The Controversy Around ABA Therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis)

It's been a long time coming, but we've finally made it to the release of my research and look into one of the most controversial therapies commonly recommended for autistic people in the United States: Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

Please note that this is not even everything that could be mentioned and there is a wealth of information and personal accounts regarding different aspects floating around on the internet for your consumption. During editing, there were some points that I didn't directly state but I believe are possible to infer from the information provided.

The full (minorly edited) interviews from the ABA group, "ABA-based" group, and former RBT will be released in the following weeks. If you have the time, I highly encourage you to take a look at them as it will provide the full context for statements and also bring up things I couldn't or didn't cover in the video.

I found this information and these criticisms immensely important to share to help inform. However, I want to repeat the request for respect for those included in the video. I sincerely believe people are only acting in what they think is the best interest of their children or clients.

I would also like to acknowledge that there are more extremes out there. The people I spoke with were all from very moderate groups, perhaps what people aim for when they say that ABA isn't "bad" anymore. Despite what may be shown in positive lights, there are plenty of places that have, from parent testimony, openly and casually made a direct correlation between an autistic child and training dogs.

However, I didn't want this video to be skewed deeply in one direction or another, though I do take a clear stance regarding my personal views and where research led me. I want this video to be more informational than any sort of attack or fear mongering.

I also want to make it clear that I am NOT accusing ANYONE of anything and do not intend to infer that the professionals interviewed are bad people or doing bad things. A lot of statements used were to indicate the thought patterns and philosophy behind ABA and behaviorism, and how those could potentially lead to negative effects, not to attempt to say or imply that anyone included in this video that I had contact with are causing negative effects.

I encourage you to look at the information presented and make up your own mind. I also highly encourage you to proceed with caution if you are considering ABA for your child or family member or to become a practitioner, as it is shown, there is a wide range of how people implement ABA in any given space.

There are other evidence-based options for autistic individuals who need extra support. Not having ABA does not mean not helping autistic children.

If you find this video helpful, informative, eye-opening, interesting, or anything of that sort, I would appreciate you sharing it. Even if you disagree with some of my thoughts or how I presented things, I'd love for there to be an open conversation.

Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
01:45 - What is ABA?
04:13 - ABA's Psychological Influences
07:37 - Psychology's Failure & Ivar Lovaas
12:06 - The First ABA Programs or The Lovaas Method (EIBI)
18:02 - What ABA Programs Look Like Today
38:50 - Defining ABA
44:47 - ABA Practitioners
01:01:10 - Compliance, Expectations, & Bodily Autonomy
01:08:26 - Adhering to Data Over Actual Needs
01:10:53 - Compliance in Sensitive Situations
01:16:14 - Preferred Items & Misunderstanding Autism
01:22:37 - Trying to "Fix" Autistic Children
01:34:28 - Generalizing Skills & Working Against How Autistic People Learn
01:37:48 - "Appropriate Play"
01:41:56 - Emphasis on External Motivation
01:43:10 - "Everyone Uses ABA"
01:44:32 - Self-Injurious Behaviors
01:47:33 - "ABA Has Changed"
01:53:23 - Cornerstone Study for ABA & "Evidence-Based"
01:58:42 - Recent Report Shows ABA Ineffective
01:59:32 - Psychological Impact on Autistic People
02:03:42 - If Not ABA, Then What?
02:07:44 - Conclusion

Sensory Tiles:
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[StephanieBethany]

**NOTE**
For those who have difficulty with mentions of abuse, emotional or otherwise, please proceed with caution. Parts of this video may be upsetting to some, especially autistics.

[bunnybaker]

This is horrible! These children were obviously struggling with their sensory processing. The constant touching and yelling sounds like agony. They took away their way of coping and made their sensory environment worse🥺

[tammymarshall]

It was hard to watch the way they treated these children. The kissing, touching and scolding was disturbing. Especially knowing how uncomfortable it can be.

[raea]

The 3 hardest things for me to swallow when it comes to ABA, especially as an autistic individual are:
1. I constantly hear parents and people in general say "But it works, it works so well, so quickly and the child is practically normal!" They don't say why they thought this was the best therapy for their individual child or if they looked into other therapies that might have been better though they take more time. It simply "works" and they have a more compliant and normal child. Many ways of manipulating us to get a change in a behavior "work" that doesn't mean they're okay or safe.
2. Most autistic adults are not okay with most of what we see in ABA therapy but few are willing to listen to us from professionals to adults. We're the one's who have been through this, the ones who know what the world of autism is but what do we know?
3. Autistics are being taught to comply through ABA and therefore they are being discriminated against as individuals. "Normal" children are told not to comply to society; To be themselves, they are left to be individuals but autistics in ABA are trained to be robots of their peers. Forced to make eye contact, not stim, speak this way not that way, play this way not that way...They are trained to do it the socially acceptable way instead of the autistic way!
There are many ways to help autistic children with challenges learn and cope without changing who they are.

[buttercup]

I think it's also very important to realize that the "tantrums" they mention are not tantrums, but a way of communicating discomfort. A child has a tantrum when are not getting what they want, not because they are uncomfortable.

[azsli]

If you teach a child that "no" doesnt matter even to the point of taking their pants off they are being primed to obey strangers without question. Dont blame the kids. You taught that to them.

[tylerd]

Why on earth do children need therapy to teach them how to play "properly"? They're kids, just let them play with the toys.

[gigahorse]

The section on the psychological impact really convinced me. If I have an autistic child who needs therapy, I will NOT put them through that! Plus, 40 hours a week is a full time job, not a childhood.

[lunawolfheart]

What really scares me is this is basically teaching autustic indaviduals that there body is not there own and they can't say no and whatever authority figure can do whatever the hell they want. Now just think about what would happen if some predotor decided to take advantage of said child that was thought this. Autistic indaviduals are already at a higher risk of being taken advantage of I was sevrel times and had no clue what to do because I didn't know how to say no to someone I looked up to. Ik it might be kind of a stretch but it really won't leave my mind that aba therapy might actually be telling the child that abuse is ok and latter in life when there in an abusive situation they won't be able to say no. Hell the therapy itself is abusive. Forcing the child into a stimulation overload and then the child gets punished for it. Gastlighting them Making them scared if they don't do the thing they get punished. Then taking there favorite toy away to only use it for aba basically telling them that whatever thing they get attached to can be taken away at anytime and they have to do all these stupid tasks that probably make no since to do just to get it back. If they did that to one of my stuffed animals I'd be just devastated. Plus I always refused to do shit that didn't make sense to me that didn't have a reason. Ok my rant is over but dose anyone else have these concerns

I also wanna piont out that then teaching then go say no to a stranger isint going to help. More often than not abusive comes from someone you might trust. Like the person who sexuality assulted me was a freind who I thought was a safe person. The bathroom thing also really Disturbed me like wtf

[jennaconrad]

ABA ruined my life before it had the chance to begin. I now have clinical c-PTSD from it.if you ever want to interview survivors, I volunteer.

[kingdomkey]

The thing I ran into when I was at work with a lot of other special needs people is the lack of understanding of others logic.
What I mean is that there were many cases where people would just write a behavior off as illogical and having no reason, rather then looking for or trying to understand what the person was looking for.

For example why is that person measuring something for the 100th time when they already know what the measurement is by heart.
The answer is obvious they aren't measuring it, they are re verifying a constant, to prove to themselves that constants do exist.

[raea]

Even the "today" therapists constantly speak of children and people who are autistic as though they aren't people. However well meaning they are, I feel like I'm being so disrespected. That I'm an object who needs to be trained so that I'll be "compliant" and "acceptable". How could anyone send their child into a program where a person is treated less than! It's discriminatory!

[thylionheart]

“Lisa tantrums whenever someone attempts to teach her.” No, Lisa communicates her immense discomfort of being manhandled by an adult man 4x her size and not having her needs listened to or met.

[melissad]

I grew up surrounded by adults who had that controlling, "change the kid's behavior, who cares what the kid thinks about it" mindset that probably was a generational parenting thing. I can say very strongly and clearly now at the age of 40 that it scarred me as an adult. I have nightmares from it. I am terrified of being controlled by others in any way, even negatively mistaking loved ones' attempts to simply offer advice or guidance in a situation as more attempts to control me, because of my childhood. I endured years of abuse because I was taught that my job as a kid and later as a teen was to make others happy and ignore my own opinions, thoughts, and feelings in any situation. I was supposed to be seen (and used), not heard. This has and continues to affect nearly every aspect of my life as an adult. I am terrified of being judged by others on every aspect of my appearance and behavior while in public. I have lupus and fibromyalgia, probably from decades of intense stress. PLEASE do not raise your kids this way.

[themoonlit-wolf]

I see the problem at 17:30 . She hates the man touching her. She understands the command but she’s trying to communicate that she doesn’t want to be touched

[CarolinaGothic]

As an Occupational Therapist who is constantly advocating against ABA (sometimes getting myself into trouble with colleges /no regrets/) I was so glad to hear your shout out to OT at the end! I really feel one of the most important things I can do as an OT is help parents understand how their child’s autism is a part of them and while it may bring challenges it also brings awesome strengths to be celebrated! (especially for parents who’ve taken their children to ABA in the past or have similarly been fed the A$ fear mongering). Sadly it’s becoming more and more common to meet fellow OTs at conferences who are treating kids dealing with post-ABA trauma (the potty training is bad but damn can ABA’s attempt at feeding “therapy” truly fuck up an entire family let me tell you it’s a disaster).

[lunamooncat]

Those switches from "good job" to "cut it out!!!" are so frustrating to witness. I think if I was a child in that situation I'd assume that adults were incredibly unpredictable and unstable.
Also, why do they cut the "reward" so short? At 15:40 the "therapist" almost tears the cup from the boy's hand.

[kaylaprinsloo-steiner]

Why is eye contact a priority, seriously I don’t get why NT people would think this is something that warrants attention at all. I get stopping self harming behavior but everything else seems like abuse.

[unclebozo]

You should make a whole video exposing the disgusting Rotenburg Center

[purpleblue]

Let's raise children who will never recover from their childhood