Suspicion of new programmes or methodologies in education comes down to the fact that we have no mechanism in this country (don't know about others) for separating the wheat from the chaff.
Some absolute rot gets bandied about, some watered down so much as to make it useless and some really good things ignored.
Again, I don't think many people have a problem with individualised programmes of support and reward to help children achieve targets. Punishment isn't a problem as long as it is proportionate and is understood. For a long time my ds did not understand time out because he couldn't see the sequence of events. Therefore it was very stressful and unsettling for him for people to suddenly take him away from something he liked to somewhere he didn't want to be. There was no connection so the punishment was pointless. It would be stressful and unsettling for anyone. Imagine being at work and two big guys forceably moved you to other areas of the building. You didn't know why or when it would happen but you knew you had no choice. Not a happy senario. My ds is just about starting to understand now but not because of experiencing a punishment and learning from it.
However, I think the bit of the article that upset me and I think will stick with most people was the boy being fed food that made him wretch and be sick. If I did that in school to an nt child even once I would rightly be hauled over the coals for it.
Yes it may have eventually ( 6 months later) have produced the desired result. However we don't know truly what that result was. I might think I'm teaching A but my student is learning about B. That child may be filled with anxiety everytime he eats but has learned to hide it because after months of conditioning he has given into pressure.
I understand the views of higher functioning autistics that they feel they are being told their way of functioning or dealing with things is wrong. It isn't. It's just different. I also understand that for parents of children with more severe forms of autism that it probably seems like people are complaining about the range of desserts on a restaurant menu when the building is on fire. Not helpful or relevant.
I simply question the validity of supposing that a change in behaviour means that a method or procedure is valid when their is no thought as to what has actually occurred. I think this is even more relevant since many of the children concerned may not be able to accurately communicate changes. It may be that it is absolutely the way forward but I would need a little more convincing of the rigure involved.