ABA Therapy. Does it work?

Post Reply New Topic

I keep hearing all of this talk about ABA Therapy. My son is set to start in March in ABA Therapy 40 hours a week. Does it work? Have any of you out there heard about it? My son is low functioning and non verbal, we're hoping this will stop his silence.

Uhm.... well...

Kind of yes, kind of no.

It's complicated.

I've done a couple of blog posts about it.
Teaching to the Test
Rewards & Learning

The gist of it is: Yes, it works to teach procedures which will be done exactly the same way every time; but it can't give you context, can't give you flexibility, and runs the risk of locking you into prompt-dependence or causing you to lose the drive to learn for the sake of learning.

Oops, I forgot--

Regarding communication: Your son hasn't learned speech yet; but remember that behavior is communication too. The things he does, he does for a reason; and you can get information from that. In addition, there are non-speech workarounds for communication, from picture exchange systems to sign language, to symbol and picture with voice output, or even writing or typing. Have you got him set up with a speech therapist to help him learn to get ideas from Brain A to Brain B? Communication is really the number-one objective of education for any autistic person. After all, other people can do pretty much anything for you; but nobody can say for you what you're thinking. It doesn't have to be speech, or anyway, doesn't have to be speech at first. Speaking is pretty complicated compared to handing somebody a picture or pointing to a symbol, or even reciting something you heard that has the idea you want to say in it. The important thing is to get him used to the idea of communicating in one way or another, to get him practice with the idea of communication, in whatever form. That often gives you stepping-stones to speech.

Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor, only an autistic psychology student with a special interest in therapy--so, grain of salt. But, maybe less ABA, more speech/language and interactive stuff? The ABA discrete-trial kind of thing is good for teaching very specific skills, but there are other approaches that are more child-directed, a little more flexible, better for learning skills that have to be generalized; Floortime, for example. There are also occupational therapists who use a combined approach that takes a bit from lots of different methods. See if you can find someone who'll get you involved. You're the mom, after all, and you're the person your son loves and trusts and understands best of all. You're most likely to be predictable and safe to him. (Autistic kids, in the research, have been shown to have attachments to their parents much like that of typical kids, even if they don't communicate that efficiently.) That could help him learn; that, and a familiar, comfortable, non-distracting environment.

Oh, and you should check out the parents' forum on WP; also, the Autism Hub, which is a bunch of blogs from parents and autistics of all sorts. Mostly autism-positive; none of that "my life is a tragedy, my child is broken" crap that most likely makes you want to puke, am I right? You've got a kid to raise; you don't need to listen to that stuff. Gonna have enough trouble tangling with the school system and the doctors without it. Talk to the parents on WP--they have some pretty crazy stories about going Momma Bear on various professionals...

ABA is your best bet, the main thing is that it has to address all aspects of deficiencies like potty training,congnitive,speech,social interaction and occupational therapy . all this has to be done both one to one and with other kids in a classroom setting ( depending on the level of acquired skills and attention. it is a journey ,as they say,and you can never know what is on the other side of the river until you do the walk ,sweat and persevere. Endorse the ABA intervention with similar home exercises ( but dont pressure your child too much ) and allow for a lot of time for love, play and audio visual educational music watching ( it did wonders to my child) . and finally the bottom line is REPITITION , REPITITION , REPITITION , REPITITION ,, REPITITION , REPITITION , REPITITION , and even more REPITITION .

That's 8 hours a day. Isn't that a bit much? What if the child feels suffocated?

8 hours of intense 'do things this way not the way you do things so you can become normal' does seem a bit much,

A lot of Autistic people/people with Asperger's Syndrome/people with ADD/ADHD spend their entire lives being told by professionals to learn this and learn that and adapt to this situation and adapt to that.

Would you want to live a life like that? Isn't it likely there's a good reason some people are Autistic? What would be the point of Autistic people existing if we're supposed to be like everyone else? In my opinion it would be a waste of a life to try to make someone somebody they're not.

Yeah, I agree here. They spend way too much effort on making kids look typical, when they could be teaching those kids useful skills. Teaching communication and self-care and self-advocacy and all those things--all the way from putting on a shirt to crossing the street to paying a bill--is the important thing.

Autistic people will always be autistic and it's wasted effort, and totally counterproductive, to put them through a bunch of drills to try to make them look normal. There are lots of things we do that seem purposeless, but actually do have a purpose for us--for example, avoiding eye contact lets us listen better, or rocking lets us think more clearly or regulates sensory input or whatever. The approach of just trying to train away everything that seems autistic and train in everything that isn't, is short-sighted and often outright damaging. We're not built to do things the typical way, and if you try to force us, it's very much like trying to force a left-handed child to write with his right hand--sure, he'll learn, with intensive practice; but he'll never be as good at it as he would have been if he had done it in the way that was natural for him.

dear Calista , i agree with your comment on this post that "Communication is really the number-one objective of education for any autistic person. After all, other people can do pretty much anything for you; but nobody can say for you what you're thinking." .and " The important thing is to get him used to the idea of communicating in one way or another, to get him practice with the idea of communication, in whatever form. That often gives you stepping-stones to speech." . but i dont understand what you mean by saying that "Autistic people will always be autistic and it's wasted effort, and totally counterproductive, to put them through a bunch of drills to try to make them look normal." . what do you mean by putting them to drills to try to make them look normal , who said that there is something wrong by teaching them better means of relating to how this world thinks , isnt that the purpose of intervention ? .and why do you say beforehand that they will remain autistic ? why not teach both skills commensurate with world functioning realities and self advancement , and at the same time unleash their inherent talents ? i am not being critical of what you are saying,i just want to be more informed. any good books or online material that you recommend reading to inform me about three years old kids in with high functioning ASD ? .may be writings of Steven E. Gutstein. please clarify your opinions , regards,concerned father.

Autism is a neurological difference, the entire wiring of the brain would have to be changed to make someone autistic not autistic. Nothing wrong with trying to teach them skills they might need, but its also important to focus on what's good for the child not what everyone wants from the child.

For a nonverbal, non-communicative 3 yo, I don't think the purpose of ABA is to make the child simulate normal, it is to help the child learn to communicate and self-care skills. I keep hearing that ABA has evolved a long way from what it was 20 years ago, with the purpose being to identify WHY the child is rocking or whatever and to find a way to meet that need that allows for more connection and engagement.

That is a good thing to keep in mind.

It might work, but it is unethical.

ABA for autistic children is akin to the therapies that used to exist to 'cure homosexuality', or to 'cure lefthandedness'.
It does "work", in that it makes your child _act_ more normal. As a pavlov reaction. It is based on the misguided idea that autism is a disease that must be cured.

This article: http://psych.wisc.edu/lang/pdf/Gernsbac ... rocity.pdf discusses how much of todays treatments lack emotional reciprocity, and how it is much better if you actually approach your child on the basis of equality, instead of viewing them as somehow 'lesser' beings.

And this article: http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html nicely sums up why ABA is unethical.

HTH.

While there may be some therapies that do this (and I'm not sure those are even called ABA), most ABA therapies are still aimed at _changing_ the bevaviour of the child.

Yes, if you can find a therapist that actually listens to your child and tries to relate to them, then that's a good therapy. Most ABA treatments aren't like that.

I think you would have to find adults who had ABA when they were young. Ask if they're grateful for it.

Here is an article that may be of use to you: examiner. com/ la-in-los-angeles/misconceptions-of-applied-behavior-analysis-for-the-treatment-of-autism

It details some of the misconceptions of ABA therapy (i.e. that it tries to make kids look "normal") as well as naturalistic teaching strategies employed in ABA therapy that work to prevent any sort of "robotic" or rote responding in children on the spectrum.

I hope it helps!