Good summary of all ABA research - useful

[sickofsocalledexperts]

Another v useful document for all those of us fighting to get or keep ABA - Professor Richard Hastings gives a summary of the research pointing to the effectiveness of ABA as an intervention for autism.

profhastings.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/autism-and-evidence-4-does-aba-work-for.html

Shameless bump for the evening crowd!

Thank you.

Interesting, although I think that the main issue parents face isn't necessarily convincing LAs (and tribunals) that ABA works. Rather, they have to convince them that only ABA works, or more precisely, that everything cheaper doesn't work for their child.

Yes very true Lougle. And you also have to prove not that ABA is the tip-top, best education for your child (they have no duty to provide tip-top) but just that it's the most 'suitable' education for the particular child's needs. That is, I think, why increasingly only severe kids are winning ABA, whereas actually I am on a mission to tell people it can work really well at the hf end of the spectrum too - eg ABA-trained LSAs in mainstream.

Dunno about that either tbh. Our ABA programme not only worked but was cheaper than the LA offering. Didn't stop them hiring a barrister and publishing the cost of our programme as savings to justify hiring of barrister when we lost.

"Our ABA programme not only worked but was cheaper than the LA offering."

Yes, yours was, but you know that if you won, others would follow. You took the hit for the future savings the LA would make.

I am sure it is 70% about cost, Lougle/Star, but the ant-ABA prejudice is strange. The anti LA people all seem to have been given the same script ("it creates robots etc"). But where did they pick up that script? Is there one PowerPoint slide somewhere with 3 key anti ABA points on it, and anyone at all entering SN education is shown it? What we need is a mumsnetter with a pal high up in education to commission a review of autism education. We need that slide changed!

Yes, that is true but if it wee more widespread, everyone's would be cheaper, both in the short-term and long term.

Although I guess we have to factor in the fact that The actual cost of LA provision is rarely what is published as a number of children coukd receive 1:1 support with the same TA, but the close working relationship that woukd need to exist between home and school for ABA to work woukd mean parents were too close and involved for schools to creatively balance their resourcesprobably.