ABA and Lessons from History: "Evidence based"

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I think you may be interested in this topic, if you haven't already read it. It discusses mistreatment of autistic's in ABA. And what is being done, to some extent, at least perceptively, to correct the history of the misbehaving behaviourists.

http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html


Here is an excerpt.

"Where ABA needs scrutiny is when its power is used to remove odd behaviours which may be useful and necessary to the autistic (such as rocking, flapping, and analytical, rather than social or "imaginative" play); and when typical, expected behaviours which may be stressful, painful, or useless to the autistic (such as pointing, joint attention, appropriate gaze, and eye contact) are imposed. "

Yes, I am very familiar with Michelle Dawson's work and she often makes some compelling points.

However my focus is more to do with the distorting way that ABA claims, presents and promotes itself as being wholly 100% empirical. There is a belief system which underlies and drives all forms of behaviourist research, "therapy" and the claim of "evidence based" findings. All can be questioned from a philosophy of science basis. The problem is that the devotees, exponents and practitioners never bother to ask those questions, because their faith in ABA is more like religious faith.

I would like to address all those points in due course. It's lunchtime on Good Friday here in the Southern Hemisphere, when we feast together and then eat Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns, then lament at our over-indulgence, so needs must that I take a raincheck at this point, however I will respond later on or tomorrow.

You are right. The people who perform ABA only perform ABA practices.

Personally, I am dyslexic and I have been with speech language pathologists and whatnot for the majority of my academic life. What has helped me personally is learning to think in a visual-spatial sense. When I try to remember a fact, I NEED to associate it to a mental image. If I don't I won't remember it. I think almost entirely in 3D pictures.

No one taught me this. It was only when I went on dyslexic forums that people began speaking about this. (And even then not all dyslexics are like this).

I know that some, not all autistics have visual-spatial strengths. Some make their own images, some remember any visual information in this world. No ABA practice will attempt to use tools to teach visual-spatial thinking. You're right in that ABA practitioners are stuck in ABA or nothing else works. Which is not the case.

I almost have to wonder if that article "the misbehavior of behaviorists" is a joke. It seems extraordinary to me that even 15 years ago people would even consider Lovaas's ideas about hitting and spanking and aversive punishment to be even worthy of consideration.

All the research shows that it's not very smart to hit kids. I thought this should be obvious.

I don't think anyone in their right mind seriously thinks these are good approaches nowadays. Even time-outs are considered counterproducted by enlightened parents nowadays. Discipline of a child is taught through patience, self-discipline, boundary setting, and mutual respect, not through force, or "aversives"

Working against that is religious tradition (spare the rod, spoil the child) and weird parental issues (dad beat me, and I'm JUST FINE! That's why I need to beat the daylights out of this rotten kid, etc.) and I think those combine to make what should be obvious, not obvious to some.

ABA is scrutinised thoughtfully in this article:

http://gernsbacherlab.org/wp-content/up ... D_2003.pdf

And following on from that, this is a very stark example of an unscientific website (despite the website name!) which is advertising, not science, by partisans who are in fact making their beliefs actively political; not scientists but ABA supporters assuming a deceptive cloak of science to promote ABA, acting as missionaries to recruit more believers:

http://www.asatonline.org/what-we-do/ac ... nts-goals/

Read this website particularly noticing how plausible the website strives to sound; then click the sponsors tab to find out who the sponsors are. Valid scientific endeavour doesn't need this kind of subterfuge; and as always, ask Cicero's question: who benefits?!
....
Busy today, so won't be posting much, back tomorrow I hope and Happy Easter to you all

Statement from the United Nations, issued 30 March 2015:


Autistic persons are particularly exposed to professional approaches and medical practices which are unacceptable from a human rights point of view. Such practices – justified many times as treatment or protection measures – violate their basic rights, undermine their dignity, and go against scientific evidence.

Autistic children and adults face the proliferation of medicalized approaches relying on the over-prescription of psychotropic medications, their placement in psychiatric hospitals and long-term care institutions, the use of physical or chemical restraint, electro-impulsive therapy, etc. This may be particularly harmful and lead to the deterioration of their condition. All too often, such practices amount to ill-treatment or torture.

You are making good points on the matter. The Lovaas experiments were it all started to merge the theory of ABA with the application of "curing" autistic children into children who are "non-distinguishable" from their peers. Obviously, these findings taken out of context were highly attractive to parents who didn't know much about autism and who were literally scared for their childs future (probably stemming from how societal issues).

I know many mention that Lovaas was not a truly experimental design, which is typical in the experiments to assess efficacy of treatment methods. And you are entirely right to mention that then it is not truly evidenced-based.

Though what about all the new experiments which demonstrates effectiveness. I am not talking at the wide-scale level research, but research at a level where children learn a simple task. The research which demonstrates 3 of 4 children able to learn to speak in full sentences. The research that simply shows children learning basic categorical systems. The research that simply shows how to teach "more" from "less" in a way that generalizes from and to all objects. And in more verbal children to learn to use those terms in a contextually appropriate way. I think arguably the current definition of "evidence-based" is that fact that there are countless scientific journals demonstrating effectiveness to teach fundamental skills. To me at least, that is what I consider evidenced-based.

So they aren't really lying at least currently about evidenced-based. But its true. Where is the external validity? We have reliability but little is known about the external validity and generalization of natural environments. It's mostly assumed you're right.

Thank you for your thoughtful reflections. I am sorry that I was wary of your motives at first, and hope you now understand why and the context of that, in terms of the date.. I can see now that you are posting in good faith, and when my energy returns (it's still a bit depleted as Easter stuff is ongoing, pleasant Easter stuff though), it would be really good to discuss points with you, we will agree on some, disagree on others, though it may be a really good discussion which I would very much like to have with you.

I entirely understand. It can be an emotional topic.

And I would love to discuss further with you.

Yes, thank you, in particular stimming.

And it is the case that unusual stimming is both one symptom of autism, but it's also part of the solution, not part of the problem, and I really hope more and more parents come to understand this. For example, stimming can help maintain concentration and can help deal with sensory issues. In addition, stimming can just be part of letting go and can add joy of life.

And quote-unquote 'normal' people stim, too (no such thing as 'normal' and how boring the world would be if there was! ).

--poker players fiddle rhythmically with chips,

--during a time out, NBA basketball players will often use their mouth and tongue to push their mouthpiece largely out of their mouth and chew on it. Imagine what school authorities would say if a student, whether spectrum or not, chewed on something during class time! Now, the basketball players do it in part so they can breath more fully. But the chewing to me also seems like a type of stimming.

--back in the 1980s, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander played long tennis rallies in a French Open final. Between points both of them would stare at their racket and adjust strings. Was it really that necessary to adjust the strings? I don't think so. Rather, I think it was more like a zen meditation where they could let their mind go and things might occur to them (such as tennis strategy!). That is, it was a lot like stimming.

--at my nearby university where I have taken classes as an older adult in my fifties, I saw with my own two eyes a typically college-aged young woman rocking as she reread her paper on one of the library computers. What I think happened was this: rereading a paper yet again is difficult, tedious, almost painful, and so to bring herself to do this, she rather entered an altered state by rocking. She self-regulated in this fashion.

In fact, the more you look for it, the more you will see stimming among quote- 'normal' people.

And yes, we on the spectrum do stim in ways different than average. Including in some 'weird' ways. And I'm all in favor of a public-private distinction, just like we might teach kids about an inside voice.

But I just ask that people not be against us because we're weird. Let us stim in private in ways which work for us.

For example, I've been a retail manager. I taught high school math for one year at a private Catholic school, not entirely successful because I wasn't enough of an authoritarian individual. I have a college degree, take classes post-bac status, have engaged in political activism, write a fair amount, etc.

and yet, I sometimes stim by (privately) squeezing or twisting a favorite article of clothing as I imagine sports or action movies and might make grunting or fighting sounds. I sometimes combine this with writing and/or bouncing to the bathroom and talking to myself in the mirror. And this can be a real release and a real fun afternoon. And sometimes a productive writing session, but not always. And sometimes refreshing like a nap, but not always. And yes, this is embarrassing to acknowledge this, but so be it.

With my teaching and tutoring of math, I like the approach, don't try harder, try diagonally. And by which I mean, there are many ways to learn something, and please keep trying different ways.

I like to learn technical things in tight fashion. To me, a lot of teachers and even some books are very casual and sloppy about left and right. For example, it's no where near as precise as stage-left and stage-right.

PS I probably should point out that I am comfortably self-diagnosed as an adult on the Aspergers-Autism Spectrum. And most adults my age will tend to be self-diagnosed.