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Ductomaniac OP t1_j7p7f27 wrote

Reply to comment by Puzzleheaded-Phase70 in Autism and Schools by Ductomaniac

For homeschooling resources, are you saying you think we should homeschool our children if possible? We have connected with a few autistic communities (none of them Worcester based though), all of them advising strongly against ABA.

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Puzzleheaded-Phase70 t1_j7pbv7t wrote

I think that is likely going to be part of most families' solutions fit healthy autistic kids.

Even if you do find a good school program for them among the alternative schools in the area (which keep changing, so i don't have any specific recommendations this time), you and your kids will need to take charge of their education much more directly, and homecoming resources can really help.

Scouting, college programs from young people (MIT's SPLASH used to be a core for many kids, not sure about now), martial arts programs, museum programs, maker programs can all be used to collect a custom education for the specific needs of your kids without involving the traditional school system and its problems.

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SomeHomeOwner t1_j7qwhxd wrote

In my humble opinion, and I have a good amount of experience with this, your advice is misguided at best and probably more accurately described as potentially harmful.

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Puzzleheaded-Phase70 t1_j7renen wrote

My advice comes from both personal experience, a degree in psychology, and the weight of literally every single autistic adult i know, which is many.

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HighVulgarian t1_j7pjjh1 wrote

Please don’t listen to this person, ABA is strongly researched and validated to be the best treatment for behavioral excesses and deficits. This person likely had a bad experience or worse “did their own research” and validated their own bias.

But look into the Shrewsbury school system, they have a very strong aba/autism program.

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sirlurksalotaken t1_j7pysnu wrote

Also home schooling would be absolutely the worst. Immersion into the community is paramount... For the person with ASD and their peers.

Had they included students with disabilities while I were in school I would be 10000 times better prepared to be a parent of a child with ASD and likely would have also lived a more enlightened and fulfilling life knowing people with disabilities are not a personal problem... It's a societal problem.

Awareness, acceptance and accountability on both sides (ND/NT) is needed and inclusion is the only way.

Home school.... Sweet lord.... Please do not do that to your child.

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HighVulgarian t1_j7q780m wrote

Yeah their comments come off as someone who could not/would not follow the guidance as prescribed and then found “functional” alternatives to behavioral training. And saying they just let their kid be is a long winded way of saying they gave up.

That said, it is not easy to be a parent to kids with ASD/DDs and very difficult to change the coping strategies they developed to get by before they made it through the wait list to achieving services. Looks like a classic extinction burst

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sirlurksalotaken t1_j7usq4k wrote

My experience as a parent has been a privilege, I cannot speak for all or relate to many others on the subject.

It's concerning the opinions regarding ABA.

The practitioners should be operating within the parameters developed by the parents.

I certainly believe there are more parents out there concerned with the "symptoms" of ASD and many parents refuse to get a better understanding of how to modify their life/perspective and opinions to generate inclusion for their child.

Sure, many, if not most parents do as they're told in the treatment of their children... But if the therapies are being considered abusive, then I think the fault lies on the parameters that were defined and not the therapy.

As for ABA being the gold standard... Well, it's not of the same quality for gold standards as say Volvo is for safety... But it's a start. I mean, come-on, we used to drill holes in our skulls for the most ridiculous things...

So yeah, there's definitely room for improvement, as there is for all things. But improvement won't come if no one participates.

And I have less faith in people being parents than I do the scientific process...

So the abuse assigned to ABA I say is the result of parents trying to reshape their child, vs parents utilizing ABA to help their child develop skills needed to survive in a world the quite frankly does not give a shit about them, or anyone who doesn't have a voice that can be heard above the nonsense of humanity.

Whenever you see a result of the scientific process being abusive, racist or discriminatory... Was it the process or the practitioner?

Just my 2 cents.

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threelittlesith t1_j7rum0j wrote

Nah this is a pretty standard feeling among adults with autism as well as those of us who’ve experienced ABA with our kids. What autistic kids need isn’t to be trained out of their autism but rather to have a program that actually works with them and their neurodivergence. Models like floor time are significantly more in line with more modern research that’s not looking to erase or cure autism, as it’s not something that can be cured.

Which isn’t to say that I think homeschooling is necessary, but ABA is useless at best and abusive at worst.

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