"I suddenly am struck be how similar these discussions are to the pro/anti breast feeding and working mum/stay at home mum discusssions. Perhaps ABA is that sort of issue. I find it sad not to be able to discuss things without everyone [including me] getting upset."
I've quoted zzzzz again because she (or perhaps he) said exactly what I was thinking as I read through the debate since I last posted.
I would like to make it clear that my decision not to do ABA is not a criticism of ABA itself or of anyone who does it.
I do what is right for my child, for my family and for me. I hope that what I'm doing is working: sometimes it does, sometimes I feel that I'm just banging my head against a brick wall, sometimes I look into the abyss. But most parents who think about what they do feel like that.
I'm glad that people who do ABA feel that it is worthwhile. That's great. I did read up on it, I've been party to quite a few discussions about how brilliant it is (many of them on here), and in the end I decided it was not for us.
That doesn't make me a bad or uncaring parent, it doesn't mean I do less to help prepare my child for the rest of his life. I just do differently.
C'mon people, we know that when it comes to people on the autism spectrum that different doesn't mean worse. Shouldn't that also be the case with parents of children on that spectrum and their approaches to parenting?
If we can't all get along on this board, where we're in the same boat, how the hell can we help the neurotypical world get along with our children?
T