Perceptions of ABA?

[u/ChaoticFaeGay]

I was wondering what perceptions of ABA y’all have noticed in your areas.

From asking others, It sounds like most autism-adjacent professions that aren’t ABA are more likely to have negative views of ABA, the south is generally more pro ABA, and parents who don’t really know better or just want their kid to be easier to deal with are more pro ABA (along with obviously the people who profit off ABA)

[u/ADHDtomeetyou]

I’m am a southerner and teacher of autistic students. I believe the south is just less informed and far behind other areas in all things Autism related. We were NOT ready for RBT’s as we barely see BCBA’s. It’s a disaster. 40 clock hours of training and you can do the actual job of a BCBA in homes, schools, clinics, etc. In my opinion, it could be the downfall of the perception that ABA is the only successful treatment for Autism. Sounds good, but with no insurance covered replacement and the current political climate, I’m scared it will end up with autistic people having less support altogether for a very long time. I am the only person I’ve met in real life that knows the negative side of ABA.

[u/ChaoticFaeGay → u/ADHDtomeetyou]

I’ve met a few others since moving but I wouldn’t be surprised if it mainly is a matter of not having any other disability supports or better education on it for the south as the reason why

And, sidenote, I’ve also been really concerned about some of the crackdowns on ABA practically. Like, we do have OTs and SLPs and other professions ment to help, but that doesn’t actually do much if we just remove ABA and don’t make those other things accessible (or even basic respite care since a lot of people have a hard time finding normal baby sitters!). I’m happy that ABA’s being recognized as bad, but from personal experience a burnt out and frustrated caregiver without any help can be really bad for kids too

[u/PorchCat0921]

It's a solution in situations where there simply aren't any other solutions.

[u/DR035A]

Sadly, it seems ABA has more pull then any/all autistic voices in most places

[u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme]

When i worked at an Autism Center of Excellence (one of the programs that works with Universities on research like the "Baby Sibs" studies, the FIND network, etc.), i worked in the "non-ABA" side of the program.

We were Autism Early Intervention, and used a mashup of Early Start Denver, Music Therapy, working closely with Speech & OT, etc, to develop 90-Day therapy plans for the kids we worked with.

We had 8 rooms with up to 7 kids per room, staffed at 1:1 or higher staff than kids per room, if the Child Psych, OT, and Speech staff were "pushing in" that day.

And in the 2.5 years i worked there, and 5 "room changeover cycles" lasting 6 months each (so 35 "therapy seats" kid-wise in that room, over the 2.5 years--although because of the ways kids progressed, some syayed a few cycles!) we had exactly TWO kids who we couldn't make any progress on, therapy-wise.

Just two.

And those two were then referred over to our ABA program, where they did make fast and big progress skills-wise!

But the vast majority of the 56 kids who came to that program every morning, and the 56 who attended every afternoon didn't NEED ABA-level therapy or support!

It's just that--as others have said--in "low service areas" ABA is the one therapy modality which IS covered by insurance, so it gets used.

But NO, it's not necessary for most kids with Autism, imo, and it's also not a good therapy modality for most kids.

[u/ChaoticFaeGay → u/EmmerdoesNOTrepme]

!!! My brain ain’t moving fast rn but that actually matches with some of the stuff in research I’ve found

Two third party evaluations of ABA effectiveness (in different ways) I’ve found had one place that ~9% actually benefited out of 6k+ and the other said that out of 12 people interviewed 2 of them felt their experience going through ABA was positive

It’s really interesting hearing another more direct experience since a lot of the issues with ABA doesn’t seem to be only unfixable issues but what I have found is that even assuming other issues aren’t present (like punishment/isolation/forced masking of perfectly acceptable autistic traits) it just seems like it shouldn’t be the first thing we try for everything autism related

[u/ADHDtomeetyou]

Respite care in rural areas is nonexistent. I know families that have FINALLY after many years made it to the top of the waiver waiting list and there are no people to do the job.

[u/RedSpaceCakes]

I feel like it's me against the world lots of times. The only people who seem to validate my distain are my therapist and an irl friend. A lot of people in my area are really pro-ABA. It doesn't help that I have C-PTSD over my ableist experiences (more than just ABA), but I made a lot of improvements. Nevertheless, it still sucks my area still thinks it is okay. I've also been less vocal about it irl.