AceofPens wrote:
The closest thing to official ABA therapy I've had is sensory therapy, but ABA is pretty popular in my area for autistic kids so I'm familiar with its practices. I see nothing wrong with it. I've only known young therapists, though, so maybe the older generation is still using outdated and harmful practices. My only experience with that kind of thing is dentists asking my parents if they could get a few hygienists to physically hold me down so they could do their work without me flailing and crying. My parents refused and eventually stopped taking me to dentists altogether because of the methods they wanted to use on me. People like that exist in all professions.
I DO know that it's pretty awful for autism parents to deal with all this flack from high functioning autistics for using it to help their kids. Everyone with autism is different, and all therapists are different. Some behaviors need to be reduced, communication improved, and independence should always be encouraged. I feel like the high functioning crowd is crying victim on behalf of everyone because of a few terrible experiences when the bigger picture is that many kids' lives are made easier by ABA. No one's defending abusive ABA, but there are aspects of autism that are objectively harmful and make the person's life more difficult than it needs to be, and good ABA helps with that. I mean, should we do away with psych wards in hospitals because of their history of corruption? Absolutely not. They serve an important role for many people and have improved in recent years.
In an unofficial capacity, my own parents came up with ABA-like therapies for me when I was growing up. The tasks were very similar to what I've seen done by therapists. I 100% benefited from it, and yes, it did make me seem "less autistic," but it has also helped me. My pragmatic skills and executive function are leaps and bounds better than they were when I was young.
There is no one thing that works for everybody and things that are extremely harmful to most help a few. Most ABA therapists probably do think they are doing the right thing.
Most people have had some sort of behavioral training but not all behavoiral training is ABA.
I agree high functioning autistics hectoring and and calling parents Nazis have similarities to the refrigerator mother days of yore.
My disagreement with ABA is in part generational. I think ABA is symptomatic of the larger hovering parent problem. I was Autistic enough that my school threw me out because it was legal at the time. I had a few hours of play therapy a week not 25 to 40 hours a week reinforced at home. Both Temple Grandin and John Elder Robison would probably be labled moderate to severe today, they exhibited destructive behavoirs as children. We did not get ABA and became productive adults. I do feel all those hours of complience training while getting the “desired” results also teaches too much dependence on others. One becomes independent by bieng independent. One needs to at some point figure out what works and what does not work for them. This can not happen when one is constantly being trained. Fitting in for approval is more important then becoming an individial with this regiman.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity.
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman