The Audacious Aspie And ABA
Welcome back to the Audacious Aspie! Today, we will be looking at what some are considering autism conversion therapy, or a band that is one letter short from a copyright battle with the super group ABBA (sings to self “Mamma mia, here we go again. Why why, why can’t I arrest you). Either way, it’s bad news (the first one is anyways, not the second. Unless you're a member of ABA).
This is the Super group ABBA
This is not. Note the difference between the 2: one is world renowned for awesome music. The other for being lazy and piggybacking on other band's success.
What is ABA? Some of you may already know this, but for those who do not know, ABA stands for Applied Behaviour Analysis, which has been described by an article in the SPECTRUM as “the longest running and best-established form of therapy for children with autism” (Paragraph 2). Involving many hours (can be 40+) of one-on-one therapy by certified therapists. The therapy, delivered or watched over by the therapist, is organized around the child's own needs, be it socializing, writing or other things. Program sounds like a winner right? Something that everyone can get behind? Not if you have already experienced it first hand (like me) or had a child go through it.
Why’s it so bad? According to SPECTRUM (a document soooo long that I won’t do it justice in this post) ABA was developed by a psychologist named Ole Ivar Lovaas in the 1960’s with the stated goal making people with autism normal. A quote from an Ari N e’eman in the article states that “ABA has a predatory approach to parents” (Paragraph 9). The message being work with an ABA provider, or your child fails. This is the equivalent of Darth Vader saying “Join the darkside, or be destroyed”. Now, all of this is being said by a group of autistic adults vocally against ABA therapy, and not by an official body like the government or such. But if you’ve had previous experience with said...treatment, like myself and others, you’d get the feeling they are not far off the mark.
Why would some parents choose to put their kids through ABA? Will, back in 1970, the choice was grim: Either your kid learns to be normal through ABA, and still be able to go back home, or you have them get institutionalized. Not much of a choice, but a choice nonetheless. Why is ABA bad? When it first started out, in order to stop children from doing stuff like stimming (i.e. hand flapping), they would be slapped, shouted or given the electro shock therapy if continuing to do such habits. Bear in mind this was the same decade that brought us the Vietnam war, disco and gay marriage being illegal, so don't be too surprised that ABA would come from the same decade as the rest.
And the slouch and prat-fall of then president Richard Nixon, Can't (though we may try) forget about him.
The worst thing is: ABA outlived them all (except disco and gay marriage still be illegal in some places. Heck, if Dotard and Rocket Man have their way, We'll see another Korean war), continuing on into the 21st century (Will, what century we live in now is debatable, with theories floating around that only a defining moment splits one timeline from another, like the twin towers or WW1, but the point remains). In any case, what a depressing topic this is! But, like others, one that needs to be discussed. In the next post we will look at other options besides ABA, a lighter post (Hopefully). Until then, this continues to be, the Audacious Aspie.