Floor time vs ABA therapy

[mamadadawahwah]

Though I am do not want to be a financial advocate of Dr Stanley Greenspan or any other medical practitioner, I do like his theory and approach.

I have severe misgivings about ABA simply because I dont think it would apply to my child. Every child is different.

maybe some people could enlighten me as to what therapeutic approaches have worked best for their kids in terms of diminishing the "triad of impairment".

I really like the idea of music therapy which is similar to the floor time model. Any feedback on whether this has been beneficial would be greatly appreciated.

Its very simple. Although parents often prefer the description and principles of Floortime there is NO EVIDENCE of effectiveness. ABA does not try to "sell" itself and is not generally described in an emotionally acceptable way to parents but does have a great deal of evidence of effectiveness, many, many studies although not all with young children or children with ASD. I have met many children with ASD at all levels of functioning and verbal ability, with and without learning disability and every one of them has benefited from ABA as, when it is done properly, it is totally individualised and flexible.
Its not my job to persuade you one way or the other, these are the facts. Many children do well without ABA of course. My child is severely autistic but I still truly believe that he would be far worse than if he hadn't had ABA, for a start I doubt he would be toilet trained, his receptive language would be much poorer, his understanding of context would be poorer. Another important aspect is I think that we, as parents, would not be able to manage him as well as we do, we would not have a good foundation of strategies and our relationship with him would be much worse. Having said that, he is still extremely difficult and becoming more so as he gets older, he is not ever going to be a "high flyer" and his tendency towards Challenging Behaviour is a huge problem.

Thank u davros. I havent enlisted the services of any therapies yet and just want to know from personal experience what works and what dont.

There is no reason that floortime principles can't be added to an ABA program, but it doesn't seem to be a good choice as a stand alone therapy.

`~What puts you off ABA? It's a teaching technique first and foremost- the behavioural principals behind it are seen in other interventions such as RDI etc.

Have a look at growing minds- they mix ABA and floortime.

No, what put me off was Laavros' original comments about the method, i.e. sounded like training dogs in a circus to do what "you want" and that "their" behaviour when bad should not be tolerated, etc. I am sure it is not like this but really didnt like what he originally had to say.

aversives aren't used any more. It works in a "do this" reward type way. The basic principals are just good parenting (reward the positive, ignore the negative), but everythihng is broken down into much smaller steps than usual, and there is repetition, repeptition, repetition. Have a look at growing minds and RDI as well though- you'll find both via google.

you also might like to consider some sensory work- ds1 is so much clamer since moving to his new school which polaces a lot of emphasis on daily sensory work. The sensory side is often overlooked but can have a big impact on a child's behaviour.

There is no reason that floortime principles can't be added to an ABA program, but it doesn't seem to be a good choice as a stand alone therapy.

thanks for the growing minds web site.

I take it you don't rate it as a stand alone therapy then davros

I live in N. Ireland and have already noticed a distinct "competition" between groups and charities dealing with autism. Call me a cynic but I know its due to funding. One group excludes the other and the other group dosent use the others resources.

Its totally and wholly ridiculous. They should all be giving and taking together. I dont want to get caught up in a "our way works and yours dosent" argument with these groups, but I do want help for my son. I suppose I could join them all and take it from there.

Oops! Don't know what happened there. Agree with Jimjams about sensory work too. Do you mean Lovaas? You have to remember that, when he started his work it was a long time ago, in the 60s. A lot of professionals are anti-ABA based on misinformation about rigidity and dog training. It is nothing that their own psychologists won't tell you to do for toilet training, eating or sleep problems. I have a huge document entitled "Lovaas Answers His Critics" where he addresses all the misconceptions about his work and beliefs. Can't get a link to it though, will try to find it online.

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And don't forget to call me Professor!

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