Does the thought of BEHAVIORAL treatment make you twitch?

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Ehh I'm hyperkinetic. It was so bad when I was little that I would spend whole days running around, screaming and breaking things. I was also violent and got banned from two nurseries. I was sent to behavioural therapy, and there they suggested that my Mum eliminate all colourings/preservatives/flavourings from my diet. Ever since I stopped eating those nasty chemicals, my behaviour has much improved.
Although, just to make everything so easy, I had to end up with schizophrenia. Now my "remedy" is to take my olanzapine every day. Sigh. I don't even know why I have schizophrenia, and if it is anything to do with the behavioural problems I had when I was little.

No, no, no that's not what Behav Mod. for Autism is all about at all. What you describe is scary. Our program identifies the areas where the mod is needed and those areas can touch every aspect of a child's life...everything from praticial life skills to education. The program can be as dynamic or simplistic as you want, but it based solely on assessments done on the child. Our kid needed help straight across the board, so his has touched pretty much everything and it has really been a father's dreams come true to see him become functional. Not only did it not change who he is, we feel the real kid is showing through thanks to behav mod. In a nutshell, he's not struggling so hard to simply exist and make it. He's not more of a participant in everything he does.

In an earlier post, I mentioned potty training. Are you aware that many Autistic kids can't attend a mainstream class no matter how functional they are if they're not potty trained? The only way schools permit this is is with an para aid, but the kid has to have several other qualifiers in other to get an para aid. Behav Mod. can step in an build a program to help get the kid potty trained. When videos, books and all else failed, they stepped in and created personalized PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), storyboards, schedules and award programs that proved right on! My son was trained in no time and beat the odds because many Autistic kids take years and years to train. I'm talking about 6, 7, 8. And, sometimes it simply never happens. Also, it's rare, but some Asperger kids have the same problem. Read "Finding Ben: A Mother's Journey Through the Maze of Asperger's" by Barbara LaSalle and she talks about the difficulties in training her son up into adulthood. So, I made this point because I want people to know the behaviors being changed in ABA are ones that have a serious impact on life. Like being able to go to the bathroom on your own. We're not talking about personality issues here. It's serious stuff.

Another example: when I joined the board there was a thread someone started about not being able to understand figures of speech and being totally lost sometimes in meetings and on dates, etc... What would you think about a Behav Mod. program that understood this and began to help kids with it at a young age? A program where they teach inferences, double meanings, jokes, and figures of speech? We had all of these things built into our program because the management that runs it understood these were weighty issues. They use books, flashcards, modelling and games to help the kid. They do the same things with facial expressions. There's a whole other program within our program that helps with that because many Autistic kids can't read people's faces or emotions.

Last, social skills: The social skills teachings is one of the best parts of the program. This is implemented everywhere we go. Including at school and on out-of-the-home outtings where he's taught to interact, connect, talk to others. There are goals and expectations set up and if he falls short, there is no punishment. Never. We all sit down and talk about areas we feel need improvement and he's rewarded for all the positive things. Thanks to this program, I know he'll do well socially as he grows. And, you can see how confidant he's become. He's so confidance and happy when he's out and loves going places. He has no problem interacting with other kids or adults. My wife and I are taking this program one step further to teach him to spot when people are not being nice. We're trying to polish that seventh sense and teach him to stick up for and defend himself.

Also, if the child is non-verbal, you can gear your program to really work towards speech. Any other questions? I'm happy to answer.

If it really is voluntarily and does not use punishment - as the previous poster told, it would be okay... all other things scare the living hell out of me.

I think behavior modification is great for kids and adults. A lot of people resist the idea because they think you're training someone like you train a dog, but it's not dehumanizing at all. And people tend to think it's more stick than carrot, like that school that zaps people. But anyone who's read some of the behavior modification techniques will realize everyday life is about rewards and punishments. If you're late for work, you get fired. If you a great presentation, you get a raise. So it really makes a lot of sense in a day-to-day practice. You probably get behavior modification everyday and don't realize it.

i remember having therapy when i was younger and it sucked. so I get your point.

While I am content with who I am now (diagnosed AS as an adult), it would have been nice every now and then to get a little help back in the day (I went to Catholic school where the kids mercilessly picked on me and the teachers insisted I wasn't "applying" myself). When it comes to my son, however, (aged 6.4yrs, autistic, apraxic and mostly non-verbal), I have to look towards the future. My husband and I will not live forever. Our siblings are not young enough to take over for us when we are no longer up to the challenge. I'm all for it if ABA can help him master basic tasks such as dressing himself, going to the bathroom independently, and encouraging him to adjust to the sight of and ultimately even try a new food (he's wildly picky and gags at the sight of all but a few foods. Given that eating is often a highly social experience and given that my son loves being around his peers, it's very important to me that his lunch-time gagging in the cafeteria not lead to his being rejected by his classmates. There is only so much you can ask of NT individuals--especially the pint-sized kind--and being tolerant while someone audibly gags near you on Corn Dog day is just too much).

All the therapists we've had thus far have been nothing but sweet, and my son has given every indication he enjoys his time with them. While I can sympathize with the experiences of others (that said, I wouldn't judge Catholic schools based on my experience there), and I can see how some equate ABA with the same training methods used on dogs, I have to say we've never hoisted any of our dogs up on our feet to give them "airplane rides" as rewards.

That's cool that your son is enjoying his program. Way, cool!

It's too bad we weren't home this evening. I would have watched this. ABC World News Tonight did a segment on ABA Therapy and parents trying to get insurers to pay for it. After reading this article, I probably totally underestimated the cost of our ABA at $30,000. Even my wife thought it was more than double that, like closer to $75,000.

For those of you who still think Behavior Mod. is torture and unjust, look at the positive outcomes for several of the kids in the article.


INSURANCE VS. AUTISM FOR PARENTS
Insurance Is a Personal Fight
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4515825&page=1

Looking someone in the eye, waving goodbye, or speaking a single word may seem simple to the average person. But an autistic child may have to sit in a chair for eight hours a day, learning these tasks through painstaking repetition called Applied Behavioral Analysis therapy.

ABA therapy can cost up to a $100,000 a year, which is why it's a breakthrough that Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has signed House bill 2847 into law, forcing insurance providers to cover the costs of the treatment.

Mandated insurance coverage for autism treatment is, generally, nothing new. Roughly half the states do that to varying degrees. What's new is requiring coverage for ABA therapy, with its intimidating price tag.

The expense is so steep that the bill was lobbied against by business, in general, and the insurance industry, in particular, which argued that such mandated coverage gets passed along as higher insurance premiums for everyone.

"The weight of all of these mandates has made it much more difficult for employers and consumers to afford coverage for health care," Susan Pisano, spokeswoman for the American Association of Health Plans, said.

"The way it plays out in the real world is that, if a mandate passes, an employer has to pick that cost up — in the form of higher premiums — and many times, what then happens is, that cost will need to be passed on to the individual employee." But Lisa Parles, whose 17-year-old son Andrew has been in ABA therapy — without insurance — since the age of 3, argues the skills he's learning will save society some of the cost of care he'll need as an adult. Parles gave up her law practice to move to a state that pays for treatment.

"If it wasn't for his early years of ABA, I don't think he'd be brushing his teeth, showering, getting his own snack," she said, "which for the future, as an adult, is going to have a huge financial impact."

Parles points to the overall economics.

"There's no question that, the more intensive early intervention services, the better the outcome — and that either we can pay for it now and hope for [the] best outcome, or you can pay for it later in the way of adult services," she said.

Though there are many childhood disabilities that insurance still will not pay to treat, parents of kids with autism — at least, now, in Arizona — may not need to take a second mortgage to pay for that time in a chair.

I think positive behavioural training is good for people with AS and Autism. NOT Negative though.

I had no help whatsoever during my growing up years, but I had plenty of negative reinforcement... all that does is breed mistrust and dislike of people.

I think that a behavioral program which is tailored to the needs of the ASD person and respects them and their way of thinking is far more beneficial then just throwing them into the school system and expecting them to sink or swim like I was.

I also think one of the most important issues that face individual ASD adults is the question of which of their personality traits to decide to change, and yet which parts of their ASD personality to keep to still allow them flexibility and comfort and allow them to still feel like they are being themselves when interacting with others.

Why do people keep insisting Behav Mod. changes personality traits? Zen_mistress, can you show me some examples where behav. mods. does this so that I can see it for myself and criticize those programs, too. Do you have specifics?

I think that is what NTs dont realise about ASD people. Because we think in a one tracked, factual, literal way, we do end up changing the way we perceive the world in a very specific way if we decide to learn social skills.

Scanning people, constantly trying to figure out what emotions they are having, trying to predict their emotional reactions, is not something that comes naturally to a lot of us.

The ASD person does end up having to suppress some of their personality traits to achieve this end... the question is how far they want to go with it. I find that what I need to do is
a) Find the best situations to try and use learned empathy
and
b) Deduce situations where I can just relax again.

Its hard to explain. But anyway it sounds as if the therapy your son is receiving is doing good things for him .

Okay, I kinda see the points you're making. Also, it's important to remember that you're an adult. The foundation of EI is to help kid's while their brains are still growing and developing in order to ward off many of these problems that plague Autistics later in life. There are certain things that are harder to change as one gets older. EI programs start at 3 and sometimes 2 if there's a diagnosis.

My son's personality has not changed, it's been enhanced. He's a bullet.

ABA wouldn't have helped in any of the area's I am having trouble with and it wouldn't have taught me anything I haven't learned.

Your program, from your description, appears to go somewhat beyond ABA and resembles what I've read about some of the approaches that are frequently used, like the picture system, in a combination of different approaches.

Beyond that all one should keep in mind that there is more, and more important things then learning a set of 'appropriate' behaviours, developing a healthy mind, a good sense of ones self is more important then acting age-appropriate, Ana described it rather well when comparing mental health and mental hygiene.

Behavioural psychology reduces the individual to a set of (desired) behaviours. It is the disrespect of the personal self and identity and emotional development that is so dominantly present in the behavioural approach that is so appalling to me. It is also this disrespect that 'helps' therapists to ignore the client as person and human in their pursuit of results and in doing so they essentially become abusive, sometimes extremely so.

_____

Then learn him to not eat the stuff that makes him gag, but to choose the stuff he likes rather then suppressing a natural and healthy reaction. Teaching him to ignore himself, his own likes and dislikes and to suppress a natural reaction would be exactly the wrong thing to teach him.

Harsh? Sadistic might be a better word.

Repeatedly administering severe electroshocks through the soles of the feet to a child for failing to cross the room and turn the doorknob is sadistic, regardless of the reasons that could have been used to justify it. Full stop.

He's gagging at the sight of OTHER people's food. If an NT kid opens up his lunch, lays out his PBJ sandwich and Frito's, and the child next to him gags--audibly gags, even retches--at the sight of it, then what? How much longer will the other kids (whose presence he craves) wish to be in his company? You call that reaction "healthy", but if it isolates him, and the things he's gagging over are regular, everyday food items he cannot stop OTHERS from eating, then what? It'd be one thing if someone threw up in front of him and he gagged, or he gagged when he smelled gasoline--not wanting to be around someone else's vomit or a toxic substance is good. Natural. It's built in as a defense. But gagging over pretzels? Fruit snacks? That might be his natural reaction, but like my morbid ear of balloons (which virtually no one in my life humors), it's not going to get him what he wants, and that is the company of his peers, which he actively seeks. Trust me, I know. We had a puker in my grade school. By the time we hit 6th grade the boys were actually intentionally doing things to cause her to vomit. And no one could stand.

If you don't like ABA, that's your choice. My ABA program does not go beyond what ABA is about. If you knew the first thing about ABA today, youd know that it and other behav mod programs like it are not one-stop fits-all and abusive anymore like in its infancy. These programs are designed now...designer programs that are tailored for the child's specific needs and heavily monitored. And, let me tell you this, they are like running a company! It is a program with daily reports and diagnosis of what the child is doing, tedious notetaking, major observation, not including the interaction and instruction given to the child. It is serious business and from the examples you're giving, I have no clue of what you're talking about. Doesn't sound anything like what we're doing.

I'm sorry that ABA would not have helped you. But, that's an interesting statement to make considering you never did it. There is no "reducing," "disrespect," or "abuse." But, if that's the way you see it, run with it! And, have a good jog.