Wednesday, October 18, 2006

ABA - Cruel and Abusive? Conor on the Green "Step"

Opponents of ABA - Applied Behavioural Analysis - as a health and education intervention for autistic children will sometimes chacterize ABA as a form of abuse, a form of cruelty inflicted on autistic children. Such criticism is without any merit. It is not based on first hand experience of ABA as it is practiced today by competent ABA therapists.

Right now my son Conor has been sitting outside on the green deck or "step" as he calls it, under a roof, on a rainy day, waiting for his ABA therapist to arrive. He has been there for 15 minutes and it will be another 20 minutes before his therapist arrives. But Conor is waiting in anticipation for his ABA therapist and he is waiting in anticipation of doing his ABA therapy. He does so because ABA as it is practiced today can be fun. It is something Conor looks forward to and enjoys.

And it works.

ABA - cruel and abusive? Not even close.

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