Throughout this blog, I have briefly mentioned how harmful ABA therapy is to autistic people, but I haven't gone into a whole lot of detail regarding what ABA therapy actually is & WHY it's such a problem. So, I'd like to take a moment right now to talk about that. Now, I'm gonna be upfront with you by telling you that I'm absolutely no ABA expert & I've had to do a lot of research in order to have enough content to write about in this blog post. What IS ABA Therapy? ABA stands for "applied behavior analysis" & simply put, it is a behavioral therapy specifically designed for autistic children. The History Of ABA Therapy: The Lovaas Method, later known as Applied Behavior Analysis, was developed by a man named Dr. Ole’ Ivar Lovaas in the 1960s. The premise was to use behaviorism to "treat" autistic individuals. ABA therapy focuses purely on behaviors with a goal to make the autistic child "indistinguishable from peers." When Dr. Ole’ Ivar Lovaas was practicing ABA therapy, he used rewards for desirable behaviors, as well as abusive punishments (including electric shock) for undesirable behaviors. The Problems With ABA Therapy:
There is SO MUCH controversy regarding ABA therapy in the autism community. While the majority of autistic individuals passionately dislike every aspect of this type of therapy & speak out against it; their parents, their teachers, & their medical professionals often disagree; calling it a miracle that "cured" their child of her or his autism or made significant improvements to their child's autism. Well, that simply isn't the case at all. And this is why.
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AuthorHello! My name is Kim, I didn't know I was autistic until I was in my thirties, & this is my story. Categories
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May 2024
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