I'm an ABA therapist, I've noticed a lot of the adult autistic community speaking out against ABA, as harmful and even abusive. What are your thoughts on ABA, and if you are against it- what should be the alternative? I worry that anti ABA activists will cause parents will pull their children from programs that help them to learn and become more independent instead of working with them to help reform programs and create a stricter code of ethics.
Consider: Your industry has used fear and tragedy rhetoric to create a demand where there wasn’t one. “Early intervention” is not a necessity. Structured therapy is not always called for. Your thinking that there needs to be “an alternative” is inherently wrong.
“ I worry that anti ABA activists will cause parents will pull their children from programs that help them to learn and become more independent instead of working with them to help reform programs and create a stricter code of ethics.“
Uh huh. And while all the grown-ups sit around and argue about ethics, autistic children continue to undergo mistreatment and abuse. Yeah, no thank you. I want the entire industry to die and collapse in on itself. I want every ABA-ist out of a job. I dream of a world where parents pull their children from behaviourism-based programs en masse.
I know you’re new here, so here’s my official “coming out” to you as one of those badly-behaved anti-ABA activists.
Here’s your starting point. Educate yourself.
a note to (what feels like) every ABA therapist everhttp://neurowonderful.tumblr.com/post/112730019116/a-note-to-what-feels-like-every-aba-therapist
If you want me to believe you’re a good behaviouristhttp://realsocialskills.org/post/99822366632/if-you-want-me-to-believe-youre-a-good
Why I Left ABAhttps://sociallyanxiousadvocate.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/why-i-left-aba/
ABA and Autism – the thorny problem of control and consent http://smallbutkindamighty.com/2015/06/16/aba-and-autism-the-thorny-problem-of-control-and-consent/
Appearing to enjoy behaviour modification is not meaningfulhttp://realsocialskills.org/post/124333076514/appearing-to-enjoy-behavior-modificiation-is-notABA therapy is not like typical parenting (this one is relevant to “life skills” acquisition)http://realsocialskills.org/post/120453082402/aba-therapy-is-not-like-typical-parentingResources other than ABAhttp://realsocialskills.org/post/126754414929/resources-other-than-abaHow to Tell if an Autism ABA Therapy Is Harmfulhttp://www.wikihow.com/Tell-if-an-Autism-ABA-Therapy-Is-Harmful
THE MISBEHAVIOUR OF BEHAVIOURISTS: Ethical Challenges to the Autism-ABA Industryhttp://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html“After you hit a child, you can’t just get up and leave him; you are hooked to that kid" O. Ivar Lovaas Interview With Paul Chance, Psychology Today, 1974http://neurodiversity.com/library_chance_1974.html
