Autism Speaks Continues to Misrepresent Itself
While also denying the proven harms of ABA and behaviourism
Not only does Autism Speaks continue to ignore and dismiss the concerns of the Autistic community, they also continue to lie about the harms caused by their organization and the out-dated “treatments” they recommend.
On their website, Autism Speaks makes the following claims:
Myth #1: ABA therapy is no longer about curing or reducing autism symptoms.
“The goal of ABA is to help people with autism and other developmental disorders learn skills and behaviors that help them live safer and more fulfilling lives. ABA is not focused on preventing self-stimulatory behavior (stims). Behavior analysts work with autistic people to improve skills like communication and social skills.”
Teaching Autistic people “social skills” through manipulation (i.e. rewarding neurotypical-approximate behaviour) is indeed attempting to “reduce autism symptoms”
Myth #2: ABA does not rely on punishment or negative reinforcement to change behavior.
“Instead, it focuses on using positive reinforcement to teach necessary skills that improve quality of life. ABA sessions should be done in a positive, supportive and respectful way, keeping in mind the autistic person’s boundaries.”
First of all, they are not even using the correct terminology. Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant stimulus in order to increase the frequency of a behaviour.
For example, when we feel hungry, that makes us uncomfortable. When we eat, this satiates the hunger, therefore removing the aversive stimulus. This increases the likelihood that we will eat again in the future, and is a form of negative reinforcement.
What they’re talking about is actually negative punishment: the removal of something desirable in order to decrease the frequency of a behaviour.
For example, if you get caught speeding while driving, you will have to pay a fine. The removal of money from your bank account is intended to decrease the frequency of speeding. That would be a type of negative punishment.
And yes, ABA and other behaviourism-based approaches absolutely do use negative punishment. Some other examples of negative punishment which are in common use in classrooms and anywhere there are ABA practitioners are:
Classroom behaviour charts (missing out on a reward is a form of negative punishment)
Taking away recess at school or privileges at home as a consequence
Any time someone is denied something they want or has something they want removed because they do not comply with an expectation, this is a form of negative punishment.
They’re telling on themselves
For starters, not knowing the four quadrants (i.e. misusing terminology such as negative punishment) is just one of the many signs they don’t even understand what they’re defending.
On another page on their website, they say the following:
“Positive reinforcement is one of the main strategies used in ABA. When a behaviour is followed by something that is valued (a reward), a person is more likely to repeat that behavior. Over time, this encourages positive behavior change.”
Extrinsic rewards have been proven to decrease motivation. Research has shown this for decades, time and again, yet behaviourists keep pushing them because they’re considered “positive” and easier to sell to the general public (and funders).
Further, trying to force someone to do something they don’t want to do by manipulating them (dangling the proverbial carrot) is dehumanizing, infantilizing, and just plain cruel.
Imagine you’re absolutely terrified of heights and I know you love comic books. I place a stack of rare, mint condition comic books on the roof of a sky-scraper and tell you they will be yours if you simply climb up the fire escape on the outside of the building to retrieve them.
Sometimes it’s worse than that.
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