cover your ears to mitigate how loud it is. (Stimming) this time you donât get your item back. âCan you do quiet hands?â You have to listen to this god awful sound without covering your ears. Youâre starting to get really angry. How are you supposed to do that? You donât have almost any control of that because your bodyâs natural reaction is to protect your eardrums. They want you to fight your natural instinct in order to tolerate something really painful!
They play it again and you canât stop yourself from naturally covering your ears. You get so upset that now you are crying and yelling and demanding they give your item back! (Meltdown) maybe, you canât even tell them how much this is hurting and upsetting you, you donât know how to say the words. (Nonverbal) This goes on for maybe an hour as they work on your âtoleranceâ. And again the next day. And the next. Maybe for a week or even two. Until youâve âmade progressâ (masking) on being able to push yourself to do what they want.
The reason for this? Everyone else naturally has noise cancelling headphones. This sound doesnât bother them. They want it to not bother you either, but you shouldnât cover your ears to act as noise canceling headphones to be able to function like they can. They want you to be able to listen to the sound exactly the way they do without any way to do that other than pretending it doesnât hurt you.
Aba practitioners commonly ask parents to provide their childâs favorite things, toys, comfort items, special interests, food and treats to use as âpositive reinforcementâ, what that really is, is weaponizing those things to force compliance to the point where many aba survivors develop trauma surrounding those things. Imagine everything that makes you happy being used to cause you emotional and physical harm. They make this look like a fun activity! Look how much weâre learning! Parents trust this therapy, practitioners believe itâs for the well-being of autistic children. Itâs not. Not to the autistic child. This is just one of many abusive tactics involved in aba. At the very least, be wary and learn what you could be getting involved in and what you are involving your child in. This is an ugly truth many people donât want to recognize.
