In defence of ABA

I have come to realise, I am quite proud of the work done by both supervisors I work under. As usual, I come home from the library with a mix of fiction, and non-fiction, for myself and the children. Some books I will read from cover to cover, and others I peruse to pick out relevant info and discard the rest. One of the authors I brought home has a poor opinion of ABA therapy. I do not doubt that there are programs that run exactly as he describes it "A rigid program that drills children into compliance for hours on end." or "drills, in which the ABA professional repetitively conditions the child to comply with various modes of conduct, activities, and desired responses." He mentions flash cards and dog training, and supressing the child's autistic traits to appear outwardly "normal" and less of a "problem". On the other hand his ideal therapy *presumes that my child is intelligent.
*helps me further my understanding of parenting my child without system dependency.
*ensures my child is happy, interested, and making progress.
I believe the therapy we as a team provide, is all of these.
I was able to sit in on a meeting/clinic with the head of AP. It wasn't particularly fun for me, as I hate an audience and don't perform well. I know my weaknesses will be highlighted. The reason I found this meeting so hard, is the very reason I so admire the work. My verbal praise was underwhelming, and I knew it. I wasn't getting a lot of smiles. This was mentioned by John. He said I gave a 5 or even a 4 out of ten as reinforcment. Far from wanting me to drill and overwhelm the child, he wanted to see enjoyment, motivation, interest. Let the child taste success as much as possible. It was a reminder to me, to really focus on the social interactions.
Yes, I use picture cards, but I also use books, and real objects. Cards allow us to eliminate any distracting elements in the early stages of learning a task. A white background and the object(say a ball), while hearing the word. Then hearing the same word later while playing with the ball, and then pointing out a ball in a picture in a storybook. The child is happy because we allow them to be successful. I know the children I work with are happy to come with me, and participate in our "work". If they weren't it wouldn't be reinforcing. I do use m&m's initially. They are a concrete way of helping a child understand the abstract idea of reward for actions. We very quickly move to have the reward tie in with the skill. You ask for a drink, and you get a drink. It seems simple, but we break down this into easier to understand components. The child first learns to look at the people around them. Now they can observe our actions. They discover that we cause these things to happen that they desire. Then we show them it's rewarding to imitate others. By imitating sounds and actions, they learn how to effect their environment, becoming less dependent. We control the amount of distractions in the environment, because we are aware of sensory issues that hamper learning, but we persist because we believe in the intelligence of the child, and their capacity to learn. We filter out the information not required to learn the skills, that will help the child function in the world. Yes, this makes it more convenient for the family. Yes, we do eliminate some traits that are common to autism, by replacing them with behaviours that will encourage the childs inclusion.
The parents are included in all the programs I work on, to varying degrees. One supervisor is spending a few days in the home of one client showing her how to make the most of every opportunity that naturally comes up during a typical day. How to break down the skill into small parts, how to prompt to help the child feel success and not give up, how to be more concise and consistent in language, and to act as a filter for your childs world. In the early days I was pulled up by one supervisor, for doing too much for the parents. I felt they needed my help. I was gently told that while my intentions were good, I would create dependence. She likes to "launch" them, to apply the techniques on their own. The other supervisor has also told me that the most succesful programs bring the parents into the "sessions", to build their confidence to manage the behaviours, and generalise the learning.
Most parents apply behaviourism without labelling it so. They might call it consequences. If you scream at me you get time out. If you eat your dinner you can have dessert. Because you have been so good all day you can........ you get the idea. Even simpler than that is the praise and applause we show our children even as infants, when they do something clever. Or the cross look we shoot across a room to show we don't like what they are up to. This is reinforcement. If you pick up a child every time they throw a tantrum, then you are reinforcing this behaviour. School is also based on reinforcement. Do well, and get awards and grades, do badly and fail. (Some kids just don't care about awards or grades. We vary the reward to suit the child)
So I guess I understand that he is advocating for the child. I believe I am too. I believe these kids are more intelligent than they might outwardly appear, and are trying to help themselves the best they can with our limited understanding. I am hopefully empowering them to have more effective communication with the rest of us. I will, however, take his three point measuring tool to keep me on track.