A recent study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders found that a significant majority (73%) of informational videos on TikTok tagged with "#Autism" contain inaccurate or overgeneralized information about autism. Despite the prevalence of misinformation, these videos have amassed billions of views, highlighting the potential for widespread misconceptions about autism on the platform. ...
If “operant conditioning” makes you think of dog training, you’re right.
This isn’t the bad part. Operant conditioning is how all behaviours are formed, if something gives a positive feeling or takes away a bad one the behaviour increases, if it adds negative feeling or takes away a positive one the behaviour decreases.
The issue with ABA is firstly trying to take a persons personhood away, teaching someone that who they are is bad, and secondly the mad schedules they impose. It might be that a person doesn’t feel comfortable with eye contact, the ideal situation is we go “cool, don’t do that” and everyone is just cool with it, a middle ground that is a good idea is to help the person get used to using intermittent eye contact or using little tricks like looking at someones nose or forehead. The ABA solution is we force the person to make eye contact for an hour a day, regardless of comfort, and witholding a comfort item, like a tablet, until they have completed that hour. It’s treating a child (or sometimes an adult) as a non-entity, just an issue that needs to be fixed, needs to be ‘normal’.
The ABA programs Ive seen are not like this at all.
Play based therapy to teach communication is not “taking away personhood”. Thats like saying enrolling a kid in speech therapy is somehow coersive or abusive
I know ABA has a horrible shitty origin, as does tge udea of intervention… and Im sure there are some people who still practise the traditional cruel methods. And i know there are loads of autistic adults who had to experience these methods.
But lots of current practise of ABA is no longer like this at all. The clinic where my son attends, for instance, they incorporated other forms of therapy, and emphasize communication and social interactions, not “appearing normal”. Kids arent “corrected” for stimming or other behaviours or something like that. Kids are taught that having autism is something to be proud of, theyre also taught how to deal with bullying etc, how to play with other kids and also how to say “i need space”
My kid has been in modern aba since he was 2, at a child first style clinic, and Ive seen many sessions. I wasnt aware of ABAs origins when we enrolled him, we were just following the advice of our developmental pediatrician. But not once have I seen anything even remotely “coersive” or abusive. I wouldnt submit my kid to something like this - he loves going.
This is not to say there are not places that have these shittier approaches and negative reinforcements. But there are lots of therapists out there that do NOT teach kids to hide who they are, or force them to look someone in the eye for an hour etc. I would never force my kid to act “normal”, but I do want him to have help expressing his needs and feelings.
This isn’t the bad part. Operant conditioning is how all behaviours are formed, if something gives a positive feeling or takes away a bad one the behaviour increases, if it adds negative feeling or takes away a positive one the behaviour decreases.
The issue with ABA is firstly trying to take a persons personhood away, teaching someone that who they are is bad, and secondly the mad schedules they impose. It might be that a person doesn’t feel comfortable with eye contact, the ideal situation is we go “cool, don’t do that” and everyone is just cool with it, a middle ground that is a good idea is to help the person get used to using intermittent eye contact or using little tricks like looking at someones nose or forehead. The ABA solution is we force the person to make eye contact for an hour a day, regardless of comfort, and witholding a comfort item, like a tablet, until they have completed that hour. It’s treating a child (or sometimes an adult) as a non-entity, just an issue that needs to be fixed, needs to be ‘normal’.
The ABA programs Ive seen are not like this at all.
Play based therapy to teach communication is not “taking away personhood”. Thats like saying enrolling a kid in speech therapy is somehow coersive or abusive
I know ABA has a horrible shitty origin, as does tge udea of intervention… and Im sure there are some people who still practise the traditional cruel methods. And i know there are loads of autistic adults who had to experience these methods.
But lots of current practise of ABA is no longer like this at all. The clinic where my son attends, for instance, they incorporated other forms of therapy, and emphasize communication and social interactions, not “appearing normal”. Kids arent “corrected” for stimming or other behaviours or something like that. Kids are taught that having autism is something to be proud of, theyre also taught how to deal with bullying etc, how to play with other kids and also how to say “i need space”
My kid has been in modern aba since he was 2, at a child first style clinic, and Ive seen many sessions. I wasnt aware of ABAs origins when we enrolled him, we were just following the advice of our developmental pediatrician. But not once have I seen anything even remotely “coersive” or abusive. I wouldnt submit my kid to something like this - he loves going.
This is not to say there are not places that have these shittier approaches and negative reinforcements. But there are lots of therapists out there that do NOT teach kids to hide who they are, or force them to look someone in the eye for an hour etc. I would never force my kid to act “normal”, but I do want him to have help expressing his needs and feelings.
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