Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) is a science that seeks to change behaviour of people from many marginalised groups including LGBTQIA+ people and Autistic people. In this article I focus on what ABA means for Autistic people, although many of these issues will overlap.
Conditioning behaviour
ABA uses operant conditioning, where behaviour is either punished or rewarded depending on the wants of the practitioner. Behaviours which are rewarded can include the use of mouth words and eye contact as well as reducing stimming and movement. In some cases the punishment is exceedingly severe, cruel and painful, such as the electrocution of Autistic and learning Disabled people at the Jude Rotenburg Centre.
Practitioners at the JRC, and many other places besides, are not worried about inflicting physical pain on Autistic and learning Disabled people. They are not concerned about the long-term mental health affects of such treatment, and for the families who are near forced to send their children and young adults to such institutions (which effects families of the Global Majority more than others).
There is also little understanding of Autistic people’s experience of physical and mental pain and how this may be more traumatising for children, especially those with more complex needs and marginalised identities.
Is positive reinforcement any better?
Positive reinforcement can be used to force children into behaving in a way which goes against their Autistic nature. This can add to internalised ableism, trauma and shame which may be experienced throughout an Autistic persons life. Autistic people are already vulnerable to mate crime, domestic violence, sexual assault, homeless and higher rates of suicide. ABA adds to these horrifying stats by telling Autistic children (and adults) that their needs do not matter, that what they want does not matter, that their pain does not matter. The only thing that matters is that they act non-Autistic.
As that is what it will be: an act. The Autistic person will be changed in how they express themselves, how they move, communicate and attend to things. However, they will be a hollow version of themselves (masking anyone?) which means they will not understand who they are, what they want from life and who to trust. ABA makes vulnerable people more vulnerable, not less.
Is ABA conversion therapy?
ABA is conversion therapy. It was created by the same scientist who created gay conversion therapy, which was supposed to change homosexuals heterosexual. For some academics and activists ABA is now being referred to as Autistic conversion therapy.
This is still a controversial issue and not for the reasons you may think – that it is wrong, harmful and ineffective – but because practitioners (and some families and individuals who have experienced ABA) still swear by it.
In many U.S states, and in some places in Europe, when children are diagnosed as Autistic families are told to try ABA as it is considered the ‘gold standard’ of therapy for autism. This effects poorer families and those of the Global Majority more readily than others.
Where can I get more information?
There is lots of information out there, from the experiences of Autistic children and adults, practitioners and families. There is a difficulty in finding information on these aspects within peer-reviewed work because ABA / Autistic conversion therapy is a multi-billion pound industry. This does not invalidate the experiences shared by those who have experienced ABA as a ‘client’.
Americas most popular autism therapy may not work and may seriously harm patients mental health.