Ethical Issues with Applied Behavior Analysis: Past and Present

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In this webinar, we review our argument that a dominant form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is widely taken to be far-and-away the best “treatment” for Autism Spectrum Disorder, manifests systematic violations of the fundamental tenets of bioethics. Moreover, the supposed benefits of the treatment not only fail to mitigate these violations, but often exacerbate them. Warnings of the perils of ABA are not original to us—autism advocates have been ringing this bell for some years. However, their pleas have been largely unheeded, and ABA continues to be offered to and quite frequently pushed upon parents as the appropriate treatment for autistic children. Our contribution is to argue that, from a bioethical perspective, autism advocates are fully justified in their concerns—the rights of autistic children and their parents are being regularly infringed upon. Specifically, we will argue that employing ABA violates the principles of justice and nonmaleficence and, most critically, infringes on the autonomy of children and (when pushed aggressively) of parents as well. We discuss some reactions to our article, and conclude with a modern legislative debate regarding the use of ABA in the Judge Rotenberg Center in Massachusetts.

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NJACE is funded in part by the New Jersey Governor’s Council for the Medical Research and Treatments of Autism and by the NJ DOH

The views expressed herein may not necessarily reflect the views of the NJACE or our partners, the Governor's Council for Medical Research and Treatments in Autism, the New Jersey Department of Health, and Children's Specialized Hospital.

The mission of the NJACE is to educate society about the neurobiology of autism, and autistic people‘s unmet needs across their lifespan. We do this by listening to the perspectives of autistic people, their parents and families, clinicians from interdisciplinary fields, and researchers from various fields including psychology, genetics, engineering, and computer science. We hope to build an all-inclusive community, which embraces autistic people as valued members of our society.

[hackingappliedbehavioranal]

Thank you for this video. I would have loved more examples but this was an excellent video. I specifically loved the section on autonomy. Respect speaks volumes

[fredsmith]

As a physician with a master degree in Clinical Ethic I question the premise. In treatment of Autism there are other treatments available that are much less expensive with scientifically proven results. For example, the DIR method is medically based and, in my opinion, more philosophically sound. Ethicist were a part of the development of the mode. In regards to Parent Autonomy, other modalities of treatment need to be discussed. Although we seldom consider cost in Ethics in the realm of ABA is important for justice that other therapies be used as it otherwise limits the therapy to those who can pay or who have insurance that will pay.

[alexhiller]

sexism, constant fear and neglect, constant terror against my person as i am, absolute destruction. no help, no nothing but torture.

[jamesweingardt]

I hope to see Sensory Integration Intervention used in the future in schools as Ayers Sensory Integration®is evidence based.

[Autism_Consultant]

Started out great. I think there may be other ways to share examples without coat tailing on sexual diversity. Especially since society and media use Skiner's method on a greater scale than any isolated case of misguided lone ABA therapist.

[brooke]

Is there a link to the paper or a place we can access it? This was a great conversation

[danielmoore]

Some of the things I find most disgraceful are;
ABA workers are not even educated about neurodevelopmental conditions.
Every other scientific field is excluded.
ABA is regardless of emotional well-being.
ABA is regardless of the autistic brain.
ABA is regardless of psychological differences.

ABA is regardless of all internal constructs including autism itself, treating a neurological condition with behaviourism should be a red flag.

ABA has not done a single longitudinal study, they have no evidence of long-term effects. ABA was founded upon out of date science and a platform of ableism. ABA's so called evidence is very weak, every case is individualized, using diverse techniques on diverse people is too much individuality against the rules of science.
It's estimated up to 70% of autistic people are also diagnosed with intellectual disabilities which results in an immeasurable IQ. With their IQ being immeasurable they are excluded from ABA research, up to 70% of autistic people have nothing to do with what they claim to be evidence.

ABA: "We Are The Golden Standard for Autism, But We Are Not Even Educated About Autism"

ABA is a fraudulent organisation.

[angelinacastro]

I was wondering when i first saw this and i was curious about it ontill i gave it a try because my daughter was diagnosed with authism for a very long time and dr bante helped me cure it thamkfull for everything dr bante God bless

[angelinacastro]

I was wondering when i first saw this and i was curious about it ontill i gave it a try because my daughter was diagnosed with authism for a very long time and dr bante helped me cure it thamkfull for everything dr bante God bless