ABA therapy

[Miwish]

Hi,
are there any parents in the Birmingham area who have used/are using ABA therapy for their autistic child. I want to start ABA therapy for my 5 year old autistic daughter but I am finding it very hard to find a suitable ABA tutor as I need tutor recommendations from other parents who have used ABA therapy in the Birmingham area aswell as a recommendation as to which service provider I should use (i.e., any good consultants in the Birmingham area).

Also, my daughter is non-verbal so I am not sure whether I should start the ABA therapy for her or VB. I'm not sure whether ABA or VB would be suitable for her. Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

Hi Miwish - I'm in Worcester so not too far from you. We ran a programme for 7 years for my severely autistic dd who is now 11. I know of a therapist with lots of ABA experience who lives in Birmingham if you would like me to give you her details? I would recommend her. Whether you choose Lovaas or ABA depends, I would say on how many skills your child has. My dd was non-verbal and had no skills at all and no receptive language. We started with UKYAP who used a Lovaas programme and then switched to VB under Sean Rhodes after 18 months. I would say that for a young child with severe autism, Lovaas is better to begin with.

Hi, thanks for answering and for the advice. Could you please give me the details of the therapist. Much appreciated. Have you personally used this therapist?

I can recommend the www.learn2learnclinic.org

Hi Miwish dont know if u still use this but i am an aba tutor with 1 year experience

Hi, autistic adult working as an autism lsa here.

I have never experienced aba personally but I do know that lovaas is widely condemned by the autistic community. I have also seen claims of a ptsd link. Maybe something to look into?
The issue seems to be the focus on eliminating visibly autistic traits completely disregarding the fact there's a reason we happy flap or stim. Why does it matter if a child is visibly autistic? Trying to suppress those autistic traits results in depression and anxiety, believe me, I spent 23 years repressing them. Since getting my diagnosis and allowing myself to be autistic I have never been happier.

By all means autistic kids need help to function, but not to hide who they are.

The majority of people I've talked to about this are based in the states so I don't know if things are done more aggressively over there? I am heavily involved with the online autistic community and that is the only context I have heard aba talked about but who better to give a verdict on aba than autistic people? I'm sure some aba is less aggressive and is focused on helping rather than changing a child but after reading horror stories of kids restrained while happy flapping I would research your therapist extremely carefully.

Your priority should be finding a therapy designed to allow your child to cope as an autistic person rather than attempting to force them to be something they never can be.