Danielle -
I worked very briefly as a ABA aide. I had some idea of ABA but hadn’t really seen it “in action”. I met with the kid twice without the BCBA and had a pleasant time with him, just following his lead and enjoying fun play without demands. When the BCBA came the third day, the child had just woken up from a nap and was crying (right at the start of the 3:30 pm session; he attends school 8-3 and had been sick that week). The BCBA very seriously informed me I needed to “set a timer on this protesting behavior, this is an unacceptable behavior we are looking to extinguish.” When I commented about it being a long day for a sick and tired 5 year old, she told me to not let him “play me”. This child doesn’t speak, and one of his goals is to “tact”, or label things. After witnessing the BCBA screech “drum! Say, drum! Drum! Drum!” 10 times in his face to no response, she directed me to mark them as “incorrect” responses. When I asked “how can he answer correctly when he doesn’t speak?”, she told me “he can, he just won’t” (I observed nothing to support that). The BCBA was upset I was unwilling and unable to work 330-730 a day and when I said “when does he have time to be a kid if he’s expected to be working with teachers/therapists more than 11 hours a day?”, she said “he NEEDS this therapy, he’s very disabled.” I left the session and just never went back. The final straw was when the kid was pulling her hair and glasses (normal response to someone yelling in your face!), she said “it’s because I keep the demand on and you let it go”. Just ... wow lady, you’re an asshole! There was “parent training” during her supervision of me, and I just cringed at how she talked to the mother about the kid, as though he has some awful and incurable disease. I felt terrible for even being involved for 3 days. It was a mess and goes against everything I as a teacher believe in.
Kaitlin Walker -
I was an ABA tech in high school, which is absurd in and of itself. It was excruciatingly boring. I remember sitting there thinking, I sure hope these kids learn these things by growing up because they're not learning anything from this. Now I have an autistic daughter. My experience made me avoid ABA and autistic self-advocacy blogs and videos reinforced that decision. But we've still considered it several times because there is so much pressure. Literally every time we go to the doctor we get interrogated about not doing ABA and our insurance won't cover anything else (Kaiser in the US). But I do write about why we don't do it. And as an answer to your question it would take so much personal work for parents who believed in ABA to speak against it later. If you've practiced not listening to your kid for 16 years why would you listen to and respect them now as an adult?
Courtney -
Several years ago, I used to be an ABA provider. I did both in-home early intervention, as well as in school for "moderate to severely" ASD kids. I thought I knew everything then, and that what I was doing was the only way we could teach these kids. I mean, it was evidence-based, right?
Then after having my own child, I started reading more from folks on the neurodiversity side, and it really started to change my perspective. Flash forward to my own son's diagn or subject my son to it.
I don't know if I'd describe it as cult-like, but I can see where other people may say that. It's just a system that thumps the science. There's data and if it supports what we think then that's all that matters and nothing else. If you don't have data, you have nothing. So, if you were to say "I don't think this is an effective method for _____," you better be prepared with data to support why you think that, as well as what data-supported method you propose to replace it. Having feelings about it or "projecting" feelings into the students/clients isn't acceptable. 🙄
My biggest issue now falls on the compliance and consent, as well as basically the entire foundation on which it's based lol. It's assumed that our children can't learn in any other way, so this is what we have to do. But it's presumed based on asking a fish to climb a tree. If our kids don't have a way to communicate or demonstrate their knowledge and intelligence, then the "data" we're gathering is inherently flawed and false.
I'd sound like a heretic amongst ABA-ers, and I'm ok with that. 😊"
Blogs from Professionals
Ann's Autism blog spot
http://ink-and-daggers.tumblr.com/
This blog is associated with the Autistic Allies group on Facebook, and is a portal to useful online content. We primarily support the principle of acceptance, which exclusively involves the use of interventions that assist an autistic individual to reach their potential best selves, rather than trying to "fix" or "cure" them. We maintain a positive outlook about autism and actively work to dispel negative myths and stereotypes.
Showing posts with label ABA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ABA. Show all posts
Testimonials from Parents who Tried and then Rejected ABA for their child
Shayna - I am an Autistic mother, of an Autistic child. I was originally not-wanting ABA, but early intervention signed us up for "parent training" I did not, at the time, know that was ABA. Once I figured that out, it was 'only' an hour a week, and I wanted to know EXACTLY what ABA was, so I didn't flat-out drop it, for about 3 months.
Learning about ABA made my skin crawl. The idea of having what was discribed done to me, or things like "it's totally humane, it's how you would train a horse or dog" that were meant to soothe me, just made me more weary.
My son immediately started having meltdowns when ABA techinques were used, and we were told those were "tantrums" and that even if we coddled him after 2 hours of crying, we would be "reinforcing" the bad behavior. After about 3 months, a little before that, my son stopped having meltdowns, and had stress tremors. I gave THAT 3 weeks, and then dropped ABA altogether. the stress tremors stopped as soon as ABA techniques were no longer used, even though we stayed with the same speech therapist, we just told her not to use ABA techniques
ROSE - Two of my experiences with ABA
They would set up a situation, for my son, that they knew would provoke a meltdown. It was done so that they could "help" him deal with the meltdown. It was meant to desensitize my son to his triggers. They called it making progress. I call it abuse.
They would also restrain him in a chair until his tasks were complete. Regardless if he understood what was being asked of him or if he needed a potty break or if he was afraid...this was of no importance to them.
ALL that counted was him doing what he was told.
It took over 3 years to undo the damage that was caused.
Shaquana -
I tried ABA for a couple of months for my son. It was a lot of training him to obey me completely and utterly. A lot of 'give him this treat but only if he does what you say'. My son was a WRECK the entire time. Anything he did learn, a big thing we were trying to do was potty training, was accompanied by a sense of ME winning, not him.
The rules were intense. The meltdowns were frequent and if they stopped at all it was out of exhaustion. He did NOT understand what was going on, only that he had to act a certain way or he wouldn't eat or play or anything. I felt like I had a drone, not a child.
It's cruel. It doesn't leave room for learning why or how to have your own thoughts and make your own decisions. I was not teaching him how to live in society, but how to shut up and not be seen. I hated it and I dropped it after a while. And he is awesome without it.
If you are trying to raise a robot, great. But when that robot gets older and is manipulated and can't understand when an adult, or any other authority figure, is out of line, that's an issue. The therapist was speechless when I asked, "Okay, if we teach him to do exactly as he's told no matter what, what happens if someone sexually assaults him? Or tries to kidnap him? Is there anything in this therapy that teaches him to say 'NO, I'm not comfortable with that' or even 'No, I don't like to do that, let's do this instead?'.
No personality. Nothing but assimilation and an assurance that you can get your kid to do 'normie' tricks and pretend to fit in better. It was disgusting. The training was NON-STOP and I was expected to continue when the therapist wasn't around.
No thanks.
Jessica -
I had one session with my kiddo very early on when she was first diagnosed. As the neurologist who diagnosed her said ABA was the therapy she needed alongside OT. We walked out. Continued with OT. And i educated mysef on what ABA was which helped me to understand why i walked out of that therapy with my kiddo.
Anon -
We did about 3 months the spring/summer of 2012. I was hugely pregnant with our twins and had three boys who were 3 1/2, 2 1/2, and 13 months old.
We had services through our Regional Center and they contract through Easter Seals. We had five therapists and one supervisor within that 12 week period. The first quit after a week to move out of state. The second I asked to leave after 2 sessions because she was causing then ignoring distress. The third was our longest tenure: 2 weeks before she was reassigned (we're at 4 weeks here).
The fourth and fifth came together as a pair, a supervisor and the therapist. I actually liked these women BUT after watching them for one week (four five-hour sessions) I told them I wasn't happy with how things were going. We continued "Parent Teaching" for the remainder of the two months.
It ended up being a mommy chat time for 5 hours three times a week because we hit it off as parent friends. My biggest issues were the intentional causing of distress to elicit a "problem" behavior the therapist could then work on correcting. The ignoring of distress was also extremely against my parenting style. They also talked about my boy as being manipulative and naughty.
Our school district employed a behaviorist who has her masters in child development and CBT. I absolutely adore her and how she see children. If there's ever something going on she always looks at how it's being delivered to the child(ren) as the issue as opposed to changing their behavior. Students get to take breaks in three safe spaces upon request (either verbal, icon, or signing) and distress is never ignored or intentionally brought on for the sake of "training."
Megan
Met with BCBA once. Thought I had explained what made me uncomfortable and what I was looking for (self advocacy skills basically). The therapist proceeded to prescribe that we force my daughter to say hi, every time someone said it to her, and to hold her there until she said it. We never went back.
Sheri
My daughter had one session that was awful. The therapist kept saying "I know it's hard but this is the best way."
Well. It never happened again. My daughter has never forgotten. I did some serious repenting with her more than once. It was downright traumatic.
Eilean
Funny thing.. my daughter had ABA for about 20 hours a week, now that she started wanting to go to school her ABA therapist told us that this is a horrible idea and that she couldn't receive as much ABA anymore and her development would stop or even lose speech.
I put her in school, she got her headphones, her necklace for the bus and she's the happiest kid. She's doing great in school, actually she's one of the best in class.
I got told ABA is the best thing to do when my kid first got diagnosed and I didn't know anyone who could educate on this. All I say is my daughter is so much happier now then she was few months back...
Samantha -
I have two Autistic children. My oldest had ABA for about 2 years (from 2.5 to 4.5). My youngest had it for 1.5 years (from 22 months to 3). When my eldest was diagnosed, it was made clear that ABA was THE therapy to do, was scientific, evidence based, and the best way to ensure positive long term outcomes. The first company that we worked worked with was owned by a woman who actually worked under Lovaas. I asked her how I would know WHY my son was exhibiting particular behaviors. She told me that it was impossible to read his mind and it didn’t matter why he was doing things. That we were just to respond to behavior. Well, it DOES matter to me why kiddo did what he was doing at the time. There were also times that they said we would have to provoke certain distressed reactions from him in order to train the behavior out. It just seemed cruel to me to intentionally upset him (at the time, there were pretty significant SIB like head banging—I was desperate for that to stop and couldn’t imagine trying to get him to do it on purpose).
Another therapist was awful to my son, physically restraining him when he was upset and sometimes just sitting there while he hurt himself. She made a whole point about how I shouldn’t “give in” to his fits. I ultimately threw her out of my house after she threatened to call CPS literally because of the way my furniture was arranged.
Anon -
When our child was diagnosed in 2008, the narrative around autism was very, very negative. It was the height of the Autism Speaks "doom and gloom" campaigning, some of which also went on here in Australia.
My husband & I were led to believe that autism was something to be "defeated," or at least "strongly mitigated," and that with dozens of hours of therapy each week, our child could reach the ultimate goal: "to be indistinguishable from their peers" (this exact phrase was used).
In fact, on the first day of our orientation at the early intervention centre so many people recommended to us, we were shown a video clip of an American boy who apparently "recovered" from being autistic after doing years of intense behavioural intervention.
In those early days, we didn't feel empowered to challenge drills that encouraged things like eye contact. We didn't have the benefit of learning from autistic young adults and autistic adults about just how painful it is to try to "pass" as not autistic and to be encouraged to quash things like non-harmful stims. We were told that when our child was crying or resistant to doing sessions (I know appreciate how exhausting 20+ hours of therapy must have been for a tiny child) that we needed to "work through" otherwise we would just be escalating the issues.
Tabitha -
It’s so much like dog training that my kind sweet 5 year old nonverbal son still won’t even take a bit of food without being prompted ( told it’s ok ) and we stopped almost a year ago .... he’s just so afraid to do anything he’s not suppose to , trying to get him to think for himself again is what I’ve. Been doing everyday since ! it’s heart breaking !!
Fadwa -
Yes we did ABA with my son for two years, I will regret that for ever, I should have known better since I was preparing a phd on invisible disability like ADHD, sensory disorder and austim, but the thing is ABA therapists prey on parents' fear "prepare to be fighting with an adult in shakles and diapers if you do not do this now, the window is closing, early intervention is key"" this was a response I got when trying once to reason with one of them by asking her "does not he have a say in it,." Once an SD is given there is no way for the child to refuse to comply even if it is so absurd like touch your nose. I seems happier after I fired all his ABA team.
Kim -
My child had an ABA-based program at his public school in a typical classroom, from the end of 2nd grade through half of 4th grade, when I pulled him out to homeschool. My family did not feel that we really had a choice about this intervention and I brought many of the concerns I had heard about ABA from autistic adults to our school team from the start. I was assured that this ABA program was "not strict" and was not the way ABA was done "in the 90's." This was the kinder, gentler ABA. I made sure my son was allowed to stim. I insisted that no one prompt eye contact. He was not pushed to act neurotypical. He would be taught "coping strategies" and be allowed to take breaks.
The first red flag was when our first BCBA wanted to implement a "quiet sit and be calm protocol" in response to my son bolting or having outbursts. He was supposed to sit quietly with his hands still for 30 seconds, and if he had "maladaptive behavior" before the 30 seconds were up, he would have to come back and start all over until he was compliant. It was clear to me that forcing a child to appear calm with no regard for a triggering environment or situation was abuse, and I vetoed it immediately.
The main focus of this ABA program was teaching my son "coping strategies" so that he would not run away from the classroom. In the entire time he was reinforced for requesting breaks instead of bolting, there was never an emphasis on learning WHY he was running away. When he continued to be stressed, it became clear to me that there was no way to determine whether his "coping strategies" actually helped him cope. His BCBA could only measure whether he utilized replacement behaviors and whether he was compliant. Using "coping strategies" was meaningless.
When my son started having meltdowns at school, I was initially unaware of what was going on, because his interventionists and our BCBA referred to the episodes as "noncompliance." When I asked our BCBA how she distinguished between autistic meltdowns and intentional noncompliance, she told me that ABA looked at differences "based on observable measures." The only difference between the two from her perspective was that my child typically cried and showed aggression during meltdowns but not during other instances that were considered noncompliance. There was no place in ABA for her to understand that meltdowns were an involuntary reaction to being overwhelmed, and therefore no way to treat them any differently than willful disobedience.
Despite my full-time advocacy, there was never a serious attempt to integrate an understanding of my child's internal experience into his plan. Teaching a child "coping strategies" instead of unsafe behaviors sounds great on the surface. But with a focus solely on external behavior, ABA has no tools to tell if a child actually feels safe and calm, or if they are just suppressing their fear or pain to be compliant. If a child's meltdowns are not understood as anything more than noncompliance, that child can't be supported appropriately. It was clear that my child was just being subjected to compliance training, and I pulled him out of school.
Anon
My 10 year old autistic son has been attending a district autism school. It has all the bells and whistles. It has everything you could have dreamed of. Including bikes in the hallways for the autistic children to ride up and down the halls. My 10 year old was doing so well there. Looking back there were red flags but I couldn’t put my finger on what was causing some behaviors. My 3 year old autistic son started in April. He was there for a month when my 10 year old told me what was going on because he thought he hurt his brother. Every day/twice a day they have the autistic children go to the nurse and they do body searches. My 3 year old wouldn’t comply so they brought his brother in to hold his hand and undress him. After that they used marshmallows (his favorite food) to force compliance. Every day autistic children are given reinforcers to take their clothes off. Every autistic child in the program. I found out because my 10 year old couldn’t tolerate watching his brother screech and cry. I was never notified or asked if this could be done to either boy. When I questioned I was told they didn’t need my permission. When I said that they were grooming my children for a predator, I was told that they didn’t care because it was policy. When I demanded to see the policy in writing, they said they didn’t have it in writing. When I demanded to see the daily logs that showed that there were 2 staff in the room during these searches, they didn’t have it. When I asked if they did this to “normal” children they became offended. I told them “we stopped being politically correct when you body searched my disabled children like they were carrying guns”.
If you’ve made it this far. I filed an institutional abuse report against the school. It’s still under investigation. I’ve asked for an out of district placement but the school is making me wait. I’ve asked for home instruction and I’ve been put on the back burner. I’ve implemented in home counseling to deal with any long term effects. I now have kids with lovely IEPs that are worth nothing because they aren’t in school. I continue to fight and argue with the school.
ABA techniques are used to abuse and manipulate children to comply. Compliance is abuse. Compliance causes abuse.
Samara
My son did ABA for 2 months and was traumatised, It took him 6 months to recover, and we still have a lot of harm to undo, and the worst is he doesn't trust me because I was the one taking him to therapy. He only comes to me or hugs me when I am in my pijamas, if I am dressed to go out he hates me, he gets scared I might take him somewhere he doesn't like.
KP
When our child was identified as an Autistic person, we were overwhelmed by the negative rhetoric from the “experts” around us. It made a situation that need not be, incredibly challenging.
We didn’t know of a single other Autistic person in our family (that changed over time), and at that point we were completely raw, vulnerable and absolute rookies, so we made a rookie mistake with terrible consequences; we followed the advice of the “experts” and enrolled our child in ABA “therapy”.
Our child was only 3 years old when the ABA started. There were challenges of course, though our child was a genuinely happy and very loved child. I’d always strongly believed in connected, responsive parenting and our relationship was hugely important to me. I enjoyed being with my child immensely.
As soon as the ABA started, we began to see a change in our child. Anxiety and unhappiness became increasingly common and ultimately, meltdowns which descended into aggressive behaviours and striking out. I knew things couldn’t continue, I was losing my relationship with my child.
I didn’t know it then but this process in common when kids start ABA; we were told that it was just our child trying to avoid compliance and that aggression was a normal part of extinction outbursts. I was horrified and began insisting that I witness for myself what was happening to our child (this was strongly discouraged).
These are some of the things I saw:
Our child being physically turned to look at and speak to any adult who spoke to them (even though verbal speech had not yet developed - a noise was taken as verbalisation)
Forced and sustained eye contact
Our child being “pinned” in their seat by placing the table into a corner, with our child sitting against the wall with the “therapist” sitting at a right angle, effectively blocking the exit.
Affection, food, drink and use of toilet being refused until “compliance” was achieved.
Attempts to communicate upset, distress, frustration were all ignored.
Use of “Verbal Behaviour” techniques when our child was non-speaking: forcing our child to attempt verbal speech in order to have needs met, rather than provision of a suitable communication system, causing stress and frustration to our child. Drink, food and bathroom breaks would be refused until they were satisfied with attempts at verbalisation. Toys were also locked away or high up, so our child would have to verbalise a request for them.
Tasks were repeated so often that our child was purposely doing it incorrectly since getting it right only resulted in it being repeated again and again with various “therapists”.
Our child was discussed at length, in his presence, as if he were absent. These discussions centred on all of their perceived “deficits” and how compliance was going to be achieved.
Refusal of food until task completion or a different food was eaten first, regardless of why that food was disliked.
Over-the-top, inauthentic praising when compliance was achieved, followed by toy, treat or affection being given.
Hand over hand prompts or even full physical prompts, despite my child’s obvious discomfort.
Not being allowed to say “no”, regardless of how reasonable it was in the circumstances.
Forcing my child to undertake a task he had a very clear and very strong phobic response to, until he vomited- which was ignored and the task enforced anyway (until I stepped in and insisted this not continue, at which point I was bullied by the BCBAs and told I didn’t have my child’s best interest at heart).
Ignoring my express wishes that certain things not be undertaken with our child.
Advising me to lock my child in an empty room during any “aggressive outbursts” and refusing to give them any attention or affection following it.
Our child was removed from the programme after a few months and unfortunately, PTSD has become an issue for both my child AND for me. Thankfully, our relationship has been restored and I parent with love, acceptance and respect at all times. I demand the same from anyone who is working with or supporting them. Our child says no now but it took a long time for this to be something that was comfortable for them.
This ABA took place in the last 5 years and at a place where new “therapists” are trained. They are all BCBA certified.
Once we left ABA, we engaged an SLP who was appropriately qualified and refused to use ABA techniques. They identified that our child has an Auditory Processing Disorder, which helped to inform the best ways of supporting the development of communication, speech and language. Even though verbal speech was not a specifie
d goal of that work, within 6 months our child naturally developed verbal speech.
Kelly Ogden
I am the parent of an autistic son. I am NT. I knew nothing about ABA but as soon as my son was diagnosed everyone said ABA was it. I did some research, but was on board because everyone else told me to be. That was a hard lesson for me. My gut started red flagging week one. It ultimately resulted in my ending ABA. Then I joined this group and started reading testimonies of people that have gone through it. It was exactly what my gut was screaming before I had knowledge. DONE. NEVER AGAIN. REPULSIVE. For me and my son anyway. I also let tho owner of the company how I felt. We never spoke again. Imagine that.
Allison Hubbord
We never technically did ABA but I pulled my child from speech therapy where the same approach was used, which in retrospect isn't surprising because it was from Easter seals and they were also the ones who were supposed to do the ABA therapy which we declined to pursue after originally being referred and started the process but never had actual therapy take place, we were still in the intake process and had met in home with one of the providers, and it was his lack of being able to even explain what ABA was or what its goals were that led me to explore it on my own and the information I found was what made the decision for us to not let the ABA proceed. The speech therapy, we actually saw the abuse take place so we told her from it afterwards.
Learning about ABA made my skin crawl. The idea of having what was discribed done to me, or things like "it's totally humane, it's how you would train a horse or dog" that were meant to soothe me, just made me more weary.
My son immediately started having meltdowns when ABA techinques were used, and we were told those were "tantrums" and that even if we coddled him after 2 hours of crying, we would be "reinforcing" the bad behavior. After about 3 months, a little before that, my son stopped having meltdowns, and had stress tremors. I gave THAT 3 weeks, and then dropped ABA altogether. the stress tremors stopped as soon as ABA techniques were no longer used, even though we stayed with the same speech therapist, we just told her not to use ABA techniques
ROSE - Two of my experiences with ABA
They would set up a situation, for my son, that they knew would provoke a meltdown. It was done so that they could "help" him deal with the meltdown. It was meant to desensitize my son to his triggers. They called it making progress. I call it abuse.
They would also restrain him in a chair until his tasks were complete. Regardless if he understood what was being asked of him or if he needed a potty break or if he was afraid...this was of no importance to them.
ALL that counted was him doing what he was told.
It took over 3 years to undo the damage that was caused.
Shaquana -
I tried ABA for a couple of months for my son. It was a lot of training him to obey me completely and utterly. A lot of 'give him this treat but only if he does what you say'. My son was a WRECK the entire time. Anything he did learn, a big thing we were trying to do was potty training, was accompanied by a sense of ME winning, not him.
The rules were intense. The meltdowns were frequent and if they stopped at all it was out of exhaustion. He did NOT understand what was going on, only that he had to act a certain way or he wouldn't eat or play or anything. I felt like I had a drone, not a child.
It's cruel. It doesn't leave room for learning why or how to have your own thoughts and make your own decisions. I was not teaching him how to live in society, but how to shut up and not be seen. I hated it and I dropped it after a while. And he is awesome without it.
If you are trying to raise a robot, great. But when that robot gets older and is manipulated and can't understand when an adult, or any other authority figure, is out of line, that's an issue. The therapist was speechless when I asked, "Okay, if we teach him to do exactly as he's told no matter what, what happens if someone sexually assaults him? Or tries to kidnap him? Is there anything in this therapy that teaches him to say 'NO, I'm not comfortable with that' or even 'No, I don't like to do that, let's do this instead?'.
No personality. Nothing but assimilation and an assurance that you can get your kid to do 'normie' tricks and pretend to fit in better. It was disgusting. The training was NON-STOP and I was expected to continue when the therapist wasn't around.
No thanks.
Jessica -
I had one session with my kiddo very early on when she was first diagnosed. As the neurologist who diagnosed her said ABA was the therapy she needed alongside OT. We walked out. Continued with OT. And i educated mysef on what ABA was which helped me to understand why i walked out of that therapy with my kiddo.
Anon -
We did about 3 months the spring/summer of 2012. I was hugely pregnant with our twins and had three boys who were 3 1/2, 2 1/2, and 13 months old.
We had services through our Regional Center and they contract through Easter Seals. We had five therapists and one supervisor within that 12 week period. The first quit after a week to move out of state. The second I asked to leave after 2 sessions because she was causing then ignoring distress. The third was our longest tenure: 2 weeks before she was reassigned (we're at 4 weeks here).
The fourth and fifth came together as a pair, a supervisor and the therapist. I actually liked these women BUT after watching them for one week (four five-hour sessions) I told them I wasn't happy with how things were going. We continued "Parent Teaching" for the remainder of the two months.
It ended up being a mommy chat time for 5 hours three times a week because we hit it off as parent friends. My biggest issues were the intentional causing of distress to elicit a "problem" behavior the therapist could then work on correcting. The ignoring of distress was also extremely against my parenting style. They also talked about my boy as being manipulative and naughty.
Our school district employed a behaviorist who has her masters in child development and CBT. I absolutely adore her and how she see children. If there's ever something going on she always looks at how it's being delivered to the child(ren) as the issue as opposed to changing their behavior. Students get to take breaks in three safe spaces upon request (either verbal, icon, or signing) and distress is never ignored or intentionally brought on for the sake of "training."
Megan
Met with BCBA once. Thought I had explained what made me uncomfortable and what I was looking for (self advocacy skills basically). The therapist proceeded to prescribe that we force my daughter to say hi, every time someone said it to her, and to hold her there until she said it. We never went back.
Sheri
My daughter had one session that was awful. The therapist kept saying "I know it's hard but this is the best way."
Well. It never happened again. My daughter has never forgotten. I did some serious repenting with her more than once. It was downright traumatic.
Eilean
Funny thing.. my daughter had ABA for about 20 hours a week, now that she started wanting to go to school her ABA therapist told us that this is a horrible idea and that she couldn't receive as much ABA anymore and her development would stop or even lose speech.
I put her in school, she got her headphones, her necklace for the bus and she's the happiest kid. She's doing great in school, actually she's one of the best in class.
I got told ABA is the best thing to do when my kid first got diagnosed and I didn't know anyone who could educate on this. All I say is my daughter is so much happier now then she was few months back...
Samantha -
I have two Autistic children. My oldest had ABA for about 2 years (from 2.5 to 4.5). My youngest had it for 1.5 years (from 22 months to 3). When my eldest was diagnosed, it was made clear that ABA was THE therapy to do, was scientific, evidence based, and the best way to ensure positive long term outcomes. The first company that we worked worked with was owned by a woman who actually worked under Lovaas. I asked her how I would know WHY my son was exhibiting particular behaviors. She told me that it was impossible to read his mind and it didn’t matter why he was doing things. That we were just to respond to behavior. Well, it DOES matter to me why kiddo did what he was doing at the time. There were also times that they said we would have to provoke certain distressed reactions from him in order to train the behavior out. It just seemed cruel to me to intentionally upset him (at the time, there were pretty significant SIB like head banging—I was desperate for that to stop and couldn’t imagine trying to get him to do it on purpose).
Another therapist was awful to my son, physically restraining him when he was upset and sometimes just sitting there while he hurt himself. She made a whole point about how I shouldn’t “give in” to his fits. I ultimately threw her out of my house after she threatened to call CPS literally because of the way my furniture was arranged.
Anon -
When our child was diagnosed in 2008, the narrative around autism was very, very negative. It was the height of the Autism Speaks "doom and gloom" campaigning, some of which also went on here in Australia.
My husband & I were led to believe that autism was something to be "defeated," or at least "strongly mitigated," and that with dozens of hours of therapy each week, our child could reach the ultimate goal: "to be indistinguishable from their peers" (this exact phrase was used).
In fact, on the first day of our orientation at the early intervention centre so many people recommended to us, we were shown a video clip of an American boy who apparently "recovered" from being autistic after doing years of intense behavioural intervention.
In those early days, we didn't feel empowered to challenge drills that encouraged things like eye contact. We didn't have the benefit of learning from autistic young adults and autistic adults about just how painful it is to try to "pass" as not autistic and to be encouraged to quash things like non-harmful stims. We were told that when our child was crying or resistant to doing sessions (I know appreciate how exhausting 20+ hours of therapy must have been for a tiny child) that we needed to "work through" otherwise we would just be escalating the issues.
Tabitha -
It’s so much like dog training that my kind sweet 5 year old nonverbal son still won’t even take a bit of food without being prompted ( told it’s ok ) and we stopped almost a year ago .... he’s just so afraid to do anything he’s not suppose to , trying to get him to think for himself again is what I’ve. Been doing everyday since ! it’s heart breaking !!
Fadwa -
Yes we did ABA with my son for two years, I will regret that for ever, I should have known better since I was preparing a phd on invisible disability like ADHD, sensory disorder and austim, but the thing is ABA therapists prey on parents' fear "prepare to be fighting with an adult in shakles and diapers if you do not do this now, the window is closing, early intervention is key"" this was a response I got when trying once to reason with one of them by asking her "does not he have a say in it,." Once an SD is given there is no way for the child to refuse to comply even if it is so absurd like touch your nose. I seems happier after I fired all his ABA team.
Kim -
My child had an ABA-based program at his public school in a typical classroom, from the end of 2nd grade through half of 4th grade, when I pulled him out to homeschool. My family did not feel that we really had a choice about this intervention and I brought many of the concerns I had heard about ABA from autistic adults to our school team from the start. I was assured that this ABA program was "not strict" and was not the way ABA was done "in the 90's." This was the kinder, gentler ABA. I made sure my son was allowed to stim. I insisted that no one prompt eye contact. He was not pushed to act neurotypical. He would be taught "coping strategies" and be allowed to take breaks.
The first red flag was when our first BCBA wanted to implement a "quiet sit and be calm protocol" in response to my son bolting or having outbursts. He was supposed to sit quietly with his hands still for 30 seconds, and if he had "maladaptive behavior" before the 30 seconds were up, he would have to come back and start all over until he was compliant. It was clear to me that forcing a child to appear calm with no regard for a triggering environment or situation was abuse, and I vetoed it immediately.
The main focus of this ABA program was teaching my son "coping strategies" so that he would not run away from the classroom. In the entire time he was reinforced for requesting breaks instead of bolting, there was never an emphasis on learning WHY he was running away. When he continued to be stressed, it became clear to me that there was no way to determine whether his "coping strategies" actually helped him cope. His BCBA could only measure whether he utilized replacement behaviors and whether he was compliant. Using "coping strategies" was meaningless.
When my son started having meltdowns at school, I was initially unaware of what was going on, because his interventionists and our BCBA referred to the episodes as "noncompliance." When I asked our BCBA how she distinguished between autistic meltdowns and intentional noncompliance, she told me that ABA looked at differences "based on observable measures." The only difference between the two from her perspective was that my child typically cried and showed aggression during meltdowns but not during other instances that were considered noncompliance. There was no place in ABA for her to understand that meltdowns were an involuntary reaction to being overwhelmed, and therefore no way to treat them any differently than willful disobedience.
Despite my full-time advocacy, there was never a serious attempt to integrate an understanding of my child's internal experience into his plan. Teaching a child "coping strategies" instead of unsafe behaviors sounds great on the surface. But with a focus solely on external behavior, ABA has no tools to tell if a child actually feels safe and calm, or if they are just suppressing their fear or pain to be compliant. If a child's meltdowns are not understood as anything more than noncompliance, that child can't be supported appropriately. It was clear that my child was just being subjected to compliance training, and I pulled him out of school.
Anon
My 10 year old autistic son has been attending a district autism school. It has all the bells and whistles. It has everything you could have dreamed of. Including bikes in the hallways for the autistic children to ride up and down the halls. My 10 year old was doing so well there. Looking back there were red flags but I couldn’t put my finger on what was causing some behaviors. My 3 year old autistic son started in April. He was there for a month when my 10 year old told me what was going on because he thought he hurt his brother. Every day/twice a day they have the autistic children go to the nurse and they do body searches. My 3 year old wouldn’t comply so they brought his brother in to hold his hand and undress him. After that they used marshmallows (his favorite food) to force compliance. Every day autistic children are given reinforcers to take their clothes off. Every autistic child in the program. I found out because my 10 year old couldn’t tolerate watching his brother screech and cry. I was never notified or asked if this could be done to either boy. When I questioned I was told they didn’t need my permission. When I said that they were grooming my children for a predator, I was told that they didn’t care because it was policy. When I demanded to see the policy in writing, they said they didn’t have it in writing. When I demanded to see the daily logs that showed that there were 2 staff in the room during these searches, they didn’t have it. When I asked if they did this to “normal” children they became offended. I told them “we stopped being politically correct when you body searched my disabled children like they were carrying guns”.
If you’ve made it this far. I filed an institutional abuse report against the school. It’s still under investigation. I’ve asked for an out of district placement but the school is making me wait. I’ve asked for home instruction and I’ve been put on the back burner. I’ve implemented in home counseling to deal with any long term effects. I now have kids with lovely IEPs that are worth nothing because they aren’t in school. I continue to fight and argue with the school.
ABA techniques are used to abuse and manipulate children to comply. Compliance is abuse. Compliance causes abuse.
Samara
My son did ABA for 2 months and was traumatised, It took him 6 months to recover, and we still have a lot of harm to undo, and the worst is he doesn't trust me because I was the one taking him to therapy. He only comes to me or hugs me when I am in my pijamas, if I am dressed to go out he hates me, he gets scared I might take him somewhere he doesn't like.
KP
When our child was identified as an Autistic person, we were overwhelmed by the negative rhetoric from the “experts” around us. It made a situation that need not be, incredibly challenging.
We didn’t know of a single other Autistic person in our family (that changed over time), and at that point we were completely raw, vulnerable and absolute rookies, so we made a rookie mistake with terrible consequences; we followed the advice of the “experts” and enrolled our child in ABA “therapy”.
Our child was only 3 years old when the ABA started. There were challenges of course, though our child was a genuinely happy and very loved child. I’d always strongly believed in connected, responsive parenting and our relationship was hugely important to me. I enjoyed being with my child immensely.
As soon as the ABA started, we began to see a change in our child. Anxiety and unhappiness became increasingly common and ultimately, meltdowns which descended into aggressive behaviours and striking out. I knew things couldn’t continue, I was losing my relationship with my child.
I didn’t know it then but this process in common when kids start ABA; we were told that it was just our child trying to avoid compliance and that aggression was a normal part of extinction outbursts. I was horrified and began insisting that I witness for myself what was happening to our child (this was strongly discouraged).
These are some of the things I saw:
Our child being physically turned to look at and speak to any adult who spoke to them (even though verbal speech had not yet developed - a noise was taken as verbalisation)
Forced and sustained eye contact
Our child being “pinned” in their seat by placing the table into a corner, with our child sitting against the wall with the “therapist” sitting at a right angle, effectively blocking the exit.
Affection, food, drink and use of toilet being refused until “compliance” was achieved.
Attempts to communicate upset, distress, frustration were all ignored.
Use of “Verbal Behaviour” techniques when our child was non-speaking: forcing our child to attempt verbal speech in order to have needs met, rather than provision of a suitable communication system, causing stress and frustration to our child. Drink, food and bathroom breaks would be refused until they were satisfied with attempts at verbalisation. Toys were also locked away or high up, so our child would have to verbalise a request for them.
Tasks were repeated so often that our child was purposely doing it incorrectly since getting it right only resulted in it being repeated again and again with various “therapists”.
Our child was discussed at length, in his presence, as if he were absent. These discussions centred on all of their perceived “deficits” and how compliance was going to be achieved.
Refusal of food until task completion or a different food was eaten first, regardless of why that food was disliked.
Over-the-top, inauthentic praising when compliance was achieved, followed by toy, treat or affection being given.
Hand over hand prompts or even full physical prompts, despite my child’s obvious discomfort.
Not being allowed to say “no”, regardless of how reasonable it was in the circumstances.
Forcing my child to undertake a task he had a very clear and very strong phobic response to, until he vomited- which was ignored and the task enforced anyway (until I stepped in and insisted this not continue, at which point I was bullied by the BCBAs and told I didn’t have my child’s best interest at heart).
Ignoring my express wishes that certain things not be undertaken with our child.
Advising me to lock my child in an empty room during any “aggressive outbursts” and refusing to give them any attention or affection following it.
Our child was removed from the programme after a few months and unfortunately, PTSD has become an issue for both my child AND for me. Thankfully, our relationship has been restored and I parent with love, acceptance and respect at all times. I demand the same from anyone who is working with or supporting them. Our child says no now but it took a long time for this to be something that was comfortable for them.
This ABA took place in the last 5 years and at a place where new “therapists” are trained. They are all BCBA certified.
Once we left ABA, we engaged an SLP who was appropriately qualified and refused to use ABA techniques. They identified that our child has an Auditory Processing Disorder, which helped to inform the best ways of supporting the development of communication, speech and language. Even though verbal speech was not a specifie
d goal of that work, within 6 months our child naturally developed verbal speech.
Kelly Ogden
I am the parent of an autistic son. I am NT. I knew nothing about ABA but as soon as my son was diagnosed everyone said ABA was it. I did some research, but was on board because everyone else told me to be. That was a hard lesson for me. My gut started red flagging week one. It ultimately resulted in my ending ABA. Then I joined this group and started reading testimonies of people that have gone through it. It was exactly what my gut was screaming before I had knowledge. DONE. NEVER AGAIN. REPULSIVE. For me and my son anyway. I also let tho owner of the company how I felt. We never spoke again. Imagine that.
Allison Hubbord
We never technically did ABA but I pulled my child from speech therapy where the same approach was used, which in retrospect isn't surprising because it was from Easter seals and they were also the ones who were supposed to do the ABA therapy which we declined to pursue after originally being referred and started the process but never had actual therapy take place, we were still in the intake process and had met in home with one of the providers, and it was his lack of being able to even explain what ABA was or what its goals were that led me to explore it on my own and the information I found was what made the decision for us to not let the ABA proceed. The speech therapy, we actually saw the abuse take place so we told her from it afterwards.
Testimonials from Autistic Adults who were put through ABA
Elinor -
It is worth looking up the 1965 Life Magazine article on ABA when it was conceived to understand the pedigree - just knowing the basic underlying principle and how they started using electric shock as punishment (and still do in some in-patient settings) speaks volumes. Those obviously abusive interventions have been replaced with "withdrawal of interaction" - basically social rejection, which I would argue is exploiting a deep vulnerability. When I was treated with ABA, this method was used, and frankly I would rather be shocked.
The goal of ABA is to bring about the extinction of "unwanted behaviors" (unwanted by allistics), since autism continues to be diagnosed based on behavior, not experience. There is no care taken to address the fact that the behaviors are natural to autistics and are how we regulate our sensory overload and nervous systems etc. So regardless the form of punishment used, the goal is tomake allistics feel more comfortable with autists at the expense of the autist feeling pain and stress.
The outcome is reinforced in the world at large, because it is socially acceptable to shun autists who behave autistic, and so if ABA is "successful", the autist is placed on a life path of trying to pass as neurotypical mask natural behaviors and mimic allistic behaviors that are neither natural nor innately comprehensible.
What never gets addressed is the enormous cost of passing. Using skinnerian conditioning to train autists (like dogs) to mimic unnatural behavior means that they are taught that they must show up and interact with others by pretending to be someone else. We are taught to fear that someone will see who we really are if we don't manage long lists of rules for interactions. This increases the anxiety of social interaction while simultaneously rendering it inauthentic. It deepens shame in who you are, whether you are successful at passing or not.
While I was passing, I left every social encounter and cried in the car afterwards and thought about suicide because I didn't know if I had seemed "normal", I didn't know if people really liked me because they certainly didn't know who I was, and because I felt like a monster inside. You cannot have healthy self-esteem this way.
Elinor
Stephanie -
Let me go ahead and make one thing very clear and specific. I know there are thousands of variations therapies that are called ABA. Not all of them are exactly like what we went through. I do believe that a lot of our fighting in the autism community between parents and autistic adults comes from the miscommunication that all ABA therapy is exactly the same. That's just not the case anymore in this day and age. ABA still has its original Standard principles behind it. It's principles are to make the autistic person look and act as allistic or normal as possible in society. This is no more than dog training to become the world's greatest actor to be somebody that you're not. That is still the basis of ABA. If your child is undergoing variations or modified from ABA type therapies then those are probably not quite as damaging as what me and Kath have been through. But all in all ABA is more for the parents then it is for the child. Why would you send your autistic Child to her therapy to teach them a life skill that you would patiently teach your allistic child at home? That really doesn't make much sense to me other than the fact that some parents justcannot find enough patience to teach that life skill. Now that does not mean that parents are not patient that means that it requires even more than what some people are able to give in order to care for the autistic person. It takes a great deal of patience. Even more so than what you think it would. I'm raising two children on the spectrum. I'm on the spectrum as well. My patience wears thin quicker than a lot of people. I'm constantly having to remind myself be patient they learn differently. I focus on their Strengths. I discipline bad behavior. I reward effort I reward good behavior. And I don't reward with treats I give verbal praise and high-fives. It's Constant patience. It's about stepping into their world and learning from them before you teach them anything. So some of us laugh when we're mad and some of us cry when we're happy. Just because more people in the world don't use their emotions like that does not mean that we are broken. We have feelings. We have empathy. We have passion. We are loving. We are compassionate to others. And just as we are all of those things, we can be assholes, jerks, ignorant, rude, abusive, and just all-around angry. But those have nothing to do with our autism and everything to do with what is in our personality. Her personality and her autism have nothing to do with each other. Just like my intelligence has nothing to do with my autism. I'm not smart because I'm artistic I'm smart because I'm smart. And between me and my brother he's the smartest out of both of us. He's also Allistic. But you have to remember that some therapies are really good I can help with the general basis of ABA is very detrimental to a person's mental state. I have friends here in Alabama in my hometown even that live in an assisted living home at 30 years old because they can't cope with the PTSD caused from ABA. Yes they are very independent people that their PTSD messes with them so badly that they can't function well enough to be trusted alone. It defeated the entire purpose of what their parents were trying to achieve with ABA therapy. And that's what so many autistic adults are trying to tell parents. Compliance training in general can be very very unhealthy for any child with any kind of developmental disabilities or struggles. I also understand there are people here who have children that are very low on the spectrum. Just because you're labeled low does not mean that that person does not possess the The ability to learn how to be independent it just takes more time. Most autistic adults end up in homes because when they turn 18 all of the therapies stop people quit trying to put in as much effort to help and they're rarely any places that have support systems for autistic adults. It's like as soon as we hit 18 or 21 or thrown away to the sidelines and left with no help. That's why everybody claims that autism is such a tragedy. We tried to getting to talk for 18 years and it didn't work so we gave up. When it may have only taken two more years to actually get that person to save their very first words. Does anybody understand what I'm saying??? People give up way too soon and label was a lost cause when we could be so close to reaching that goal."
Personal Testimonies from other sources
https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/comments/50bhcd/are_there_any_adult_autistics_who_are_willing_to/?st=isida1k8&sh=4b2e6577
Thomas's Story
ABA and my experience with it
It is worth looking up the 1965 Life Magazine article on ABA when it was conceived to understand the pedigree - just knowing the basic underlying principle and how they started using electric shock as punishment (and still do in some in-patient settings) speaks volumes. Those obviously abusive interventions have been replaced with "withdrawal of interaction" - basically social rejection, which I would argue is exploiting a deep vulnerability. When I was treated with ABA, this method was used, and frankly I would rather be shocked.
The goal of ABA is to bring about the extinction of "unwanted behaviors" (unwanted by allistics), since autism continues to be diagnosed based on behavior, not experience. There is no care taken to address the fact that the behaviors are natural to autistics and are how we regulate our sensory overload and nervous systems etc. So regardless the form of punishment used, the goal is tomake allistics feel more comfortable with autists at the expense of the autist feeling pain and stress.
The outcome is reinforced in the world at large, because it is socially acceptable to shun autists who behave autistic, and so if ABA is "successful", the autist is placed on a life path of trying to pass as neurotypical mask natural behaviors and mimic allistic behaviors that are neither natural nor innately comprehensible.
What never gets addressed is the enormous cost of passing. Using skinnerian conditioning to train autists (like dogs) to mimic unnatural behavior means that they are taught that they must show up and interact with others by pretending to be someone else. We are taught to fear that someone will see who we really are if we don't manage long lists of rules for interactions. This increases the anxiety of social interaction while simultaneously rendering it inauthentic. It deepens shame in who you are, whether you are successful at passing or not.
While I was passing, I left every social encounter and cried in the car afterwards and thought about suicide because I didn't know if I had seemed "normal", I didn't know if people really liked me because they certainly didn't know who I was, and because I felt like a monster inside. You cannot have healthy self-esteem this way.
Elinor
Stephanie -
Let me go ahead and make one thing very clear and specific. I know there are thousands of variations therapies that are called ABA. Not all of them are exactly like what we went through. I do believe that a lot of our fighting in the autism community between parents and autistic adults comes from the miscommunication that all ABA therapy is exactly the same. That's just not the case anymore in this day and age. ABA still has its original Standard principles behind it. It's principles are to make the autistic person look and act as allistic or normal as possible in society. This is no more than dog training to become the world's greatest actor to be somebody that you're not. That is still the basis of ABA. If your child is undergoing variations or modified from ABA type therapies then those are probably not quite as damaging as what me and Kath have been through. But all in all ABA is more for the parents then it is for the child. Why would you send your autistic Child to her therapy to teach them a life skill that you would patiently teach your allistic child at home? That really doesn't make much sense to me other than the fact that some parents justcannot find enough patience to teach that life skill. Now that does not mean that parents are not patient that means that it requires even more than what some people are able to give in order to care for the autistic person. It takes a great deal of patience. Even more so than what you think it would. I'm raising two children on the spectrum. I'm on the spectrum as well. My patience wears thin quicker than a lot of people. I'm constantly having to remind myself be patient they learn differently. I focus on their Strengths. I discipline bad behavior. I reward effort I reward good behavior. And I don't reward with treats I give verbal praise and high-fives. It's Constant patience. It's about stepping into their world and learning from them before you teach them anything. So some of us laugh when we're mad and some of us cry when we're happy. Just because more people in the world don't use their emotions like that does not mean that we are broken. We have feelings. We have empathy. We have passion. We are loving. We are compassionate to others. And just as we are all of those things, we can be assholes, jerks, ignorant, rude, abusive, and just all-around angry. But those have nothing to do with our autism and everything to do with what is in our personality. Her personality and her autism have nothing to do with each other. Just like my intelligence has nothing to do with my autism. I'm not smart because I'm artistic I'm smart because I'm smart. And between me and my brother he's the smartest out of both of us. He's also Allistic. But you have to remember that some therapies are really good I can help with the general basis of ABA is very detrimental to a person's mental state. I have friends here in Alabama in my hometown even that live in an assisted living home at 30 years old because they can't cope with the PTSD caused from ABA. Yes they are very independent people that their PTSD messes with them so badly that they can't function well enough to be trusted alone. It defeated the entire purpose of what their parents were trying to achieve with ABA therapy. And that's what so many autistic adults are trying to tell parents. Compliance training in general can be very very unhealthy for any child with any kind of developmental disabilities or struggles. I also understand there are people here who have children that are very low on the spectrum. Just because you're labeled low does not mean that that person does not possess the The ability to learn how to be independent it just takes more time. Most autistic adults end up in homes because when they turn 18 all of the therapies stop people quit trying to put in as much effort to help and they're rarely any places that have support systems for autistic adults. It's like as soon as we hit 18 or 21 or thrown away to the sidelines and left with no help. That's why everybody claims that autism is such a tragedy. We tried to getting to talk for 18 years and it didn't work so we gave up. When it may have only taken two more years to actually get that person to save their very first words. Does anybody understand what I'm saying??? People give up way too soon and label was a lost cause when we could be so close to reaching that goal."
Personal Testimonies from other sources
https://www.reddit.com/r/autism/comments/50bhcd/are_there_any_adult_autistics_who_are_willing_to/?st=isida1k8&sh=4b2e6577
Thomas's Story
ABA and my experience with it
Autism Advocacy
Advocacy comes in many forms regarding Autism
Campaigning against dangerous Autism treatments
Reporting parents who implement abusive treatments on their children
Phoning journalists to expose these treatments and rogue sellers
Educating parents about these dangerous treatments through social media
Talking a parent out of even considering it
Fighting for legislation
Educating parents about vaccine fears
Debunking vaccine myths
Expressing sorrow at the ableist view of the vaccine/autism connection
Making a stand against ABA
Fighting against ABA with ABA organisations
Expressing concern of ABA to parents
Hearing the voices of Autistics who went through ABA
Expressing your experience of ABA
Using social media to do this
Educating other autism services about the wrong practice of ABA
Helping schools with their autistic kids
Advocating for equity in education
Submissions on legislation
Helping autistics with their rights in hospital
Helping Autistics with their entitlements to welfare
Services and support for autistic adults. (Probably especially those who are chidfree.)
Addressing the current disproportionate focus on children and "families".
Ensuring that resources are directed towards autistic people, rather than NT parents.
Advocating to ensure Autistic people are controlling how money is spent and what it gets spent on.
Creating job opportunities for Autistic Adults
Improving care facilities for Autistics
Trying to help get airports and hospitals more autistic friendly
Using conferences to educate parents about neurodiversity
Using conferences for Autistics to teach each other about neurodiversity
Opening a social media support group for Autistics
Opening a social media support group for parents
Contributing in social media groups for both
Writing blogs
Signing a petition
Going on a podcast
Phoning into a radio station
But also :
Giving a parent advice
Sending another autistic a ❤
Expressing your worries in the hope that others understand
This is ALL important advocacy work and I am quite sure I have missed a lot out. Some people can do more than others.
The people who do it publically are incredible and can make a huge difference ☺
Others have different issues, roles, disabilities, priorities, work, life commitments. Sometimes a simple 'like' that day may be all you have spoons for, but is still being an advocate
I see amazing people giving support daily in our sister group 'Supporty McGroup face' and many other groups
ALL OF THE ABOVE IS ADVOCACY WORK
This is great work, be proud 💕💕💕
Good, Safe Interventions to Support Your Child
Safe Interventions for your Child
As Autistic Allies we firmly believe ABA is not a good intervention for your child.
Please follow the facebook page ABA Controversy Autism Discussion UK for more details
Also type 'ABA' into the search bar here for good links on why not. We have a whole host of links for you to look through
As Autistic Allies we firmly believe ABA is not a good intervention for your child.
Please follow the facebook page ABA Controversy Autism Discussion UK for more details
Also type 'ABA' into the search bar here for good links on why not. We have a whole host of links for you to look through
The type of interventions that DO work for your child are very individual
For most kids we would recommend Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy if needed.
Check out our Speech Therapy link : Speech Therapy Activities
Occupational Therapy link: Occupational Therapy help and ideas
For Sensory Ideas check out this page:
Sensory Aids and Play Ideas
and of course seek out professions in this field, in your local area
If you child in non verbal check out AAC
Non Verbal Communication - Introducing AAC
This facebook page is a good one to seek alternatives to ABA
Better Ways than ABA
Here are some good interventions we recommend which may suit your child:
What are some good therapies for Autistic children
10 Autism Interventions
Will keep adding to this page when I can. in the meantime the 'Better Ways' Facebook page will give you many ideas
There are lots of different therapies which can help your child but you have to choice them carefully. Any which say your child won't develop without them are scaremongering, as no therapist has a crystal ball
Good luck
For most kids we would recommend Speech Therapy and Occupational Therapy if needed.
Check out our Speech Therapy link : Speech Therapy Activities
Occupational Therapy link: Occupational Therapy help and ideas
For Sensory Ideas check out this page:
Sensory Aids and Play Ideas
and of course seek out professions in this field, in your local area
If you child in non verbal check out AAC
Non Verbal Communication - Introducing AAC
This facebook page is a good one to seek alternatives to ABA
Better Ways than ABA
Here are some good interventions we recommend which may suit your child:
What are some good therapies for Autistic children
10 Autism Interventions
Will keep adding to this page when I can. in the meantime the 'Better Ways' Facebook page will give you many ideas
There are lots of different therapies which can help your child but you have to choice them carefully. Any which say your child won't develop without them are scaremongering, as no therapist has a crystal ball
Good luck
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)