Hi all,
Let me start off by saying that I know that this is a very controversial topic, so I'd love to hear your honest thoughts/critiques/questions/concerns, but I'd appreciate it if you could please keep any debates in the comments respectful.
I'm a college senior starting a teaching residency program to get my teaching certification for public schools. Along with my track (middle school math), my residency program also has a licensure track for "special ed" teachers. As I'm starting to get to know them as peers and coworkers, I hear many of them praising ABA therapy in glowing terms - and as I interview with schools for teaching jobs and ask them about their supports and expectations for students with disabilities, many school administrators also speak proudly about their "top-quality ABA therapy" programs (which are inevitably the main support for autistic students, if not the only one).
As noted, I'm autistic, though I have not shared that with any of my colleagues or interviewers. Hearing my future coworkers gush uncritically about ABA therapy as if it's the ultimate "fix" for autistic children is more than uncomfortable. Frankly, it scares me. I know this is a controversial topic, and admittedly I'm still figuring out exactly where I stand. I wasn't diagnosed with autism until I was in college (though I suspect it only took so long because I happen to be verbal and female), so I've never had ABA therapy myself. I do recognize that "ABA" now stands for an increasingly diverse array of methods, some of which are affirming and supportive. I also recognize that my experience is very different from that of people who are more 'visibly' autistic and/or had a greater need for external supportive structures and therapies, and I don't deny that many autistic people have likely benefitted from skills taught through ABA.
Nonetheless, I'm deeply skeptical of the techniques and, especially, the end goals of ABA therapy. I've heard too many harrowing personal stories and insightful political critiques of ABA therapy from autistic adults and advocates. As far as I can tell, the consensus in the autistic community seems to be that ABA therapy does more harm than good, particularly when it comes to implicitly teaching autistic children that there is something "wrong" with them and/or attempting to "train" them into the mold of a neurotypical child. I don't believe that we should be trying to force our autistic kids into pretending that they are NT or "normal." I don't believe we should be instilling shame in them by insinuating that natural ways of expressing themselves and their emotions (such as stimming) should be stifled, so long as it doesn't endanger themselves or others. And I certainly don't believe that the subset of ABA "therapists" who shame or negatively punish autistic students for things like stimming or meltdowns do anything but traumatize the kids misfortunate enough to be sent through their doors. (Plus, while it may be one of the oldest and most widespread autism therapies on the market, many of the evaluative studies of its efficacy are pretty dismal.)
On one hand, these colleagues/schools don't know I'm autistic, and I'm already the youngest and most inexperienced teacher in the residency. On the other hand, I'll quite possibly be the only autistic teacher in the residency and whichever school I end up working at. Therefore, I feel like I have a particularly important responsibility to use any weight I have with Sp. Ed. colleagues and the schools to ensure that the voices of autistic kids are being heard, their neurodiverse selves celebrated, and their needs and wishes respected.
What do you all think?
I'm feeling very lost, and would welcome anything from recommendations of reading material to a "you're making a big deal out of nothing" eyeroll to a "give 'em hell" manifesto. Thank you, and sorry this is so long!
P.S., for reference, here are some of the articles I've looked at in thinking about this issue:
autisticadvocacy.org/wp-con...
abacontroversyautism.wordpr...
spectrumnews.org/features/d...