Campaign for state funded ABA in UK schools.

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There is an interesting article published in the Sunday Times today promoting ABA treatment for LFA children.

A campaign is being run via facebook to raise a legal challenge with the aim of forcing state schools to implement ABA.

The address is "facebook.com/abaforallchildren"

I'm afraid I can't post an abstract or link as I have neither a subscription or a facebook account.

The article also says that after a legal battle, ABA treatment is mandated in 35 American states, and is commonly used in Canada, Italy, the Netherlands and Scandinavia.

Can anyone with more knowledge of worldwide ABA acceptance confirm if this information is correct?

[Moved from News and Current Events to Parents' Discussion on OP's request]

We live in Canada and ABA is definitely used in the school system. Even if it's not a one-on-one therapy, the principles of ABA are used in all the autism classrooms in our school board. They also offer a program where the child can do half a day in a one-on-one ABA session, and the other half in school. I don't know about other school systems or countries, but where we live, most definitely. There is a lot less emphasis on floortime/DIR models in the school system (although that type of therapy is available separately, of course).

Thanks for your reply, I just wanted to get this out there for parents in the UK. I don't have children myself but thought it would be relevant for some people here.

How was it up in space?

Ground Control to Major Tom!! !! !! !

I wonder if Major Tom ever found his way.

Good question. Still "in the can" as far as i know.

I thought I would just lurk about, in orbit, until any threads I was involved in had run their course.

Sorry to go off topic. Glad you're relatively all right, Neilson.

No problem, it does not seem to be generating much interest.
Thanks again.

I'm in the UK and we don't get ABA as standard. A bit of speech therapy, some OT if there are motor skills issues, standard hearing tests and lots of check ups seem to be the norm for most parents, unless you live in Surrey which seems to be the ABA hub of the UK. It is a pain as its not even offered as an option for most parents and the approach seems to be more cataloging how each child is doing than actively trying to change anything.

Case in point, my son had issues potty training at 3 and loose stools./toddler diarrhoea all nicely catalogued by the NHS as related to his ASD diagnosis. Child A not toilet trained on his forms, nothing done. A private blood test and stool sample showed he was severely vitamin d deficient and had a moderate candida infestation in his gut which after treatment allowed him to do solid poos within a month and be more aware of when he needed to go. Child A now toilet trained on their next check up, nothing learned as tests for deficiency and infestation were not done with them.

We muddle through, but sometimes the label is a hindrance here more than a help. You wonder if child A presented with inability to toilet train and toddler diarrhoea at 3 without an ASD diagnosis, they would have taken blood and stool samples rather than just nodded and confirmed it was because he was autistic.

Had a quick read through the comments and links on the facebook page and not surprised to see NAS completely ignore this campaign. Until it is a lot cheaper, I don't expect ABA to be championed by NAS, the NHS or the education system. "Wait and see" is much more cost effective for governments.

According to the article in the Sunday Times certain state schools are introducing ABA which are in Essex and Richmond. If a private (full-time) course of ABA costs upwards of £75,000 per year, I'm not surprised there is a following in Surrey.

I'm glad you have made some progress for your son in regards to toilet training and bowel issues. Candida infection and vitamin D deficiency are both proposed as links to autism through various research programs. I really don't see how ABA could have been in anyway beneficial in this particular situation.

I don't think we'll get ABA across the board if they wouldn't stretch to a blood test in my other example. It's just cheaper to do nothing. I'm a big fan of the NHS and our free education over here, but in a lot of cases you do get what you pay for. Until ABA is championed by people like NAS and the medical profession as being :"the" treatment/therapy for ASD, parents are mostly going to have to pay for it themselves (except in Surrey ).

I'm sorry I missed your point. As a blood test is financially insignificant I feel that this highlights the lack of progressive thinking in the NHS, I do think it is still a confusing issue for policy makers but I understand your frustration too.

I also support the NHS, and for basic and emergency healthcare it works, but feel that there is so much mis-management and money wasted that it is a depressing situation.

I don't know much about the treatment but it does seem that the NAS is pro-ABA. They may jump on the bandwagon if support increases.

In Italy aba is not provided for anyone. If you can pay, your son does aba. Most of the families can't afford it. Health system guidelines recommend aba, but it doesn't mean it's provided. Italy is a complicated country.