Namechanged for this because I don't want to identify myself. I have been investigating ABA in some detail recently as so many posters say it has been very helpful for their dc so thought it might be worth a whirl. I have met with a consultant, been to see some programmes in the area and talked with parents doing it. I was a bit bothered by some of the ways that "behaviours" were spoken about and acted upon. Here were my concerns about what I saw..
- One boy was in his teens and obviously very severely affected by his autism although he can talk. He was doing very nice stuff with baking and seemed to enjoy it but once or twice he did a stim, just a very very minor one with his hands, rubbing his fingers together. The consultant lady looked at him - I am not joking - like he was dirt and said "Ew, what's that weird thing you're doing?" and he stopped. She said "what do we call that?" and he said "stim" and she asked him should he do it. He said no and asked him why and he said "it's weird, people won't want to be near me".
- Another programme was for a boy who was the same age as my own, he was nonverbal but went over to a therapist and pulled her arm and said "buh buh buh". It really looked to me as though he was trying to get her attention to play, he looked right at her and said "buh buh buh" and was laughing and really engaged and she took the toy he had off him because he is "not allowed" to make this noise as it would "frighten people in the community". " She took the toy off him and said "uh uh, WEIRD" and waited until he was silent and gave him back.
- I also saw a parent told that her son shouldn't do drama even though he really likes it because it won't help him make as many friends as doing football so rather than do drama, he should be trained to enjoy football and only have what he likes and is good as as a reward which will be faded?? I mean, really? The idea was more boys like football, and doing drama as a boy can be "stigmatising" (really????).
-Another boy was told that this minor clicky noise he was making in his throat was a stim and weird and he said on cue that he shouldn't do it because people wouldn't want to be his friend if he did something weird like that.
-There was also this really weird situation where a child had to be restrained but the therapist couldn't do it because she hasn't been given appropriate training as the provider only pays for its own staff to do the training despite the staff being mainly independent.. so she had to call in this child's mother to do restraint as that's what the treatment programme calls for and the mother can't afford restraint training as they are paying out so much for ABA.
I've read a lot about ABA and on this board and it's not really what I was expecting. It "worked" in that the kids stopped doing whatever they were doing but it's a horrible message - what you are doing is "weird" and you are "weird". I thought our kids were supposed to be prone to anxiety and depression, how is this helping them?
This was a major provider by the way, they are "international leaders" in the field etc. I was expecting to see something a lot better than this from all the stuff I'd read about it, I thought it would be really positive and the social skills stuff would be positive, but it mainly seemed to me like they were being told they were weird and that everything they were doing was wrong but they put up with it because they got some crappy toy at the end of it. I have a social work background and it just seemed.. some of it.. well, abusive.
Is this typical? Do your programmes do all this? Because you know that's not what it seems like at all on this board so if that's what is happening people need to be a bit more transparent about it because I feel I've wasted a load of time being told this is the evidence based etc and expecting to see this wonder treatment but frankly, I've left thinking the end does not always justify the means. I don't like the idea of any kid being told they are weird for being autistic, it engrages me.. they have a neurological problem for God's sake