ABA - Negative information.....

[yakkiyakkiyogi]

Hi all. This is my first post so apologies for any silly mistakes etc although I've been reading posts on SN silently for over a year.

Just as a background, DS who is 3 has now got a dx of ASD just this month. Thats all I was told and still await the long detailed report the paediatrician said he'll send out soon. Have known for a year almost that a dx of this kind will be given as the traits were quite obvious. Been to the intial signposting event by ASD Outreach too but all my info is from extensively reading books and credible websites or forums like this. I've been reading a lot about ABA, its benefits and the struggles of getting it free of cost from LAs and was starting to consider how I can go about it and was planning to ask his EP when she visits for an observation at home next week. However, I've come across a negative article about it and that too by an ABA therapist. Also seen videos from an ASD person's perspective calling it amounting to "child abuse". So now I'm super confused. Links to article and video below:

sociallyanxiousadvocate.wordpress.com/2015/05/22/why-i-left-aba/

It'll be very useful to read opinions from you all as you have been facing this for much longer than I have. Thanks :)

ABA is about finding the most effective way a person learns and then teaching to that. That is what the Analysis stands for. There is no assumption that the way a person learns remains the same from one day to the next or even one minute to the next and that is why regular analysis is so important for effective learning.

The analysis will include understanding the function or reason for a certain skill/behaviour or lack of one.

The behaviour simply means that you can observe a change as a result of the teaching or a change in environment. If you can't see any change, you need more analysis. This is pretty much what the 'applied' means.

The effectiveness of ABA is simply because it is an efficient use of the learners time and fewer mistakes or wild goose chases are engaged upon. The whole point in teaching is to keep to the learners ability, interest and motivation so they spend less time labouring over a skill and so that they can be successful as quickly as possible.

This has nothing especially to do with autism, and is the way that skills and behaviour chance is effected in a wide range of other situations where people want efficiency.

The ethical stuff has nothing to do with ABA specifically and everything to do with teaching as a whole EXCEPT for the fact that because ABA is so effective at teaching the potential for harm caused by teaching the wrong things for the wrong reasons, practitioners have a strong ethical module to cover in their training.

There is no such compulsory ethical module in most other forms of Autism Education, and many children can languish for years under an abusive regime that consists of being reprimanded for misunderstanding social rules and being excluded from learning due to disruptive behaviours caused by frustration.

For whoever it was that asked, there was a follow-up study of the Lovaas bunch. Most of them had developed mental health issues as a result of years of 'fitting in', having not had their social skills worked on from a mental-health point of view and from being isolated from 'looking okay'.

This is a fairly shocking finding, but their non-ABA peers at the same time also suffer severe mental health issues and were mainly institutionalised. They had also suffered years of being expected to conform but with not such effective methods.

These two situations were most likely caused by the 1950-ish education ideology was very different to what it is now and all education then included aversives. Generally speaking, whatever the ideology and wherever you are aiming, ABA is one of the most effective ways of getting there.

Neither Ideology nor bad practice is the fault of ABA.

Great post star

OP you've posted links which appear to be anti-aba and I can see you're concerned about compliance. If you do a search you'll find loads of positive aba stories on this site alone and so many more online elsewhere. Then you'll have a meaningful balance of opinions - important if, as you say, you haven't disregarded aba.

Good post, Star.

I can't really add much to that.

We are an ABA family. We have been 'doing' ABA in various forms and settings (home programme, 2 different schools) for 8 years now. It is the only way dd1 learns (and yes, we have tested this - the years she spent in non-ABA settings and environments were hellish to say the least, and she still has issues which stem from those times. There are no issues which have been created in the same way from her time doing ABA, with different consultants and tutors - couldn't begin to say how many. Oh hang on, there is one issue she has, with an ex tutor. It runs quite deep, and we haven't been able to get to the bottom of it. I expect a personality clash, as I cannot see how anything is supposed to have happened, but I keep listening when dd1 talks about the tutor concerned. School,were very proactive when they realised the extent of the issue).

The only time I have ever seen dd1 'robotic' or 'trained' (more than any child is 'trained' ie toilet training and general - realistic - expectations) is when she was in a TEACCH setting. She was virtually catatonic she was closing down so much, and despite not ever having a silent moment during her out of school hours, she was practically mute when there. The school did nothing to alleviate her stress, just expected her to fit in (this was a highly respected ASD setting), and actually ended up telling us that they were pretty sure dd1 would never learn anything in a school setting. Dd1 was 5 at the time. A whole life written off, just like that (if the LA had had their way, dd1 would have continued at that school, then their follow-on setting. No bloody way. She never returned after the meeting when we were told that).

In contrast, under ABA, dd1 has flourished, and moved so far from the scared, confused, blank faced child she was at that school. She can read and write, manage basic money, and is beginning to master living skills such as making her own lunch. More importantly, she has been taught how to play, and relax enough to enjoy herself. She is now confident enough to talk to other people, despite her severe language disorder. She has a range of playskills, and participates in sports and clubs. She recently competed in a competition for one of her sports, and got through to the national finals.

Most of her school day is taken up with learning the 'funner' aspects of life. She has academic targets, sure, because she is capable of them, but her IEP also includes (about half of it, I'd say) targets on playing (on her own or with peers - her choice), and sports (chosen by her) as well as various SALT groups and OT etc.

She is far better served, at her ABA school, than dd2 (also on the spectrum) whose needs are mostly overlooked and sidelined at her mainstream school. There are teachers at dd2's school who I mentally recoil from the thought of leaving her with (not through physical safety fears, but due to general,ignorance about ASD, and what will be said, out of ifs orange, to dd2) but none at dd1's school, as they all are more than happy to put the child first (more than can be said for dd2's school).

Starlight, good to hear of good ABA experiences in your family.

Also, re the discussion above... as someone who is gay, I would say the parallel with autism and sexual orientation is exactly right. I was born female, and autistic, and gay. I am all of those things. None of those is an imperfect version of a man, nor of a straight person, nor of a non-autistic person. I'm not ashamed of any of them. All deeply influence many aspects of my life. All bring challenges and strengths. All are sometimes badly thought-of by a society that prizes straight white blokes above all else (often).

It's been interesting seeing ABA from the professional side. Some places do well. But...I have some colleagues who have had unusual experiences with a few (not all) ABA establishments. One such place, very rich indeed and with a good deal of public presence, (as several do) hired one colleague of mine. Allegedly to do therapy. When they got there, they found that none of the management staff or Trustees were autistic. None of the people delivering training to the staff were autistic. Every single decision was taken by non-autistic people doing things to autistic people. And he found that his job was to go to parents who were thinking of leaving, and use his well-respected skills as a psychologist to get them to change their views. He was to tell them that ABA was the only thing that could work. That it was the only way to get their child to socialise, and learn to play properly. That it was the only evidence-based method. That, without it, their child would be damaged for life, never able to reach their potential. All the staff were given extensive training to only say those things to parents. He resigned. Good for him.

I am concerned about ethics in every area around autism. We're getting better at it, but my first question would be, "So can we speak to the autistic decision-makers in your organisation, please", and my second would be, "So can I see the sensory audit for the spaces that my child will be working in?" Some ABA places don't play fair with scared and exhausted parents. Be aware of it. There are of course naughty people in other places too. But we're discussing ABA, which frequently costs a 'King's Ransom' to buy. And be aware that there are many different schooling methods that lead to autistic young people growing up to be fine, cheery sorts, who play just fine and build courage to speak to others. Including the life skills schooling that comes from being a good parent who learns about autism and our needs.