When our children were diagnosed with autism, one of our first priorities was getting them treatment. We had heard that the earlier the treatment starts, the better the outcome. We rushed to get our children therapy based on Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA). You will also hear about IBI. For the difference, see this article.
The idea is to immerse the child in an intensive therapy to change the child’s behaviours. By a system of rewarding and withholding rewards, the goal is to essentially get the child to behave more like a neurotypical child.
We had heard many success stories of children who went from nonverbal to nonverbal, from “low functioning” to “high functioning.” We held onto the hope that our children would become more “normal.”
It did not work. Our children did not respond well to the therapy and they did not become what we, in our ignorance, wanted them to be.
In fact, many of the things that they had enjoyed and which had been pulled into their therapy, were now things they no longer enjoyed. And once their therapy ended, we actually saw a rapid increase in their developmental progress. This was based just on being at a regular school with peers.
What we did not know at the time was that ABA is a very controversial subject in the autism community. There are still many parents that swear by it and see ABA as the reason that their children are doing so well. Many individuals with autism see it in a very different way. They see it as a form of abuse and there is a tremendous amount of anger toward it.
As a parallel, some see ABA as similar to the worst forms of conversion therapy that was used for people in the LGBTQ+ community. It makes a judgment on what is acceptable and what is unacceptable and puts pressure on the individual to change their behaviour.
My point in this post is not to condemn ABA as the worst evil. I do have serious concerns about it and we definitely regret putting our children through it.
My purpose is to inform churches who are attempting to welcome people with autism and their families. What you need to know is that ABA is a minefield. It is likely you will encounter families that either absolutely love it or absolutely hate it. There is not much middle ground.
Churches should not be actively influencing the therapies that people receive. Communities of faith should simply be there to support in any way they can. However, in trying to help, some people offer suggestions without knowing all the details.
Just because you may have heard of a family that has had a positive experience with ABA, does not mean that should be pushed on all families. It would be better to simply emotionally support the individuals and families in whatever decision they choose.