“A lot of doctors can’t tell the difference between autism and PTSD because therapists have not seen an autistic person that does not have trauma.” This broke my heart. As an autistic man studying psychology, I 100% agree with you that therapy should be based on root causes and working on the person (ailments and all) rather than external behavior, and the damaging effects of trying to make autistic people “more normal” is terrible. For years I have been ashamed of being autistic, actively avoiding other autistic people and trying to conform and come off as “normal” as possible to the point where only a few years ago I realized how little sense of identity I had. It’s hard to know who you are if you’ve been taught to suppress that in order to please everyone else. Anyway, sorry for all of this rambling and thank you so much for making this video and for telling me about the Keep All Students Safe Act.
This breaks my heart honestly. My fiance is on the spectrum. So is my son (from previous marriage) That man? Is the best man I have ever met. That man loves me I love him. That man works hard every day for us, he has actually spent so much time in therapy for his autism. At the start of our relationship he told me he had it, he was so terrified to tell me. (We were online dating to begin with) I myself was abused by someone with autism. I myself have ptsd from it. When he did tell me, i won't lie I had a flashback. But I told myself he was a different person than my abuser. He would apologize for everything! Any little quirk or habit he had he would say sorry for. But I find his quirks cute, its part of who he is. Sometimes when stimulated he has to mess with and organize his playing cards. (Magic the gathering) He will sit and organize them, I will talk with him. I know full well he is listening to me, and I also know it helps him. Other people see it as rude, but he is listening to me. He knows what I'm saying and can respond. At first, that particular habit he would feel bad for. He would apologize, he would ask if he could even mess with them, I told him I wanted him to be him. Not anyone else, because I wanted to fall in love with HIM and not a version of him. That man is a wonderful father to my son. He is a wonderful human being who may not understand social stuff. Stuff may fly over his head at times but it flies over my head too. I'm happy im with him, I feel so blessed if anything. Forcing those on the spectrum to "be normal" and even using terms like "high functioning" is so damaging. Honestly. What is normal anyway? Sorry for rant. I hope you have a great day!
When I was little, my dad would yell at me for being angry, crying and acting out. Eventually I learned to hide my emotions so well, I couldn't even recognize how I feel anymore. I am now an adult with severe BPD and tremendous emotional pain I feel everyday. If you show a child you do not want to see their pain, they will learn how to hide it. It will never teach them how to deal with the pain.
My father and step mother were very emotionally and physically abusive anyway, but I would get yelled at and hit harder because I was "too sensitive" and would cry uncontrollably when they were angry with me. I have ptsd from my years of living with them. I am so sorry you went through that!
I worked in ABA for three years. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was listening to non autistic people and believing I was “helping”. Then I got pregnant and started thinking “what if this were my child? I want them to have a voice that is heard and respected even if it their voice is ‘different’.” Then I started finding autistic voices to listen to. All of your arguments against ABA are valid and accurate against what is happening. The clinic I worked in yelled all of the disclaimers you listed. I deeply regret my time in ABA. It is not your job to educate us but I’m so grateful that you are. Your voice and message are important. Thank you.
@@natesportyboy4939 I’m currently spending my time at home with my own kiddo but I have been doing a lot of research looking into Floortime and am very intrigued by it. I’ve also been trying to find ways to speak out against ABA and encouraging parents that I built relationships with while working in ABA to look into it as well. In addition to, what I now recognize as, seeing the light go out in kiddos due to ABA, another heart breaking thing to see was parents being told they were wrong about their child’s needs and that ABA was right/trust the process.
This is me. I've been an RBT for two years and have recently realized how terrible ABA is. I also found out recently that the company I work for supports AS and since then I've been desperately searching for a new job so I can get out of this terrible field. I was just like you, told my neurotypicals that I was doing something wonderful and changing lives for the better. They were wrong. What I do is wrong, and I want out.
Listening to this makes me wonder if it's not for the best that I didn't learn I was autistic until adulthood, because when I told my parents about it, the very first thing my mother said to me was "is this something that can be cured?" So, If I had found out earlier in life, I absolutely would have been subjected to ABA. Sucks that I had to go through my entire life until now being rejected by society and not knowing why, but if this would have been the alternative, I guess I'll take it. Also, sending virtual hugs. It was clearly very hard for you to make this video, and I appreciate that you did.
I guarantee you not all facilities implement these techniques. This is insane and the facility I worked at pushed for literally the complete opposite of this. We've been completely opposed to any restraint even without straps unless absolutely necessary. We've never ever used electroshock therapy. Although some parents have promoted and used neurofeedback therapy which is harmless really. We've never encouraged any type of neurotherapy ourselves. And any other facility in our area has never used that same therapy either. So idk if it's recent but this company I work at has never done these things and they were around for over 13 years now. So. I don't think she's lying because the legislation shows that to be the case. But we've always fed the child unless it's a snack such that the kids aren't obviously starving. This is wild to me... Sorry if this isn't affirming your thoughts but it's just not true in many facilities. What she went through was a terrible facility and a terrible thing and I feel very sorry for her so.
The fact you do not use clearly abusive methods does not mean you are not systematically abusing children. ABA is fundamentally opposed to the child's interest. It is not treatment, it is repression. This is like saying you do conversion therapy, but at least you are nice about it.
@@_Mercival_ No just because something is uncomfortable and doesn't align with your own childlike interests means nothing. Doesn't mean at all that it's anything similar to oppression or anything else. Its necessary in some cases to do things that are stressful. That's necessary for all people if they wish to succeed in life. If this is the case many would rather ease that lifetime of torture by undergoing such therapy now. They only make kids do what is necessary where they can not control other kids or people. You can't go to a concert and expect the people there to lower the volume by half. Like, this is ridiculous. What you're asking for is for the world to change for those with mental complications. But that's not reasonable. They're going to go their entire lives dealing with some things and in such case they should be able to be okay in the real world when that happens and NOT throw a tantrum. In such cases there's no other way to get a child interested in the things they hate and require such therapeutic practices.
@@juaecheverria0So you admit that ABA is all about masking and conforming neurotypical norms. That is exactly the problem that people have. The world should accommodate people with neurodivergencies to the best of its ability (I don't know where you got the term "mental complications" from, which I've never heard in my life), the same as it does for people with physical disabilities. By your logic, it's also not reasonable to ask businesses and other public places to be wheelchair accessible and provide handicapped parking. Yet it's required by law in the US under the ADA. Your concert example is also terrible because a neurodivergent person who knows they're sensitive to noise would just not go. No one will or will ever ask a concert's volume to be lowered just for them. Don't attack straw men. Combining that with calling neurodivergent interests "childlike", you clearly look down on and see neurodivergent people as inferior even if you're not consciously aware of it. Check your ableism.
@@jixer1956 No I don't. Because maladaptive behaviors are behaviors that are unsafe. We actually don't care about more social behaviors. It's not about that. It's about not behaving in ways that can be dangerous for the child. Not including simply "acting normal". You're just assuming at this point. You don't know anything of what you're talking about. You're just another one of those insane liberals.
Facts. I'm autistic and I work professionally with other autistic people. It took me a few weeks to recognize that pushing them into uncomfortable situations only made us both feel awkward and was not good at all for learning so I told both of them right away that they could always say no if I suggested something they really don't like and that I wouldn't be upset at all. Not to mention that ALL patients have a right to refuse treatment and it's incredibly infuriating to me that healthcare professionals deny that human right to disabled people. The only thing that can actually help people is giving them tools to make their lives better, and people have the right to say no if their healthcare provider tries to give you a tool that doesn't work.
I would like to add "you suck" but I guess that is not appropriate. But hahahahhaha.....is whisper to my kids in their ears and they know I know. I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT NOT APPROPIATE. Is someone getting money from tRhat>
I know you said you wouldn’t read the comments (and I really hope you are taking care of yourself in whatever manner works for you) so this is more for other people, but I can tell as a non-autistic ND person this is a subject that is really difficult for you to discuss when faced with the possibility of people being not very nice online. Thank you for talking about it, and I’m sorry that there are people who may not be very kind back to you.
I totally I agree thank you Paige my nephew is 2 and he is autistic & nonverbal and just started ABA, this information is very helpful. I don’t know now if I should tell my brother this or not because he is always one to do his research but hearing you speak really worry’s me for my nephew. Love you hoping Paige is taking care of herself as well 🤍
@@amandadavis5687 Please do! At least send him this videos and recommend him to look up what autistic people themselves have to say on it. They know what's best because they have the experience of it.
Psychology honours student here. We're taught our client is the expert of themselves. Any psychologist who tries to force unethical practice on you or follow paths you don't want to follow, they should not have a license. Period.
I believe that ABA practitioners do not need to hold registration as a psychologist, they may not have the same knowledge on health conditions or be subject to the same ethical restraints on their licence
@@lunar686 that's why people without a psychology degree can't do therapy in my country. Although nurses are trying to get rid of this law because they want to be able to do therapy without actually studying and working the amount of time needed to get into the psychological association ( which is required by law too) and get licensed.
@@carpediem4091 we have both a masters or internship pathway (approximately two years in length) following a psychology degree to be registered as a psychologist here. I think you need at least this level of knowledge to be able to determine how ethical or effective any treatment is. After all, anyone receiving any form of therapy is in a position of vulnerability so we need to do everything we can in our profession to protect them.... then again, there is also no requirement here for an ABA practitioner to be a registered psychologist so it’s quite concerning. I’m surprised that nurses wanted to use this therapy form?
@@lunar686 here they're both required ( Master's and internship) and then supervision. It takes a psychologist 5 years until they're even working with patients ( they can only observe therapy being done until then). In the 5th year they are required to do a 12 mo internship and a research paper at the same time. In the 5th year there's always someone supervising what they're doing ( as in the same room or behind a double glass thing - patients are aware of this). After that they get out of uni but they aren't licensed and can't work in the field yet without a couple of things being met. They have to get a workplace that offers them constant supervision ( not in the same room anymore) and they get evaluated periodically and that evaluation is sent to the "psychological association" ( I don't know what the best translation for it would be) and they do it up to 2 years. Only then are they considered licenced and can work wherever they want although there's need to keep some kind of supervision and intervision always. All of this is legally required to be able to do therapy. You can't even take a PhD without getting a Master's first or you won't be able to practice. On the other hand, nurses don't want to do Aba specifically. They want to be able to do any therapy that they feel like doing. To be licenced they only have to study for 4 years and this includes internships. They get automatically licensed as nurses as soon as they finish uni. Now they want to take an less than 200 hour specialization course and without any kind of supervision they want to be able to do therapy. They are fighting for being able to do it without getting into the psychological association too because then they'd have to do a 5+2 years too ( and that association actually makes the guidelines about what kind of therapy is safe , what is just made up BS, etc) and if you don't follow it you can lose the license. So, they want to be therapists without that too and basically change the legal requirements.
@@carpediem4091 I don’t actually know if many people are aware of just how intense and strict the standards are for practising psychologists. Whilst our system here is different, the standards are still very high. Supervise placements or internships (also primarily observation based) integrated into the two year masters by coursework programs in psychology. There is also continuing professional development programs and supervision that has to be maintained throughout your career. We also have the option of completing an endorsement (which honestly should be referred to as just a specialisation to be honest) which takes several years and I believe there’s also a doctorate program offered at the end of a first year masters program however I’m a little bit fuzzy on the details. I know there’s been a lot of movement to try to remove the internship only pathway following an undergraduate bachelor‘s degree in psychology, as even though this is still quite an intensive and expensive option, provisional psychologist are not getting the benefit of the academic and theoretical knowledge offered within the masters programs. I am currently going for candidature dual endorsement having completed two masters degrees (don’t ask me why lol), however the area of research I’m interested in may involve me going overseas to do a PhD so hopefully I’ll have that opportunity when restrictions are lifted. That’s truly rather concerning to hear, I don’t think that’s safe for clients or practitioners. I’ve always been very concerned around entry level jobs in the social services, as they have an exceedingly high burnout rate, which I think indicates that the safety measures aren’t being met for employees or clients. The problem is many of these entry level style jobs such as 88 therapy are heavily promoted to students and are often critical and giving students the necessary levels of experience they need to get good placement and supervision opportunities. Whilst I believe that the psychology profession has done a lot to improve safety outcomes, there are many improvements that still need to be made. There’s also a lot the legal system can do to improve things. While being a psychologist is a protected term, I can call myself a psychotherapist without Absolutely no educational background or experience. In regards to nursing I think this is particularly dangerous. At present, as a psychologist you cannot occupy what is considered to be a ‘dual role’. So for example I cannot be someone’s teacher and their psychologist, because it blurs the lines, not only resulting in reducing possible therapeutic outcomes, but also by putting the client in danger for exploitation. I find a multimodal approach to care has the best outcomes, where clients are supported by a range of different professional expertise, provided...That this is explained CLEARLY to the person in the treatment so they don’t feel bandied about from service to service. It also acknowledges how unique we all are and the different supports we may need. I hope that you’re able to advocate successfully against this and I’m more than happy to lend my support to it so please feel free to reach out if at all of help or use. I think one area of mental health that needs immediate attention is in psychiatry. I believe the numbers are very similar worldwide, and unfortunately we do not have enough psychiatrists particularly in adult mental health. This often means the clients are trapped in the triage stage of the system for many years until they’re able to receive appropriate care. Not to mention, their conditions are often very accelerated by the time they’re able to see a psychiatrist. I honestly don’t know what the solution could be to this. And I’m very concerned that if we are unable to find a solution then we will have people stepping into the Obvious gap in care from professions that are not trained as doctors or psychologists. I have heard that both nursing and public health don’t quite see a problem in a few hundred hours of training to fill this position gap.
I’m autistic. I have six degrees, including a higher research degree. One of my degrees is a post graduate diploma in autism studies. So I actually know a little bit about autism. I’ve lived it all my life and I’ve studied it as a discipline. I have absolutely no doubt that I would never have succeeded in life if I’d been exposed to ABA. It is abuse pure and simple. Abuse only suppresses symptoms, while creating more problems in the long term. The US is falling behind the rest of the world in a lot of areas of human rights. This is an example of human right abuse exercised against vulnerable people. I congratulate you Paige on tackling this issue and making such an important video.
The United States has a deplorable record with regard to human rights. It's just that most Americans aren't aware of this because we're so busy pointing the finger at China.
the things she talks about are old/bad ABA. my clinic does none of these things she is talking about. kids are given sensory/movement breaks whenever they need, we do not suppress stims, we don't force anything on them, we encourage their interests and are always positive and receptive to their "zone" or how they are feeling/how their day is going and run sessions accordingly. the goal is to teach independent skills and decrease harmful behaviors (self harm, violence to others).. could say a lot more. its mostly natural environment teaching as well. its a bit of hysteria and misinformation with this field, but at the same time, there are bad centers/practitioners.
@@vp2718 Every piece of independent research on this issue that I have read is clear in its condemnation of ABA. Autistic children have highly sensitised nervous systems. Using exposure therapy does nothing to change this. What you appear to be doing is trying to teach this children to suppress these sensitivities. To hide them. This is called masking and is highly dangerous to the long term health of the child. It’s good that your clinic is doing something to address these concerns. But the underlying issue remains: that autism is seen as a societal problem that needs to be corrected. This speaks to a cultural fear and an othering of autistic people. I support the idea of educational facilities being set up to specifically address the learning requirements of autistic children. But this is a lot different from attempting to modify the personality of young people so that they fit into a socially acceptable notion of citizenship. Too often, people observe secondary difficulties in autistic children such as ID or anxiety, and believe these are representative of autism itself.
@@vp2718 We're not interested in your apologetics, all ABA is bad and regardless of what changes you make it will remain bad because the problems are the core assumptions ABA is based on including "positive reinforcement". If you are not using behaviourist approaches you are not doing ABA, it's proven behaviourism is outdated and already was in the 1950s. ABA is just a money scam which is why you're partners with both the Judge Rotenberg Centre and Autism Speaks confessed by resigned ABA therapists. According to ABA's ethics code you still approve of everything ABA has ever done since Ole Ivar Lovaas founded it including shock therapy. If you work for ABA, you are also working for the JRC and Autism Speaks. You not doing shock therapy individually doesn't mean it's not ABA, as long as the BACB continues sending credentialed BCBAs to perform shock therapy at the JRC, shock therapy is still ABA.
@@vp2718 omg! I agree! I work at an ABA clinic and I have never seen these methods being implemented! Ever! We prioritize the comfort and the assent of our patients.
As a mother of an 20 month old boy who is currently on a waiting list for an autism assessment thank you for posting this. I’ve been doing my best to do all the research I can in order to be the best advocate I can for my son. There is a lot of conflicting information but Ive decided i am going to listen to actual autistic people, like you. My son isn’t even diagnosed yet and ABA therapy has already been brought up. Now with this information I will NEVER put my child through this. Thank you for saving my child from this abuse. He is currently non verbal but I’m doing my best to find ways to help him communicate his needs. I know there is still a chance he may talk but I’m learning sign language just incase so I can inturn teach him and hopefully be able to communicate with him. He already knows the signs for “done” and “more”. Even if he is verbal I think ASL needs to taught more often so I figure either way it’s good to learn. Anyways thank you and I will share this information with everyone I can and will never ever stop advocating for my boy. Autistic or not.
Your son is a lucky boy to have you for a mama. Love and strength to you as I know your journey won’t always be easy, but starting off by researching what is best for your child is a beautiful start.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 a method we are currently using with our non verbal 26 mo is floortime (applied to comunicational therapy, occupational therapy and music therapy) and trying to really get involved as a parent in all of these techniques, as you can play with him and continue working in your home aside from the weekly hours he goes to therapy. I think the method is actually Called RDI or DIR ❤️
I ignorantly worked at an ABA facility earlier this year and quit after two months because of the shit I witnessed. One of the most horrifying things was during my last week. There was this little child who understandably hated to see other children cry. I was shadowing the RBT running a session with this child, where they forced him to watch a video of one of his peers crying for 15 minutes. He kept trying to cover his ears and hide his head in his hands, but the RBT would restart the video every time until he made it through the whole video without trying to “escape”. This little boy was so distraught and had NO CHOICE but to endure it. I bawled my eyes out that night, and it was that moment that I knew I had to get the fuck out of that place and actively fight against ABA
Watching anyone cry makes me cry. I feel what others are feeling if it’s an exaggerated display of emotion. I have difficulty processing through my own emotions let alone other peoples. What the heck was the goal of this? To desensitize him and make him shut down every time he sees tears?
Why does paige have to apologize for not debating people about whether TOURTURING CHILDREN is therapy or not, WTF. Treating a human as if they where a dog isn´t therapy and any therapist who says otherwise is sick
@@sarakeeet so by SHOCKING your kid instead of actually parenting is ok to you? It’s hella abusive and no one would see it right to shock a Neurotypical child.
It’s actually not OK to use electroshock on dogs either. And dogs shouldn’t be looked down on. Humans are part of the ecosystem and no better than other species.
@@golden2370 Obviously you shouldn't shock people, but ABA is such a huge and general term it covers an enormous range of things from things like shocking someone all the way up to teaching someone something in small steps and saying 'good girl' if they get a step right. Or giving a kid a toy or candy or time to play a game when they succesfully do what you ask them to do. It's so vast and there are both abusive and non abusive things that are called ABA.
My son is autistic and from the time he was diagnosed I was pressured and manipulated by " experts " to see him as a problem to be solved , controlled etc. I was bullied to the point of years in school meetings and told that my son would have a terrible life that might end in suicide if I didn't get on board with their program . I chose to listen to the greatest expert on my son's autism which was my son. I also get advice from autistic adults . Today my son is sixteen , happily employed , doing great in on line classes and has dignity and an awesome sense of humor . Listen to autistic people .
I love this story so damn much as a kid who grew up undiagnosed and seen as a problem rather than a person. Everyone deserves a parent like you that supports and listens to them. Your son is so lucky to have a supportive parent in an ableist society and I hope his life continues to go in a positive direction.
Update : My son finished high-school online while working a part time job . He is currently working as a cook in an Irish pub style bar / restaurant. He drives , has a credit card and has saved a considerable amount of money . He will be beginning courses in realty soon and is pretty excited about it . Social relationships outside of work are still a challenge but he hasn't given up . We are so proud of him . As a mom I really wish the " experts " would reexamine the current methods used to educate autistic kids . I worked in a classroom of eight autistic preschoolers before my son was born and even then ABA felt wrong to me . There s no magic formula for parenting or educating a child that is on the spectrum. Just let them show you who they are and support them in unfolding in the direction they are drawn to . It may take time but overwhelming and bullying someone is not a good strategy toward a happy life or self esteem.
Thank you. I am the mother of a 4yo with Autism. I live in the USA and I have been referred to ABA but the idea scares me. I do not feel my daughter's "behaviors" are problematic and I want her to live a happy life and will do everything I can to make that happen. I appreciate your videos because I need all the information I can get to better understand my daughter.
If you didn't already know, stay away from Autism Speaks as a source of anything on the subject. Obviously I do not know where on the spectrum your child is, but 4 years old to me sounds super soon to want to try to get therapy for the child, trying to get information how to learn to cope with your child now and in the future is obviously good, but at this moment try to support your child just like a parent should do with any other child.
One of the favorite journeys in my life was growing up with my nephew. I was 5 when he was born (my sister was 18). The early years where rough, he would pull out our hair and punch us, but that didnt stop me for adoring spending time with him. Some of my favorite times where when we studied sign language together in the living room so we could learn to speak to eachother together (he was non verbal until we found his secret favorite hobby 😊). He learned to speak through movies. I have a video of him when he was maybe 6, cuddling up to me at night before bed, and we sung twinkle twinkle little star together, and old McDonald had a farm. Im 20 now and hes turning 15 in May this year. He hasnt had a melt down in years. He just speaks in movie quotes and song lyrics. Or video game related stuff 😊😊. The journey is a hard one but you cant forget, its hard on her ×2 also. But it is full of so much joy and happiness. You're amazing ❤❤❤💪💪
Parents if newly diagnosed autistic children are bombarded with pro-ABA information. California state law mandates that all insurance companies cover ABA. There is. Major push for it here. It’s upsetting that they aren’t provided with more information about different options.
@@ambermarie99show 40 HOURS for CHILDREN? THAT IS A FULL WORK WEEK, OF UNPAID TORTURE. How any parent who loves their child could force them through this is beyond me.
Speech therapist here. THANK you, for sharing your voice. I am forced in the position at times to see children at ABA centers, and it’s torture for me. I try my best to educate and spread compassion. I don’t recommend ABA to parents at all.
Also. OTs are BLESSINGS! No ABA therapist knows the ins and outs of the communication system like an SLP does, or the sensory complexities of our bodies like OTs do. ALSO, you can have sensory issues and not be autistic! We all have unique sensory profiles. To suppress stimming and increase the threshold of tolerance for a child to endure something that is sensorily aversive to them is not “helping” them.
Behavior analyst here. I see speech therapists force open kid's mouths to get them to eat, as well as OTs forcing autistic kids hand-over-hand to put shapes into shape sorters and zip up jackets against their will. The entire time they are crying and trying to move away, but the speech therapist sits behind them at the table, forcing them into the chair. Speech and OT are no longer allowed at the clinic. ABA today is trauma-informed and assent-based. The child is never forced to do anything. Do you only work with vocal children with no aggressive or otherwise maladaptive behaviors? If so, how do you get them to do the things they don't want to do? I have seen what speech and OT do, and that is torture.
"Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological suffering on someone by another as a punishment or in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or force some action from the victim." fits perfectly
@@hah-no. I am so sorry that you had to go through that. Nobody deserves to be tortured for something they can’t control. I hope you are doing okay now.
@@marmoranblade I am! (Now edited with current me :) It’s just hard to try and navigate an environment that hasn’t completely eradicated it’s ableist qualities. People downright blaming us for inconveniencing them with our needs by saying we should think more of others can be quite exhausting to deal with. (When I originally wrote this-) I had a meltdown earlier today, consequentially a shutdown but good news they’ve gotten shorter! (Oh Lord my mental state was so bad when I wrote this) So I’m making progress, even if they are tiny tiny steps. God bless you all, we’ll make it though this mess together
@@hah-no. So sorry to hear what you’ve been through. That’s absolutely horrible to make any child feel that way, let alone a child who is already struggling. I pray for your continued healing and the best blessings that life can offer. May God bless you and bring you comfort on the hard days. 💕🌻
@@BhappyD thank you. So much. You don’t know how good that makes me feel. It’s definitely been a ride having fed into it all these years, but now that I know about it the sooner the better for me to go forth! But yes thank you thank you thank you 🙏🏻 your words propel forward and I wish the same to you
Thanks so much for this video. I took over a classroom of children this year. I told them that I was not trained in ABA so would not be doing it. Instead I created a real classroom where the children learn academics (including science), play, and have fun. Guess what happened. No more crying children, no more tantrums. What I got were happy children that learned a ton of things because it was all just done naturally and with meaning. I did have an ABA person come and observe. One of my students was using his iPad and the man said, you will never get him off that to attend to a lesson. The student turn and look at the guy, shut off the iPad, put it in his desk and went and sat at the group table. I started laughing and said, "its not time for group." The man didnt even realize the child was giving him a big F YOU!!!!!!
I’m completely speechless right now. I recently applied to work as a behavior technician for a few ABA therapy companies. The first one offered me the job but when I saw that they supported Autism Speaks, I quickly declined the offer. It makes complete sense now, though, after watching this video, that these companies would support AS. Thank you for educating me. I know it’s not your job to do so, but you’re shedding light on a subject that not a lot of people know anything about and I’m grateful for that. I feel duped. They really pitched me a solid speech about all the “good things” ABA can do for people.
you are the reason i have hope for the future. Listening, self reflection, accountability, and change. What a powerful comment you made. Thank you for dedicated your life to helping support a community that is always looked over or heavily marginalized
The worst part really is that no "therapy" would be needed if neurotypical people would stop being lazy entitled jerks and lift even a singly pinky finger to meet us halfway. "You're autistic so you're bad at communicating" NO, KAREN, YOU JUST EXPECT PEOPLE TO LITERALLY BE PSYCHIC TO HOLD A SIMPLE CONVERSATION WITH YOU. Why NTs can't just SAY things, I cannot fathom. How is having to guess what someone means because they won't just say the words they want people to hear the "superior" and "correct" way to communicate? IT ISN'T. Or "your autistic stimming is bad and wrong and evil because NTs feel weird about it and clearly the only possible middle ground is to mentally and physically torture you until you stop 'being a bit weird.'" Or you could, idk, just let me flap in fucking peace considering it hurts literally no one. I'm hugely uncomfortable seeing people wearing Trump merch but I don't insist they be tortured and abused until they stop. It's not hard, basic human decency costs nothing. I realize the PTSD I have from ABA influences how strongly I feel about this but ffs, WHY do NTs think their way is the best when that objectively isn't the case? It's like if someone really liked their car and decided everyone should have exactly the same car and if anyone disagrees or tries to say "but my truck fits my needs better" the car-crusader beat them with a tire iron while shrieking "NO IT DOESN'T! IT DOESN'T FIT YOUR NEEDS BECAUSE IT'S NOT THE SAME CAR AS MINE! YOU HAVE TO DRIVE THE SAME CAR I DO AND I'M NOT GOING TO STOP HITTING YOU UNTIL YOU AGREE WITH ME!!1!!111!!11!" Everyone would think they're fucking insane, rightly so. But when it's NTs tying children to chairs, insisting meals should only ever be a reward not a given, and saying the best solution for stimming is to physically pin a child down while screaming "NO! BAD! WRONG! QUIET HANDS! QUITE HANDS! QUITE HANDS!" it's suddenly not only A-ok, but is "the best thing for the kid." I'm glad you saw all the red flags and didn't just go along with it. Cuz I stg, the next person to defends ABA to me is gonna learn that kneecaps are a privilege 🤬🔪
I am shocked that such "methods" exists ...I am so shocked...sorry ...I have no words for this "therapy" ....I am German...my daughter was diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum 2 years ... I can not imagine...this ABA " therapy" sounds horrifying...torture....thank you for your voice ❤ and your fight. ...sorry, I am still shocked and struggle to find words at all
This is so very sad. I am autistic but I have never been exposed to that much horribleness and ableism. I live in a very accommodating place but it does make sense that the world is bad enough that it would have something like this.
I am autistic and used to work in ABA before my diagnosis. I remember my clients and parents loved me but my supervisors HATED ME. I disagreed with so many of their principals and didn’t realize it was this awful until a few years later and many great videos from autistic creators.
I have been having a similar experience with working in the field and not doing what my supervisors want. I enjoyed working with the kids and helping them but found myself not wanting to make them do things they didn't like or make them change things I saw as not harmful to themselves or others.
@@keepingupwiththejoness904 Then go to a better company. They exist. As an ABA therapist, I quit and left terrible reviews on Google for the previous company I worked at because they were very ethical and considerate of the autistic community until all the ethical people left and terribly horrible people replaced them. Now I work in a company that is vedt ethical.
This sounds exactly like my story. I am in the process of actually getting my son and myself diagnosed after realizing our issues might be related to Asperger's. I could not understand what I was doing wrong but everyone else loved me.
I never had shock therapy" but did go through aba. It was terrible. I don't want to call it trauma or ptsd because i don't want to self diagnose. I am having a anxiety attack thinking about it. People sometimes say "you just had a bad experience" but it still stings. I had the 40 hours a week and i never had time to decompress from school. I am having an anxiety attack thinking about it. None of my therapy providers believe that it is bad. But also as a lgbtq person (who is accepted) that conversion therapy hits too close to home. I literally shaking thinking about this. I don't want to call this trauma but it is. Will edit later if needed
Fwiw, as some rando stranger on the internet, you’re completely justified in labeling a situation you experienced as traumatizing. Ultimately, if it was deeply distressing and disturbing in a way that has deeply affected you, no one can tell you it is isn’t. You’re valid in that self-assessment, should you choose to make it. Also, as someone who’s been in the trauma/ptsd/cptsd online world for a while now, I’ve experienced it as a very welcoming place and not gatekeepy or invalidating. If you ever need a place to talk about it, ptsd/trauma folks discussing recovery online tend to be very warm, helpful, and understanding. Sincerely, a rando on the net who spent a lot of time in the trauma recovery spaces on Instagram and the like.
(tw car accidents and natural disasters mention used as an example) If someone who got into a car crash called their experience traumatic, then it is- we can understand it as traumatic, we don’t question why. If someone lost their house to natural disasters we can call it traumatic, they may call it traumatic. And we don’t blame them, we can understand it and don’t question it. What I left out is I didn’t mention any of them going to a doctor or therapy or *getting a diagnosis* for it. There are many reasons someone might not get therapy or a diagnosis: maybe they can not afford it (money wise or time wise), or maybe getting a diagnosis for something would endanger them somehow. Like what Paige says in the video, we live in an ableist world that provides ableist information. People put too much emphasis on “professional/medical diagnosis” when it’s not always possible. As long as youre well researched and try not to jump to conclusions, you’re allowed to self-analyze; after all, that’s what neurotypical adults said before right? “back in my day, we didn’t have mental health problems”. Im pretty sure that people with mental health problems STILL existed before; they just self-diagnosies or allowed themselves to accept themselves My point it is, if it’s trauma, it’s trauma. If you’re showing negative symptoms and side effects (reactions!) to trauma, then it’s traumatizing. You don’t need a doctor’s diagnosis to say “yep, what’s happened to you messed with your psyche and you’re traumatized, what happened was bad!” You are allowed to be hurt and scared, or not like what happened. You’re allowed to say it was traumatic, methinks
Please look for different therapy providers! Being disabled myself I know it can be hard to find health practitioners who listen to you, but they're out there. You just have to keep looking
Those people can go to hell if they said “You just had a bad experience”. If you get anxiety attacks by the thought of ABA, then those people should be supportive, instead of being dismissive
As someone diagnosed with CPTSD, please get a second, third, or even fifth opinion. Anxiety disorders and panicking disorders are often a sub-diagnosis of CPTSD and can be managed with the proper medication to help with the flashback or what I like to call spicy memories because that's all flashbacks are. Just really bad intrusive memories that cause a physical reaction and are hard to stop thinking about.
Nothing about us without us, It's that simple. If you are young and autistic, please consider entering the field of psychology and/or become an autism researcher and/or advocate for us. I was diagnosed a couple of years ago in my late 50s. There is essentially no support available for people like me and others who are seen as "high functioning" (Level 1) from traditional psychology or psychiatry. Autistic people need openly autistic therapists. Academic autism research needs to be led and directed by openly autistic researchers. No one else can truly have the insight needed to seek out and develop ways to support autistic people - instead of trying to normalize us.
DIR Floortime therapy is billable under insurance! Just find an occupational therapist and a speech therapist who uses this model! I am an OT and use it every day. It is not as popular yet because ABA has been dominating unfortunately but Floortime is MUCH more respectful play therapy and teaches parents and guardians how to change themselves to be able to connect with their autistic children instead of forcing the child to change. Floortime respects neurodiversity and loves autistic people as they are. There IS a better way.
@FlyingMonkies325 I live north of the border... The corruption we have seen over the past year is horrific and this crisis is being used to forward authoritarianism and corrupt contracts. It's all part of the same pattern, along with ABA... You don't have bodily autonomy, you're just a lab rat for whatever treatment they want to foist on you or stick in your arm... And they'll probably try it by force soon. We also have organ harvesting from corpses now unless you opt out of it... All part of the same pattern.
Wow listening to this hurts me. My son was given ABA at age 2.5 years old. I was a new mom didn’t know about autism not so well. You hit every spot what they’ve done besides the electric shocks. My son’s doctor recommended ABA again and I refused after hearing about ABA they made me feel like it was the only way to help I was relived that it stopped at age 3. I love my son the way he is. Thank you for sharing this video !
Wow, wasn't expecting this to make me bawl. The idea that autistic CHILDREN are being subject to abuse, and told that who they are is inherently a problem...makes me feel so sick. By far the best video against ABA I've ever seen. As a neuropsychologist, and an autistic adult, thank you Paige.
This is such an exaggeration and not how ABA is implemented. The science of ABA is everywhere. Because some practitioners implement procedures incorrectly does not mean ABA is bad or forcing kids to do things. Learning a new skill to live a more independent life is not abuse. I’m sure there were many things through school you had to do to learn but wouldn’t say that was abuse or traumatic
@@jackiemitchell8869 you are ignorant and don’t even know what applied behavior analysis is, end of story. If you do know so much explain how it is bad? Let’s see how fast your argument falls apart. Virtue signaling
ABA is so astoundingly ignorant as to the actual science of autism. Here's how to understand autistic eye contact aversion: ZOOM FATIGUE. On our screen, people's faces and eyes appear bigger and closer than they'd normally be. We're not used to seeing these things up close unless (a) sex or (b) being attacked. So seeing large eyes and faces sets off a trauma fight or flight response. That tired, anxious feeling you get is more or less how autistic people feel 24/7 in response to eye contact (particularly with strangers). The problem with ABA reinforcing eye contact is that it's teaching children to ignore fear signals and pain. ABA therapists also often encourage autistic children to accept unwanted touch. And all of this compliance focus contributes to why an estimated 60% of autistic women are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, and is likely much higher for those who went through ABA.
Thank you for the information. I learned something. It is just horrible to force a child to go against its natural response if that response is not harmful. No one is harmed by the lack of eye contact.
@@saramoldrup you are right! No one is harmed by lack of eye contact! Most autistic people can concentrate and focus MUCH better when they are not making eye contact.
Any chance you can link the autistic women sexual assault likelihood source? Been looking for the statistic I saw 2 years ago for weeks now--(thought the rate was higher though) but still can't find it.
Thank you. I am autistic myself and so is my sister. I recognized that she was not happy, even though she may have seemed “normal” and I’m glad my parents recognized this and put a stop to it. So, thank you for speaking out for all of us.
My son was diagnosed a year ago. My family is really riding me to get him Into aba therapy so he can go to school and be like all the other kids. The first facility I visited looked like an insane asylum. Concrete everywhere no color, they wanted me to just leave my son there and let them I suppose convert him. This video gave me the validation I needed to know that my reservation about sending him to aba therapy is warranted.
😢 My child is 5 and they keep pushing us to get ABA services. I was told that he would have to stay up to 5 hours 5 days a week. So glad I came across this video.
@@yam3108 i feel absolutely the same way! The least they could do is offer camera footage for the parents to supervise like daycares. Predators and abusers these days are working everywhere in the field of children. Leaving mine alone with a stranger just because they have a license is out of the question for us!!!
I'd recommend looking into some ABA resources online. I agree, most of those places are shite and people don't know wtf they're even doing. One reason my autistic sister (and myself to a lesser extent with ADHD) benefitted was because our mother was the one who learned enough about ABA to cowrite a book with folks with PhDs (she got a BA in biological science) and her teaching always had our interests in mind. It worked, I graduated high school and college (prior I was flunking out of high school) and got a degree without meds or an IEP in college (had one in high school but didn't really need it). My sister learned to self advocate by asking for things she wants and giving a very clear yes or no-- she'll never be able to discuss philosophy or anything, but the "experts" thought she'd never talk at all. She can also do some basic life skills like cook, read, do basic hygiene (which is hard for some non neurotypicals) use her phone etc. Not only that, she's described by others as "sweet" because that's just how she is (and I know it's not an act, she struggles to even fake-smile for pics let alone fake affect) but she's the happiest person I know. The reason for these great outcomes is because not only was it effective, but *my mom cares about us*. A lot of people don't care, they get into special ed to feel righteous, not to teach life skills and self advocacy to a group of people who will be more capable and less vulnerable to manipulation if they have these abilities (and unfortunately, sometimes they are the very people doing the manipulation, which is why you hear about so many bad reports about ABA, which at the end of the day is just another valuable tool in your toolbox)
@@yam3108 well you should look into ABA therapy yourself and go talk to a clinic and ask to show what it looks like and explain it to you. Don’t rely on someone making money off of videos on RUclips for your source of information especially something like this that can be life changing. ABA therapy may not be right for everyone but those that it is, most often experience life changing progress. This video is a complete joke of a lie and exaggeration, claim after claim are not true. If this video is so true you should get a tour and go talk to a clinic to prove it. But that won’t happen because this video is lying to you
This has been very important for me to watch. I am autistic women who has a job opportunity to be an ABA therapist. Now learning about what ABA does I don’t want to do it. I want to work with Autistic children so bad. I want to help them, not hurt them.
You can! ☺️ I suggest becoming a play therapist, empowerment therapist, speech therapist or Autism Based DBT therapist. I had those therapies and they have helped me reverse the damage done by ABA. Unfortunately my family was tricked into doing in home ABA. They thought it was a behavior therapist but it was a BCBA. I’m now working to undo the damage as an adult and find myself again. I suggest looking into the other therapies I recommended. They worked wonders for me..
I'm a recently diagnosed autistic, and as someone who experienced a childhood of restraint, hospitalization, and sedation for my emotional disregulation this was absolutely the most painful thing I've ever had to watch. I don’t have any words for the cruelty of this. Yes, the torture eventually taught me how to mask better. I had to to be able to survive and to never experience that again, but my life has been hell because of it. How dare these people... I am a human being and I wouldn't change who I am. I don't want to be cured. Autism is a part of who I am. It's not behavioral, it's not a personality trait, it's part of who I am. God forbid NT's have to challenge themselves to understand differences and make changes to their own lives.
I relate to this and your experience during childhood! My parents would force me to take meds and punish me if I didn’t take them🥺 I was recently diagnosed as well. Sending you virtual hugs🥺
I was diagnosed at a psychiatric hospital this month. My parents were in denial and tried to protect me by hiding my autism. I’ve been sedated too. I’m heart broken by this. So many families put so much trust in these institutions. No one wants to confront their eugenics. It’s a societal scar and we keep picking at it.
@@candace3493 Sadly the eugenics movement is about to be repeated in a sly way by genetically programming and editing genes with CRISPR-Cas9. They say this requires a global discussion, typically, the general public are not getting to have a say.
The same could be said for autistic people. You cannot exit this NT ruled life, no, but you cannot also accomodate the NT world.... just a bit as well? I am totally against ABA btw. What happened to you is beyond horrible. You were basically tortured until you complied. There's got to be a better way, but expecting a perfect way to magically appear is impossible. There is striving for a better way, but there is no arrival for that perfect human balance between the two mindsets for either those on the ASD or NT's. Because there are no perfect humans.
Fellow (physically) disabled person here. I've been advocating against this barbaric treatment of disabled people for years. You are really brave for speaking out on this topic in this public arena. Thank you.
It's all over the place. Medicine is supposed to help people, but an evil sadistic element seems to be increasingly directing it... It has long been there in psychiatry but it has really come to the fore recently.
“I do not have to.” I just want to let you know how amazing I think this one sentence is. I feel like we do often get shamed or guilted into doing things we really do not want to do, and it’s almost become the norm to just oblige. I cannot tell you how long it took me to understand the power of saying no and setting my own boundaries. So glad you are able to do that, and I hope this helps others respect their own boundaries as well 💛
That has happened big time over the past year and the worst part is that it is coupled with shaming and gaslighting people over bodily autonomy, and using the term "science" to forward all kinds of abusive and unscientific behaviour.
The “introduce loud noises until they stop being distressed” reminds me of how they train horses. The difference is, the horses are spooked by the loud noises. It’s like exposure therapy for phobias. Autistics aren’t afraid, they’re overloaded and in distress. You can’t use methods that you use on scared animals on autistic kids. It’s not the same fuckin thing
I’ve had one of those things, but at a normal therapy place. They forced me to listen to music that had static, but otherwise the place I went was good.
my old therapist used to tell me that at the beginning of every day that I should overload myself with loud music and touch, so that it won’t be as overwhelming for the rest of the day. It is exposure therapy, and it’s considered ineffective and very traumatic in the psychological community. After her telling me to do it for two weeks i stopped seeing her, It made my coping so much worse.
"hey guys, humans feeling pain is really annoying and bothers me so if we just hurt them enough, they'll get used to it" /s (this is sarcasm, i wanna make that very clear, #stoptheshock)
Thank you! I just have SPD, basically the sensory problems without the communication problems. And I was treated badly in an ABA way my childhood and as a result I lived my whole life dissociated and masking. I have ptsd from it. Thank you for not doing it! How we process sensory information will not change through electric shocks or other painful methods, because it doesn't change how our brains work. It just traumatized us.
I’m a senior in college studying speech and language pathology with a minor in autism spectrum disorders. SLPs are combating the ABA field because SLPs are doing way more to fix the root of language/ communication disorders. It can actually be very difficult though to work with ABA therapist because they are telling children to mask their communication behaviors which makes our jobs so much harder. So if a child is receiving both ABA therapy and Speech therapy, we have to tell the child to say do what they would do normally, not what is expected from them by society. This is to get to the root of the problem and actually help instead of giving them stupid tips on how to fit in. There is a huge disconnect in these two fields. SLPs can teach different ways of communication, like ASL or alternative communication. It’s dumb what ABA therapist do, it’s like they are trying to teach a dog and not a human being.
SLPs are heroes. ABA's research is based on a load of crock. They claim that nonverbal autism is just a product of WILLFUL BEHAVIOR. Of course, they said the same about mute and deaf people. SLPs are much more interested in the science, functionality, and helping people actually communicate the way they need to or prefer to.
SLP's need to be aware of ableism in their field as well. I think it's great that you are focused on teaching your clients AAC or ways to communicate that are effective for them and what they want. I had an SLP that pushed me to communicate in a neurotypical manner and that was not pleasant.
As an autistic person who is wanting to study speech language pathology I'm glad that there is a movement against it at least somewhat with SLPs. It's honestly been holding me back from school because dealing with it was just feeling like it would be a complete uphill battle... (I mean I'm sure it isn't everyone. But yeah.)
It's funny you say the last comment. I use to work with dogs - training them. I played a video of ABA therapy to see an example of it when I was first learning about how terrible it is and my husband almost immediately asked me if I was watching dog training videos of bad dog trainers because even he could tell from his experience watching me with dogs that 1) it was training based and 2) it was terrible practices (good handlers don't treat dogs as terribly as autistic kids in ABA are treated). We were both absolutely disgusted by the entire concept of ABA already but the examples of it that we watched just made us angry and sick over it to see it in action and how manipulative it is.
That's one of my favorite quotes, I've been quoting it to people for years! It's soooo true. It's starting to occur to me that maybe the "problem" with autistic people is it's harder to control how we think, we're harder to indoctrinate. We're too trusting and are easy to exploit and con, but we're probably harder to indoctrinate and do "social engineering" on and impose "group think" on.
Such a great and informative video. My daughter is 5, Autistic and non speaking. When she was first diagnosed the Drs pushed for ABA but having a 3yo in therapy for 40 hours a week did not sit right with me. I decided to take the RBT certification to help her at home and 10 minutes into the training videos I felt like I was going to be sick. Since then I have learned more about ABA and I will never place my daughter in ABA therapy. She is loved, her needs are taken care of and she is happy. Thank you for educating people, you are making a difference in this world. ❤️
It is ridiculous to me how many BCBAs say ABA has changed when we all know for a fact it has not! Like you said, certification just 2 years ago made you sick.
I am a parent and caregiver of an autistic person and I understand that ABA therapy makes parents' lives be easier but my non- verbal daughter is a person with feelings and emotions that must be aknowledged. Even if it's harder for me, I want her to be happy and as independent as she can, not to be "normal", she is perfect to me and I love her. NO TO ABA!!! from a mother who burst into tears after watching my daughter going through a very traumatic therapy and I am depressed and kicking myself for letting that happened. NOT AGAIN!!!
Also, if someone knows an international organization I can address to talk about this, because the social worker is kindda threaten me that my daughter must be in the system and I must not complain because things are done like that in Mexico, and I am not, by any means, taking my daughter back to that therapy and I dont want them to force me or claim I am neglecting my child for looking for different options (which she implied, that I am being abusive to my daughter by "overprotecting" her and that I desperately need psicological help, I do need it, but not because taking care of my daughter as she implied). I'm afraid they can file a complain for looking a private therapy, more friendly, saying I am actually denying my daughter treatment, so they can take her away from me.
@@SusanaGonzalez-kn4il I don't know of a service you can report to as I don't live in America. You can look up and read about "DIR Floortime", it is the direct opposite of ABA rooted in the importance of relationship. If you know what your daughter is interested in link it to what you want to help her learn, like if you want to increase language read a book about it with her. Behaviourism is not for humans in general, treating your daughter as a daughter and human can improve her development. As humans, how people treat us influences brain and human development. You need to forget about the milestones as they're not even real.
My mom is too! We recently discovered my parents were tricked into doing ABA with me as a child. They thought it was behavioral therapy but it was ABA. I’m traumatized because I grew up thinking I didn’t have it. I wondered why I can’t think for myself, why I ask stupid questions, why I seek advice, why I’m so needy, clingy and co dependent, why I make the same mistakes, why I need to be given instructions, etc; finding out I had ABA makes everything clear now. I feel like I’m having an identity crisis because of this. I’m completely traumatized and my mom can’t look me in the eye because she feels so guilty.
gosh it was so hard to even click on this video. i hate seeing people like me be tortured ugh it’s just. not good. very off. very disgusting. ABA is NOT therapy, it’s torture. thank you for sharing your thoughts, they definitely speak for me
We are living in a society where human rights are being advocated more and more. And yet, ABA, which is violating Article 3, 9 (Part of it) and 10, is still ongoing. Just because someone is autistic, it doesn’t make them less deserving of human rights. I, an autistic person and as a believer of human rights, am heartbroken when I hear about my fellow autistic humans being treated like dogs being trained. It is truly despicable.
@Amy Ritchie I would agree with that. A lot of lip service for that group and this onex but bodily autonomy is being removed for all worldwide, even when unscientific or dubious. Recently they've passed a law in Scotland saying anyone can have their organs removed after death - I know some people are okay with that, but there is a very complex opt out system... 2020 & 2021 have shown us how shallow our human rights are, and you will be gaslit and called names if you question the logic of much of it (or point out most of it is unscientific)
They are treating us like animals, I'm not asking to become like a neurotypical I just want the rest of society to understand us that's all I'm asking, we need more choices.
And the truth is, most dogs don’t need to be trained that way either and it hurts them too they just can’t express it like humans. And by not having the same memory as humans they may not suffer as much but it’s clearly absurd, why not use positive reinforcement instead?
@@filipeflower The U.S.A P.A.T.R.I.O.T A.C.T (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) of 2001 allows the United States Government to disregard all rights guaranteed by the US constitution in the investigation of certain groups or individuals so long as it is approved by the U.S Department of National Security. This law allows U.S officials to perform otherwise unlawful search and seizures of person and property. It also allows for unlimited incarceration without the right to an attorney or fair trial by jury. But that was back in 2001 so I'm not sure if it's what Amy Ritchie was referring to.
I felt validated by that too. My tone is what people recognize about me and don’t know I have autism. It’s why I have no friends in my 30s. Only rarely does someone respond to me with a kind look instead of a confused look when I speak. It’s infuriating, how hard is it just to be nice back?? We can see that dumb confused face people make. I’m nice to everyone in public, regardless of how they communicate or their situation
@@thema1998 there’s nothing wrong with that. People need to learn we just communicate differently. If it makes others uncomfortable, they’ll get used to it and learn to tolerate it. Don’t be afraid to be you
@@slowslug3247 same! Until last year I had 2 friends that I saw every few months. I started allowing myself to get into what brings me joy and have made some friends in the houseplant community and I love these folks! I actually feel energized as we talk plants and all things related and I've actually found most of them are neurodivergent so they get it. The energy people bring matters, I can't talk to my mother but I'm learning that's okay because my boundaries matter!
ABA "treats" the "symptoms", not what is underneath. It's basically just a temporary "quick fix" to "manage" your child. Parents who commit to this are making a terrible mistake in the long run.
Good analogy! ABA is just a band aide but as adults the band aide falls off and we become unable to think for ourselves and become unable to be independent and it can cause us to develop zero empathy for others. Thankfully for me, DBT saved my life and reserved the damage.
thank you for this. i worked in aba for a little over a year. i went into it not knowing a lot about aba and it’s effects. after doing my research i decided to quit my job and work in a school with special ed students. i now work with a teacher who cares about meeting the children’s needs more than anything else. if they need a nap, food, another recess, whatever it is they get it. it’s so refreshing to be surrounded by people who just want the best for children with disabilities rather than just trying to “fix” them. if you work in aba therapy i highly suggest doing your research and listening to those with autism, rather than neurotypical people. this needs to be talked about more and shouldn’t be ignored.
My daughter is autistic. I came across your video and was curious. Then I started to feel physically ill. Because What you described as ABA therapy is LITERALLY how my narcissistic father raised me. I am neurotypical, BTW. And I DID end up with CPTSD until I was able to overcome it, at 48 years old. Thank you for raising awareness!!
I have SPD -sensory processing disorder and ABA sounds like my narcissistic foster parents raised me. Put into cold water when having meldowns, no stimming allowed, being hit, yelled at. At one point they wanted to train me with a clicker like a dog. I got c-ptsd from that as well.
Ever notice how much NTs alternate between saying we don't have feelings and telling us we're too sensitive...? ...And after telling us we're too sensitive, will have a breakdown upon seeing the slightest hint of non-conformity.
My son was just diagnosed as autistic . As soon as his aba therapist called to set up an appointment and evaluation they informed me that I would not be allowed to participate in his aba therapy . Which I was ok with . But then they stated I couldn’t even watch his therapy . They wanted him to come 3-4 hours a day Monday thru Friday with me leaving my child with a stranger . Mind you I do not let anyone watch my son unless it’s grandma or other side of the family grandma . And when he is watched it is for emergency purposes ONLY . I canceled the evaluation and further appointments . Me not being able to be there for my son was a huge red flag for me. Usually when my son is overstimulated he needs me there as comfort . After watching your video I knew I made the right choice. His therapist was rude and said that’s how their programmed worked and if I didn’t like it I could go else where . I thanked them and said we are fine as we are . I continue to learn as much as I can on my own while continuing speech therapy and occupational therapy . And with those therapies I’m allowed to watch and I encourage my son to be active and responsive
This is my first video I'm seeing of yours. I'm not even sure why RUclips suggested this no one close in my life is autistic. I have no idea how anyone could be mean to you. You're such a lovely person and advocating for those who can't speak for themselves. Upon watching this video from beginning to end, I have emailed my local congressman in Missouri and linked this video. Thank you for raising awareness!! ❤ sending my love!!
Thank you. I am autistic and grew up back in the Stone Age when children were still beaten or hit for supposed misdemeanours... I still have residual effects from it, and I can't imagine what it would be like to have something like this.
Thanks for your support, I'm within the spectrum have been masking it basically all my life and let me tell you society doesn't give a crap about us or at least that's how it feels, sometimes I feel that there's a very powerful group out there who wants us eradicated or give us a hard time.
@@kevinchavarria6792 Those claiming they're trying to eradicate us are actually lying, they don't want to eradicate us, they want to continue capitalising and profiteering on us in our capitalistic economies. Not long from now they're going to try genetic engineering and they will charge parents to have their children genetically modified.
Our son Brendan literally speaks like yourself, the pauses, the clean and connective logic, the rhythm and tone, cutting of paper, routines, …I was watching our Brendan and without question everything you said was undeniable. I have experienced that encouraging our child in the passions he has in his life have made him flourish; meanwhile thinking about putting him in ABA. I’m reassessing this decision as a parent. Our child is high functioning, he negotiates, used logic in ways most adults do not… he is intelligent no doubt and it is through positive love, guidance on how others feel, and simply through us understanding him that we have become better people and not because he has to change - it is not he who needs changing - we need to be more like him because it is he who is honest and who doesn’t who hasn’t the need to rationalize a wrong into a right; for him it’s a clearly mutually exclusive opposites and unquestionably a clear delineation which often other adults fool themselves into believing that it’s not. Thank you for this video, truly!
As a late diagnosed autistic person (who was not subjected to ABA), the main thing I wish for my long gone childhood self is to better understand and learn to deal with my emotions. I mostly learned to bury and not feel them in ways that have been bad for me as an adult. So learning emotional intelligence would have been super helpful. I would also have liked to learn organizational skills that worked for me. I have some now, but i had to try a lot of things over a long time to learn them. Also, just for your information, most autistic people hate functioning labels. Functioning isn’t something you can see on the outside. Someone who is nonverbal can be functioning excellently and have great accommodations for their motor challenges. Whereas I may be at work in my fairly high level accounting job and have not asked for any accommodations, at a workplace event and trying really hard to figure out when I can escape the noise and my inability in that moment to distinguish between all the voices at once. I might then need to go home and sit on the couch staring at the wall for 2.5 hours before I can manage to deal with getting food. In that situation (actual situation from yesterday), I am not functioning - I’m just recovering and thinking about what I could do differently the next time and now I need to go change a battery in the smoke alarm so I don’t lose my mind today. Why do they make this so loud!
@@stuckinthelazycorneragain4016 America is messed up, but ABA is being successfully exported all over the world, including Europe. Often it's rebranded as something else like Positive Behaviour Support
this is going to be the video i cite when people ask why i left my school’s autism behavioral studies program. the entire curriculum for the autism studies at my school was based around ABA. it was disgusting the things i was being taught was the “right” way to deal with autistic individuals. thank you for this, you said everything i have been thinking.
You want to cite a misinformed, youtube girl whom nobody has ever heard of? Try reading a scientific article. Leaf et al. 2021. It's weird how one video on RUclips can impact your life choice....
@@IcanSeeMyselfOutThanks It's not weird for someone to listen to the community they want to help. You're the weird one ignoring the community you claim you want to help, you obviously don't want to help and are just in it for the money.
I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (which falls on the Autism Spectrum) at age 7, and around that time, my mom considered ABA therapy for me. But when she was talking to another lady whose kid was undergoing ABA, something about it didn’t sit quite well with her. My mom said that feeling was something along the lines of suspicion that ABA doesn’t work, and honestly, Paige, what you covered in this video was probably the underlying reason why my mom felt this way. I’m eternally grateful that my mom decided not to try ABA with me because if she did, my life would’ve been so much different, and not in a good way.
I’m autistic myself and absolutely disgusted by the cruelty of this “conversion therapy”, why change something that’s not broken? Really glad you spoke out against it Paige we need more people like you ❤
@@RichardChappell1 I really hope you weren't responding to Dylan. If you were, I have a question for you. Why do you think people who can't live independently are lesser than you to such an extent that you're okay with their torture?
I’m not autistic, but I have recently started watching you to learn about autism in women because I saw your tik tok about it and it interested me. And oh my god I had no idea this was a thing. Torture to “treat” autism??? I am so sorry you are part of a community that has to go through this :(
Life has been ABA for me. Being paddled in school, belt whipping at home. In mid-life I am having to learn to listen to what my body needs and the true meaning of self care.
It takes a lot of time to unlearn this stuff. Whether from official therapy or not. It's good that you're learning now and it is never too late. I hope things keep looking up for you.
@@kyladyer2855 so if you misbehave by someone else's standards they should be able to cause you physical pain? I'm not using the word torture lightly. You may not believe this. But forcing eye contact, grabbing us when we are unaware, hugs, and loud noises can cause us physical pain, like a slap in the face. So I guess you must avocate for hitting neurotypical kids, right?
I am autistic myself, and I don't even dare mentioning my Autism, not even to psychiatrists and therapists. Not even doctors. Because all my issues that aren't visible immediately get pinned onto my Autism. And that's really damn sad. Because psychiatrists and therapists are supposed to be judgement free people. And doctors are actually supposed to help me. But if my headaches that I had ever since I was a kid get pinned onto my Autism, that's not helpful, that's harmful. I don't even dare mentioning my Autism. When I find the time, I'll get an appointment at a neurologist's office, to get my headaches checked out. And what I will do is I will say that I have Autism, but I will explicedly say: "Please don't pin my headaches on my Autism, at least not without examining me first. I say this, because it happened to me before, and I have a fear of mentioning my actual problems because they all get pinned on my Autism."
It's strange because I've mostly had the opposite problem. My autism gets ignored in favor of my other diagnoses because I'm so high-masking and 'don't look autistic.' I've had to advocate for my autism to be made a point of consideration with my general health and therapy because otherwise, it'll be ignored completely.
I know you said you weren’t going to read any comments any way, but just in case: Thank you for making this, even though it must have been so hard. This needs to stop (by this I don’t mean the video I mean aba and that terrible stuff). I wish people could learn what autistic people ACTUALLY want/need. For example the ability to use fidget toys or take a break and be alone for a few minutes. Not trying to get us to be able to act neurotypical. That is NOT what we need. #STOPTHESHOCK (like NOW, RIGHT NOW)
I have Schizophrenia. They did the same thing to me.I was shocked By the doctors, they did it so much that I went in to Seizure. Had to go to the hospital. I was abused dined food and bathroom. This place was a mental health I was held for 8 days. This place was closed now. It was about 20 years ago
I was one that was against ABA many years ago and discussed this with those that was for it. Having earned my PhD in both clinical and neuropsychology, I saw through what they tended to promote. I support you on this.
There has always been a very cruel element in psychiatry, psychology etc... I think some people go into it to help others, but some do it for money and power. Unfortunately the latter group have been a major force in the worst aspects of this year's restrictions.
thank you so much for sharing this. I recently got offered a job at an autism clinic and found out they used ABA. I did my research and quit after the first day. a few red flags i noticed on my first day. 1. The trainer said after a few years some of the children “lose” their Autism diagnosis. This does not make sense because autism is not curable - the children just learned how to mask. 2. she said the children “act out” for attention so they ignore them. Behavior is communication and should not be ignored - this is so harmful. 3. They kept talking about how the “new ABA” is no longer abusive - but they use almost the same techniques and do not address the needs that caused the meltdown. it was sad and i couldn’t bear to spend another day in that clinic. i don’t understand how a someone who claims to want to “help” autistic people does not listen to Autistic people who have talked about how harmful this form of therapy is.
A melt down is not need for attention. That implies a form of manipulation. There is no manipulation in meltdowns. In fact attention just makes a melt down worse I find.
"gender therapy" "gay brainwashing therapy" "autistic torture therapy" they always call it therapy so they can slip through the cracks. Because society enjoys hurting people to try to make them "normal" because none of us deserve to have what we need in life to live comfortably. That would just be too much work for them.
24:43 the whole part about not saying "no" and being obedient pleasers sounds too much like what I went through as a child. I may not be autistic but I know what abuse is when I hear it. I know abuse from personal experience. No child should have to fake it and be an obedient people pleaser. I spent years only saying what I knew would not get me yelled at and never speaking otherwise. I lied so much as a child and withheld so much of what I wanted to say. Because if I wasn't a people pleaser I wouldn't be able to escape harm.
FWIW, my sister was given ABA, and before was unable to say no. Now she not only can say it LOUD and often makes her demands known, but also is just... happy. Like, the least depressed/anxious gen Z/millennial I've met. It's unfortunately the case that many don't do it to help someone self advocate and be independent, but be "normal" (ie boring lol-- I'm ND myself). The difference is really between doing it to help the individual (and something I myself would be open to for my ADHD to help me actually live my life and achieve my dreams instead of just existing in a flux between stress, panic, and pessimistic depression) and doing it to "normalize" someone. Is it for their wellbeing, or everyone else's? I actually think ADHD's name itself kinda indicates how non-person-centered we are for non neurotypicals and how internal processes, which literally are the reason for the disability, are overlooked-- insanity imo. And with autism it's even worse, and I personally think neurotypicals often really want to not only fit in (can relate tbh) but make everyone else fit in too... and it's not only bizarre but leads to consequences. It's a more complicated subject than you'd think. I definitely don't think that these horror stories should be overlooked, but looked at as to how we can improve-- and in many cases, that's looking at what the client needs, not what everyone else wants, which is why I think ABA is another tool that, like power tools, can inflict horrific damage, but can also be incredibly helpful *used correctly* (ie with the person's own needs and desires in mind).
My wife and I regret putting our older child through ABA. At the time we were assured this was a great program that would really help him, but he grew to hate it and eventually we pulled him from the program. I have no doubt that a lot of his anxiety and depression and school problems originated with or were exacerbated by ABA therapy. We've learned a lot about autism since then and the problems with ABA, and when our second child was also diagnosed, we knew we would not be doing ABA at all with him. For parents, it's really important to have the mindset of accommodation rather than "fixing". That is easier said than done because society doesn't want to understand and accept autistic children as they are.
That’s how the ABA industry had flourished. Stigmatize Autistic people and then convince gullible and desperate parents that you’re the only one who can normalize their children. In our current society, where critical thinking is no longer effectively taught and ableism runs rampant, this business model has been wildly successful.
I was not diagnosed with autism until the end of last year. This makes me grateful I missed out on ABA. I could not imagine being forced to wear shirts with tags or listen to loud music. I'm very sensitive, I would have gone crazy! Sensory issues are not fun.
I don’t think I would have ever wanted that had I been diagnosed with it since I was younger because with that it would have never changed how I react to balloons or fireworks up close witch I have kinda fixed the fireworks overwhelmingness I had from them by a distance but the way I behave around balloons can’t change by setting off louder noises than balloons popping it will just make me volnerable and would probably not really talk to anyone again after that.
@@Jocelyn_Games_And_More7216 Fireworks caused me to have a meltdown when I was little and I have gotten use to them however I still need earplugs. But, like you, I still startle at the sound of a balloon popping.
@@ColorfulBallerina Yeah those have been my sensory overloads since I was younger I’m 19 and I really need to get better with being used to the sound of those things happening but it’s just really hard maybe if I use my beats headphones that are noise canceling then maybe that can help me so that I’m not overloaded on this things like have been when I was younger a positive is that I have been kinda better with acknowledging when people seek my attention for something or about something they either want me to do or when it comes to deciding what to eat at a restaurant it’s still hard for me to decide on things but speaking and things like that wether I’m in public or not has gotten way better from what it was before but it’s still a little bit of a work in progress I also don’t know when to stop talking and when I have something to say but someone talks I interrupt as a result of me trying to get out what I have to say because I have not so good patience skills but I have to try to learn it’s not ok to do that even if I am not patient so that is also something I have to work around my uncle was rude to me that one time though saying how I have to get over being shook about balloons popping even if they don’t but I know he’ll understand how it’s one of my sensory overloads one of my parents have told him multiple times about things like how I can’t take a joke but not about the sensory overload of mine which I will try working on getting used to balloons and not overthink about any popping and then freaking out at the moment it happens
I’m crying. I went to ABA therapy for two straight years. Straight after school. The only reason I ever survived was because I loved the people there. I adored the therapists, and always will. But the way that I was treated was terrible. I fed into it for two straight years and all the years after until now. I knew. I knew it was wrong and I was never given an answer. Thank you. I cannot express my gratitude through these types words. Thank you!
(yes, I'm repeating myself as I do in these comment sections, but.) So I was diagnosed very early, as a toddler (well, technically it was "some form of PDD-NOS, BUT NOT AUTISM" because I was a girl and quite vocal and this was back in the days of the DSM-IV; then Asperger's at age 5, but now I simply go by autistic). My then-therapist way back then specifically told my parents that ABA therapy was not for me (I don't live in the US, so I believe it's not as widespread over here). Instead, I saw a speech therapist (I was vocal, yes, but I had communication delay) and a psychomotor therapist for several years, and was very much allowed to have hobbies and to generally be myself, unless it was harmful to myself and others. (of course, I still got a lot of teasing from my peers when I was younger, but my parents have been very good with how they raised me since the beginning) Now, as I start hearing about the horrible things other autistic people go through in terms of ABA, I feel like I'm going to get crushed under the weight of the gratefulness I feel towards never having to experience this, just. Oh my god. Thank you for this video, I'm sending it to my mother, she's always looking forward to learning new things about autism. #StopTheShock
I am so glad you are posting about this. I have been hoping you would. It has been recommended that I get my daughter in ABA therapy since 2017 and I haven't due to cost and because I don't know much about it. Thank you. I believe you are right and have helped me decide against it.
@Ashlee Slack: Im a 35 yr old clinical diagnosed autistic adult requiring very substantial supports (Low functioning) in the USA, I went through a form of ABA or Applied Behavioral Abuse when I was a kid in 2000-2002. I suffer to this day from the abuse from it. I will add to this like I did to my post in this video, IT WILL CAUSE FURTHER HEALTH ISSUES both mental and physical. Being locked up in a tiny room for 10 hrs without food water bathroom etc, being harmfully punished for asking for anything needed, causing severe physical health issues from holding stools as we were not allowed a toilet or an accident in our pants, restrained, hit, contorted by joints in shoulders, legs, even folded up to the point of not breathing. Nothing was ever right in what I did and always a harsh punishment to follow anything. Now you have first hand experience from someone who went through this. When I went through it, The behavior school called the cops to taze or shock us. I had body bruises and my mom just looked around them. She also was told to do the same things which she and my uncle did. Most importantly, money aside ask yourself if you would go through this kind of "therapy". Could you tolerate 2 minutes of it. I endured 2 years of it. Im 35, the meds used and physical harm done has caused severe health issues, including GI and incontinence, blood pressure, collaping veins, heart issues, vascular disorders, PTSD from abuse, I now look at everyone as harmful, more irritation, more irregular behavior, issues with society, people, and I have no one in my life but a counselor and my mom as the rest of the family has disowned me for no reasons other that I have autism. My mom didnt know the horrors I endured until this year, she has since been more supportive but to what purpose now. Im not welcome anywhere, not allowed to work because "im a problem" yet they tell me im one of the hardest workers theyve seen and did a great job, but back to society and the stereotypes, Neurotypical thinking, and abuse. This was and is my experience with ABA.
@@hotdogsruleable Autism does not need a saviour, thats what they make people believe. Autistic people are human beings, its not an illness, it doesnt need a cure for being human but having a different brain. Exposing people to this is terrible. Better to prevent sufferment and "not be fixed" rather than being traumatized mentally and physically that any human being wouldnt handle easily, then much less autistic people. Not even animals should be havimg such treatment. Dont know which exact treatment did you get, but thats not good for many people. Read the story of the guy above you.
My god this is awful. The shocking I expected (from the title of the video) but sensory deprivation & isolation will RUIN autistic people. Being under stimulated is physically and mentally painful, it will lead to huge huge depression issues. The Isolation aswell make me feel sick I’m ND (adhd assumed autism) & at school I was undiagnosed. Punished by isolation. I lost my mind. I began to talk to myself. I began to reevaluate my life. I began to hit anything I could for some stimulation. Often hurting myself. Why are we being punished for the way our brains work. This is disgusting and thank you for speaking up about this. Thank you for having actual autistic/ND voices heard over the parents. Because as much as my parents help they will NEVER understand the feeling, the pain, the senses, the anxiety, the social interactions, the bullying, the public looks, the feeling of a meltdown approaching. Thank you.
As a current ABA therapist I wanna thank you for the education. I didn’t know any of this, and appreciate the point of view and facts. All ABA therapists need this education and point of view
This is horrifying. It's almost enforced masking, except the mask is being forced onto a person who doesn't want it by people who aren't interested in that person's opinion. I thought we were past this sort of cruelty. At least, that was what I'd hoped. This is a recipe for PTSD like no other.
Welp. I’m screwed. Can’t wait to see how this affects me in adulthood! -the autistic that was tortured for two straight years of this stuff until they decided I was “good enough” at masking the pain
I am a therapist who also has Autism and have been educating all the therapists I work with to steer clear from ABA because we are NOT broken! ABA was developed by the same person who developed conversion therapy, also ABA only forces masking, which causes so many additional issues for Autistic people that are ALL worse than the “behaviors” ABA seeks to stop!
@user-cw3wm9lx7w Ivar Lovaas, the con artist who developed and popularized ABA, co-invented gay conversion therapy. Both use the same systems of rewards and punishments to try to get their victims to mask and comply. ABA practitioners, however, have convinced themselves Lovaas was the most wonderful, empathetic person that ever walked the earth and turn into snarling animals if someone dare suggests otherwise. Lovaas is the L. Ron Hubbard of the ABA world.
As a pediatric occupational therapist, I was so happy to hear your shout out ❤ I am frequently explaining my horror of ABA therapy to my colleagues and not everybody knows or understands. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak out against this abusive practice.
Your obvious horror and passion about this subject as well as my own horror at imagining this being done to a child had me crying this whole video. This is something we will look back on as a society with deep shame in the (hopefully near) future.
Dearest Paige, AMEN & GOD BLESS YOU! I am the mom of a beautiful and amazing child who's neurodivergent, and I cannot thank you enough for your brave and candid video(s). I had grave misgivings about ABA, was getting pressure to "just try it", and am striving to protect my child from being forced into reflexive masking, feelings of shame or supposedly being less-than, and burnout from masking - especially later in life...Videos from outspoken neurodivergent folks are so needed and valued by those of us out here who love and cherish the neurodivergent people in our lives (particularly our beloved and beautiful children) - keep up the excellent work! GODSPEED
I really appreciate what you are doing. While my autistic brother never went through ABA, he did have to go through us being told untrue information about himself. I feel disgusted by myself for talking to him like he was a child just because he could not communicate well. I feel horrible that my family put lesser expectations on him just because he was autistic. While he does have a different way of going about things he is just as smart and capable of a person. He excels at certain things just like everyone else in the family. I know content like this is hard for you to make but I appreciate it since it gives a voice to those who can not speak in a way that will be listened to. Thank you.
This is so sad. I am so glad I followed my gut and said no to ABA for my son. The place we went for a diagnosis tried to get us to set up 40 hour ABA right after his diagnosis. But his behaviour was not even that bad .. the impression that I got from aba is that they are trying to "fix" my son's behavior because it makes others uncomfortable. I don't get it, like for example him stimming has no effect on anyone else what should it matter.... Again thank you for this video I am just trying to understand my son better and again I am so glad I followed my gut even though people shamed me for not putting him in ABA if issues arise it is great to know that occupational therapy can be a great option. Thanks for putting this out here to educate us all.
Are there autistic schools out there for just autistic children---without ABA? Where are they? Are they accredited? I don't mean private schools where a religious board determines how children should be treated, but based upon an actually proven scientific approach.
@@see4182 Why? My kiddo is in public school right now and doing just fine. The only extra help he is getting is with speech therapy and some fine motor skills as well as an extra teacher that helps with other kiddos as well. He is thriving. Unless you're curious cuz you are looking into a school for your kiddo? If you are curious about a school because you have a kiddo that you're thinking of enrolling, honestly, just go to your public school system, meet all of the teachers you can set up an IEP (individualized education program. At least that's what it's called here in the US). I double checked and made sure no ABA therapies would be used at all in my kids IEP. You can go from there. If they hate it re-assess and look at other options. Luckily my kiddo who started out in P4J for just 3 hours a day loved it. If he ever had a bad day where I could tell he wasn't going to do well. I would contact the teacher and let her know though it rarely happened. Most public schools are also really good about letting kiddos have sensory toys such as little bracelets rings or chew necklaces, which can help regulate them.
ABA Therapy goes beyond that, it's one of the most useful therapies we have. The problem is psychologist don't do ABA to help the children, they use it to make children "less of a problem". So instead of finding a creative functional behavior to reinforce instead of problematic behaviors, they'll abuse the child by punishing behaviors that don't do anything wrong (like flapping their hands... like, why in the hell that needs "help" to be reduced?)
I know that, as you said, you won't read this, but I'm in awe of your way of speach and body/face language. Never in my life I had seen someone who talks so close to the way I talk. The awkward pauses between each word, looking out to the distance and quickly changing directions, the monotone tone that sounds as if you're very angry (I mean in here you probably was, but I keep getting comments about sounding angry in normal situations). It's so uncanny really, to see my own pattern of speach in a mirror like that. I must say, just like people often tell me, it IS difficult to focus at listening first, but I'm pretty sure it becomes more and more natural as you listen to it more. Also you made me think of how funny it would be if this awkwardness was the default way of communication in society, like if everyone was autistic. I imagined tv news being presented this way, what a fun world would that be. Sorry for calling you awkward, but talking the same way myself, I don't know how else to call it without it sounding demeaning.
Also just because ABA has options that aren’t literally torture does not mean they are good it should be banned because no matter which rout you utilize you’re supporting the actual torture that is happening this needs to be better for autistic people they are PEOPLE
I’m so glad I watched this video and did further research My son was supposed to start ABA therapy - it was created by the same person who created gay conversion therapy . This is autism conversion therapy!!! I don’t think my sons autism is wrong or needs to be “fixed” I just want my son to have less anxiety and be happy. Thank you for this information I’m grateful I found out before he actually had to go through this
It is not accurate to say that B.F. Skinner created gay conversion therapy. While Skinner's work on behaviorism has been used in some forms of conversion therapy, he himself did not advocate for or engage in conversion therapy. Skinner's work focused on understanding and modifying behavior in a variety of contexts and populations, and it was based on the principles of operant and classical conditioning. His work on ABA has been used to help individuals with autism and other developmental disorders, but it is not accurate to say that it was created to be used as a gay conversion therapy.
I am hoping this video, or at the very least clips of it, hit people's suggested content who may not actively seek out education about autism. Thank you for educating us. Thank you for constantly striving to make us neurotypical folk realize the detrimental ablist society we live in. And most of all, thank you for providing helpful tips and solutions!!!! You are an angel on this earth. P.S. I am a super chill neurotypical who LOVES a good stimmy so whoever is taking those away can BITE ME.
I had no idea this was going on! THANK YOU for warning me! My son has not gone to any therapies yet. I will be careful to never allow my child to have therapy outside of my eyesight.
Shock therapy i have never seen it. I work in an Autistic school and never seen such thing. ABA therapy with family involved can be beneficial. Not all Autistic children are verbal, are capable of performing their ADLs and are low functioning. It’s great to advocate, and every child deserves love and safety. I work with an autistic child as a private nurse due to other medical conditions the child has. I can tell you that I have been bitten, kicked and pushed on a daily basis not by my patient but from other kids in her class. All I Can say is that people need to understand and put themselves in the shoes of every teacher, paraprofessional or assistant. Their job is one of the hardest jobs, and they are under the scrutiny everyday for any little thing !!!! Every parent wants their child safe, but when your child is a threat to other children regardless of the reason they have to keep both of them safe.
When my son was three years old we went to diagnosis and the one of the first things they asked me was "what do you want to change about his behavior"... I didn't even know about aba, but I never went there again. I just didn't feel right. he didn't get diagnosed until recently, we had to because he has a lot of sensory problems at school, and I was so scared because of this shit. Had I known there are genuine, sincere doctors out there who really care about the patients, I would have gone earlier.
@@mily87ful Maybe actually listen to the entire Autistic community, speaking out against how harmful ABA is, instead of trying to excuse ABA therapy because you're making a living off of it. And even if you yourself might be a decent therapist, 1 person doesn't make enough of a difference to the millions of kids being harmed by this. There's MANY comments in this comment section of people who have had kids who went to ABA, have gone to ABA themselves, or have been ABA therapists, and all of them know how bad it is. Paige has also made a more recent video react to ABA therapy clips and explaining whats harmful about them, so I'd suggest watching that and getting more educated on why its so harmful. She also explains in there very clearly that being verbal isn't such a necessity in the first place, and most autistic kids DO know what they need or understand whats needed, their body just doesnt know how to respond. An ABA therapist physically GRABBING a child and pushing their hands down to their lap, not allowing a kid to stim, forcing kids to do things they don't want over and over again until they comply is NOT therapy. It's called compliance training and is the exact same way you treat a dog in training. Plus forcing young kids to spend 40 HOURS a week doing this, having all their bodily autonomy taken away, whilst alaso atteding school is insane and its borderline abuse. I'm also quite baffled by you making your comment about yourself and other ''care takers'', instead of trying to educate yourself on WHY the majority of the ASD community is so against ABA in more recent years. The audacity to say "All I Can say is that people need to understand and put themselves in the shoes of every teacher, paraprofessional or assistant.", and acting like caretakers are the ''victims'' because people don't put themselves in your shoes. Yet ABA teaches kids to comply to whatever the therapist says, not stim, not cry, literally be grabbed and forced to put your hands down, and trained like a compliant little helper is fine? Why don't you try to put yourself in their shoes for once. Why do you think it makes more sense to get rid of a childs bodily autonomy, own idetity, force them to comply to disgusting rules, all whilst doing it for 40 hours a week which is what ABA recommends, and that not listen to ASD people speaking out. Why is THAT okay, but you are a victim for people not seeing your side, when you refuse to see people who are screaming in your face that ABA is harmful and to step in THEIR shoes and stop treating them like dogs? "Every parent wants their child safe, but when your child is a threat to other children regardless of the reason", this is also very much coming across as blatantly ableist. You said YOURSELF that the kid you take care off has never bitten or hit you or harmed you in anyway. The child is just non verbal and has ADL issues, so how does that in ANYWAY put other kids in ''threat''? And even if their is an autistic kid who hits people, do you really think forcing that child to physically put their hands down, and give them ''compliance training'' is the ''cure''? Instead of idk, trying to nicely explain to them that you are hurt, WITHOUT TOUCHING THEM, and make them understad it, and also maybe figure out WHY they are doing this? Do you seriously think autistic kids are just happy little monsters who want to go and beat up or bite others with NO reason at all, cause if thats the case then you clearly lack education on ASD and its just sad. The self victimization combined with the ableism is just sad. I really hope you see the light, and check out Paige's other ABA video. If you can watch that video and STILL excuse this horrible ''therapy'', then that's on you.
@@mily87ful Using the term low functioning is a big red flag mate. I used to be a 'low functioning' autisic kid but it turns out we just neglect our own health in return for 'looking normal' All I can say is you should probably think about how the autistic person's affected instead of this fear mongering bollocks of calling autistic people threats, which is a kinda no-duh statement in the context of ABA therapy. If you're going to put children in purposely stressful situations and force them to suppress symptoms of PTSD and stress, THEYRE GOING TO ACT OUT. Children aren't yours to control, they're their own people, and sometimes they're going to be dicks. Like hell, neurotypical children would bite, scratch and kick if you subjected them to the same thing you subject autistic kids to.
I have autism and I wish I was diagnosed earlier, so I could get ABA as a child. I know that some therapists are abusive, but that’s far from all of them. ABA would’ve been great for me.
@@the_5th_night I'm an ABA therapist, and my clients are all so happy to come to the clinic all the time. Some of them don't even want to go home. I have a client who tells her parents I'm her best friend. People don't like hearing this but ABA is NOT what it once was. Yes, many providers are still terrible, but my generation (I'm 23) truly care about what the autistic community is saying, and we are adjusting a LOT based on the feedback and criticism.
@@the_5th_night You don't know much about the core of ABA then, anyone who thinks about us as humans seriously sees no value in behaviourist approaches. One of the core beliefs of ABA is that humans don't have a core, there's nothing but surface equating us to everything else as if humans are objects and not subjects. Anyone who has done actual psychology instead of ABA education know that ABA principles make people more selfish. Psychologists claim it's more important how a person is motivated than how much a person is motivated. Is the person intrinsically or extrinsically motivated is what matters more, ABA doesn't believe in intrinsic motivation. Punishment, Extinction, Negative Reinforcement, and Positive Reinforcement have no good lasting effects and the seen changes all come at a cost. If you reward or praise a child for being generous or caring they become more greedy and selfish. They were being generous and caring intrinsically, and extrinsic motivators (including praise) destroy that intrinsic motivation to be generous and caring. Keep rewarding and praising them and you keep making them more and more selfish that they will only be generous and caring if you're going to reward them for it.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! My son is autistic, and I am grateful for autistics like you who have educated me about ABA, and because of you and others sharing about your experiences, thoughts, perspectives, and the life you live every single day, I will NEVER put my son in ABA therapy, and I am an ally and will share what I know with other neurotypical moms! Thank you.
I had absolutely no idea something like ABA even existed. How disgusting. Listening to this and hearing about the injustice caused so much sadness in me. Thank you for sharing this information. I will look into things I can do here in the States to help irradicate this absurd form of "therapy."
I know it’s been a while since you posted, and you’re not looking at the comments, but I wanted to thank you for this video. I applied to be an ABA behavioral technician in the US thinking I was about to help families and autistic children. I hope you know how appreciative I am to come across this video so I could avoid that path, and I hope to continue expanding my knowledge learning from you to understand how to genuinely help others.
Thank you Paige, I have an autistic pre-teen and I really think she can benefit from associating with you and your content. Thank you so much. I love my daughter so much and I would NEVER want to subject her to these terrible things. THANK YOU SO MUCH....
Thank you for speaking up for so many of us, especially us who don't speak 😌 I love that you masked less for this video. Please keep taking up space 💖 We need you kid. I hope you're happy and healthy.
I had no idea that people use electroshock I actually had to stop the video to process this. I am appalled this is one hundred percent abuse no question. LISTEN TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE! I admire your bravery and how hard this must have been to even talk about. Thank you for sharing. Please 🙏 everyone who wants to advocate more for Autistic people please share this video!
As an autistic person who didn’t get diagnosed until I was 18, I just learned a BUNCH. Thank you for educating me on myself and the horrors that others like me have had to suffer. As an educator, I’m excited to learn MORE so I can help protect my students
hi paige, thank you so much for making this video. i’m in the process of writing a letter to my parents explaining autism and why i would like to seek a diagnosis. i’ve tried to include as much reputable information on autism as i can since there is a lot harmful misinformation out there and they are not very educated on the topic. i’ll definitely link this as an extra resource they can check out (i’m trying to make sure the majority of the information i get is from actual autistic people). anyway, thank you for all of your videos, they’ve helped me a lot on my process of self diagnosis. sending love💕
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“A lot of doctors can’t tell the difference between autism and PTSD because therapists have not seen an autistic person that does not have trauma.”
This broke my heart. As an autistic man studying psychology, I 100% agree with you that therapy should be based on root causes and working on the person (ailments and all) rather than external behavior, and the damaging effects of trying to make autistic people “more normal” is terrible. For years I have been ashamed of being autistic, actively avoiding other autistic people and trying to conform and come off as “normal” as possible to the point where only a few years ago I realized how little sense of identity I had. It’s hard to know who you are if you’ve been taught to suppress that in order to please everyone else. Anyway, sorry for all of this rambling and thank you so much for making this video and for telling me about the Keep All Students Safe Act.
it makes me feel so happy to read this, it actually changes me, thank you
they are not always a dichotomy. I am an autistic person that also has ADHD, that was also abused as a child, so I also have PTSD.
thank you for this. and that's why having neurodiverse safe place to talk between neurodiverse people have made such a difference for me.
This breaks my heart honestly.
My fiance is on the spectrum. So is my son (from previous marriage)
That man? Is the best man I have ever met. That man loves me I love him. That man works hard every day for us, he has actually spent so much time in therapy for his autism. At the start of our relationship he told me he had it, he was so terrified to tell me. (We were online dating to begin with)
I myself was abused by someone with autism. I myself have ptsd from it. When he did tell me, i won't lie I had a flashback. But I told myself he was a different person than my abuser.
He would apologize for everything! Any little quirk or habit he had he would say sorry for. But I find his quirks cute, its part of who he is.
Sometimes when stimulated he has to mess with and organize his playing cards. (Magic the gathering)
He will sit and organize them, I will talk with him. I know full well he is listening to me, and I also know it helps him.
Other people see it as rude, but he is listening to me. He knows what I'm saying and can respond.
At first, that particular habit he would feel bad for. He would apologize, he would ask if he could even mess with them, I told him I wanted him to be him. Not anyone else, because I wanted to fall in love with HIM and not a version of him.
That man is a wonderful father to my son. He is a wonderful human being who may not understand social stuff. Stuff may fly over his head at times but it flies over my head too. I'm happy im with him, I feel so blessed if anything.
Forcing those on the spectrum to "be normal" and even using terms like "high functioning" is so damaging. Honestly.
What is normal anyway? Sorry for rant. I hope you have a great day!
@@shinko6342 We need more rants like this,... don't apologize. It is Very encouraging to hear from someone so understanding and accepting.
When I was little, my dad would yell at me for being angry, crying and acting out. Eventually I learned to hide my emotions so well, I couldn't even recognize how I feel anymore.
I am now an adult with severe BPD and tremendous emotional pain I feel everyday.
If you show a child you do not want to see their pain, they will learn how to hide it. It will never teach them how to deal with the pain.
My father and step mother were very emotionally and physically abusive anyway, but I would get yelled at and hit harder because I was "too sensitive" and would cry uncontrollably when they were angry with me. I have ptsd from my years of living with them.
I am so sorry you went through that!
I worked in ABA for three years. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was listening to non autistic people and believing I was “helping”. Then I got pregnant and started thinking “what if this were my child? I want them to have a voice that is heard and respected even if it their voice is ‘different’.” Then I started finding autistic voices to listen to. All of your arguments against ABA are valid and accurate against what is happening. The clinic I worked in yelled all of the disclaimers you listed. I deeply regret my time in ABA. It is not your job to educate us but I’m so grateful that you are. Your voice and message are important. Thank you.
This comment needs 1,000 likes! THANK YOU for listening to autistics and not continuing to be a part of it.
@@natesportyboy4939 I’m currently spending my time at home with my own kiddo but I have been doing a lot of research looking into Floortime and am very intrigued by it. I’ve also been trying to find ways to speak out against ABA and encouraging parents that I built relationships with while working in ABA to look into it as well. In addition to, what I now recognize as, seeing the light go out in kiddos due to ABA, another heart breaking thing to see was parents being told they were wrong about their child’s needs and that ABA was right/trust the process.
@@noelley120 I’m just glad to be on the right side now and trying to make amends for my part in ABA due to ableist ignorance.
@@kristenmurphy3996 that is heartbreaking :(
This is me. I've been an RBT for two years and have recently realized how terrible ABA is. I also found out recently that the company I work for supports AS and since then I've been desperately searching for a new job so I can get out of this terrible field. I was just like you, told my neurotypicals that I was doing something wonderful and changing lives for the better. They were wrong. What I do is wrong, and I want out.
Listening to this makes me wonder if it's not for the best that I didn't learn I was autistic until adulthood, because when I told my parents about it, the very first thing my mother said to me was "is this something that can be cured?" So, If I had found out earlier in life, I absolutely would have been subjected to ABA. Sucks that I had to go through my entire life until now being rejected by society and not knowing why, but if this would have been the alternative, I guess I'll take it.
Also, sending virtual hugs. It was clearly very hard for you to make this video, and I appreciate that you did.
I guarantee you not all facilities implement these techniques. This is insane and the facility I worked at pushed for literally the complete opposite of this. We've been completely opposed to any restraint even without straps unless absolutely necessary. We've never ever used electroshock therapy. Although some parents have promoted and used neurofeedback therapy which is harmless really. We've never encouraged any type of neurotherapy ourselves. And any other facility in our area has never used that same therapy either. So idk if it's recent but this company I work at has never done these things and they were around for over 13 years now. So. I don't think she's lying because the legislation shows that to be the case. But we've always fed the child unless it's a snack such that the kids aren't obviously starving. This is wild to me... Sorry if this isn't affirming your thoughts but it's just not true in many facilities. What she went through was a terrible facility and a terrible thing and I feel very sorry for her so.
The fact you do not use clearly abusive methods does not mean you are not systematically abusing children.
ABA is fundamentally opposed to the child's interest. It is not treatment, it is repression.
This is like saying you do conversion therapy, but at least you are nice about it.
@@_Mercival_ No just because something is uncomfortable and doesn't align with your own childlike interests means nothing. Doesn't mean at all that it's anything similar to oppression or anything else. Its necessary in some cases to do things that are stressful. That's necessary for all people if they wish to succeed in life. If this is the case many would rather ease that lifetime of torture by undergoing such therapy now. They only make kids do what is necessary where they can not control other kids or people. You can't go to a concert and expect the people there to lower the volume by half. Like, this is ridiculous. What you're asking for is for the world to change for those with mental complications. But that's not reasonable. They're going to go their entire lives dealing with some things and in such case they should be able to be okay in the real world when that happens and NOT throw a tantrum. In such cases there's no other way to get a child interested in the things they hate and require such therapeutic practices.
@@juaecheverria0So you admit that ABA is all about masking and conforming neurotypical norms. That is exactly the problem that people have. The world should accommodate people with neurodivergencies to the best of its ability (I don't know where you got the term "mental complications" from, which I've never heard in my life), the same as it does for people with physical disabilities. By your logic, it's also not reasonable to ask businesses and other public places to be wheelchair accessible and provide handicapped parking. Yet it's required by law in the US under the ADA. Your concert example is also terrible because a neurodivergent person who knows they're sensitive to noise would just not go. No one will or will ever ask a concert's volume to be lowered just for them. Don't attack straw men. Combining that with calling neurodivergent interests "childlike", you clearly look down on and see neurodivergent people as inferior even if you're not consciously aware of it. Check your ableism.
@@jixer1956 No I don't. Because maladaptive behaviors are behaviors that are unsafe. We actually don't care about more social behaviors. It's not about that. It's about not behaving in ways that can be dangerous for the child. Not including simply "acting normal". You're just assuming at this point. You don't know anything of what you're talking about. You're just another one of those insane liberals.
I feel immense pride when I hear an autistic person exercise their right to say no. Too often we’re are made to feel like that’s not an option.
Facts. I'm autistic and I work professionally with other autistic people. It took me a few weeks to recognize that pushing them into uncomfortable situations only made us both feel awkward and was not good at all for learning so I told both of them right away that they could always say no if I suggested something they really don't like and that I wouldn't be upset at all. Not to mention that ALL patients have a right to refuse treatment and it's incredibly infuriating to me that healthcare professionals deny that human right to disabled people. The only thing that can actually help people is giving them tools to make their lives better, and people have the right to say no if their healthcare provider tries to give you a tool that doesn't work.
Haha.. so true. I work with speech pathologist and constantly ask where is the 'i dont want to" icon.
I would like to add "you suck" but I guess that is not appropriate. But hahahahhaha.....is whisper to my kids in their ears and they know I know. I WANT TO SCREAM ABOUT NOT APPROPIATE. Is someone getting money from tRhat>
So true! Even as an undiagnosed autistic person, i was taught to put others feelings above my own needs at all costs.
She need to talk to mr Craig bro
I know you said you wouldn’t read the comments (and I really hope you are taking care of yourself in whatever manner works for you) so this is more for other people, but I can tell as a non-autistic ND person this is a subject that is really difficult for you to discuss when faced with the possibility of people being not very nice online. Thank you for talking about it, and I’m sorry that there are people who may not be very kind back to you.
I really love this comment and stand behind it. I feel like liking this simply wasn’t enough, I had to make my agreement known by commenting.
I’m autistic, you guys are very considerate, thanks for being nice people
I totally I agree thank you Paige my nephew is 2 and he is autistic & nonverbal and just started ABA, this information is very helpful. I don’t know now if I should tell my brother this or not because he is always one to do his research but hearing you speak really worry’s me for my nephew. Love you hoping Paige is taking care of herself as well 🤍
Seek help.
@@amandadavis5687 Please do! At least send him this videos and recommend him to look up what autistic people themselves have to say on it. They know what's best because they have the experience of it.
Psychology honours student here. We're taught our client is the expert of themselves. Any psychologist who tries to force unethical practice on you or follow paths you don't want to follow, they should not have a license. Period.
I believe that ABA practitioners do not need to hold registration as a psychologist, they may not have the same knowledge on health conditions or be subject to the same ethical restraints on their licence
@@lunar686 that's why people without a psychology degree can't do therapy in my country. Although nurses are trying to get rid of this law because they want to be able to do therapy without actually studying and working the amount of time needed to get into the psychological association ( which is required by law too) and get licensed.
@@carpediem4091 we have both a masters or internship pathway (approximately two years in length) following a psychology degree to be registered as a psychologist here. I think you need at least this level of knowledge to be able to determine how ethical or effective any treatment is. After all, anyone receiving any form of therapy is in a position of vulnerability so we need to do everything we can in our profession to protect them.... then again, there is also no requirement here for an ABA practitioner to be a registered psychologist so it’s quite concerning. I’m surprised that nurses wanted to use this therapy form?
@@lunar686 here they're both required ( Master's and internship) and then supervision.
It takes a psychologist 5 years until they're even working with patients ( they can only observe therapy being done until then). In the 5th year they are required to do a 12 mo internship and a research paper at the same time. In the 5th year there's always someone supervising what they're doing ( as in the same room or behind a double glass thing - patients are aware of this).
After that they get out of uni but they aren't licensed and can't work in the field yet without a couple of things being met. They have to get a workplace that offers them constant supervision ( not in the same room anymore) and they get evaluated periodically and that evaluation is sent to the "psychological association" ( I don't know what the best translation for it would be) and they do it up to 2 years. Only then are they considered licenced and can work wherever they want although there's need to keep some kind of supervision and intervision always.
All of this is legally required to be able to do therapy. You can't even take a PhD without getting a Master's first or you won't be able to practice.
On the other hand, nurses don't want to do Aba specifically. They want to be able to do any therapy that they feel like doing.
To be licenced they only have to study for 4 years and this includes internships. They get automatically licensed as nurses as soon as they finish uni.
Now they want to take an less than 200 hour specialization course and without any kind of supervision they want to be able to do therapy. They are fighting for being able to do it without getting into the psychological association too because then they'd have to do a 5+2 years too ( and that association actually makes the guidelines about what kind of therapy is safe , what is just made up BS, etc) and if you don't follow it you can lose the license.
So, they want to be therapists without that too and basically change the legal requirements.
@@carpediem4091 I don’t actually know if many people are aware of just how intense and strict the standards are for practising psychologists. Whilst our system here is different, the standards are still very high. Supervise placements or internships (also primarily observation based) integrated into the two year masters by coursework programs in psychology. There is also continuing professional development programs and supervision that has to be maintained throughout your career. We also have the option of completing an endorsement (which honestly should be referred to as just a specialisation to be honest) which takes several years and I believe there’s also a doctorate program offered at the end of a first year masters program however I’m a little bit fuzzy on the details. I know there’s been a lot of movement to try to remove the internship only pathway following an undergraduate bachelor‘s degree in psychology, as even though this is still quite an intensive and expensive option, provisional psychologist are not getting the benefit of the academic and theoretical knowledge offered within the masters programs. I am currently going for candidature dual endorsement having completed two masters degrees (don’t ask me why lol), however the area of research I’m interested in may involve me going overseas to do a PhD so hopefully I’ll have that opportunity when restrictions are lifted.
That’s truly rather concerning to hear, I don’t think that’s safe for clients or practitioners. I’ve always been very concerned around entry level jobs in the social services, as they have an exceedingly high burnout rate, which I think indicates that the safety measures aren’t being met for employees or clients. The problem is many of these entry level style jobs such as 88 therapy are heavily promoted to students and are often critical and giving students the necessary levels of experience they need to get good placement and supervision opportunities. Whilst I believe that the psychology profession has done a lot to improve safety outcomes, there are many improvements that still need to be made. There’s also a lot the legal system can do to improve things. While being a psychologist is a protected term, I can call myself a psychotherapist without Absolutely no educational background or experience.
In regards to nursing I think this is particularly dangerous. At present, as a psychologist you cannot occupy what is considered to be a ‘dual role’. So for example I cannot be someone’s teacher and their psychologist, because it blurs the lines, not only resulting in reducing possible therapeutic outcomes, but also by putting the client in danger for exploitation. I find a multimodal approach to care has the best outcomes, where clients are supported by a range of different professional expertise, provided...That this is explained CLEARLY to the person in the treatment so they don’t feel bandied about from service to service. It also acknowledges how unique we all are and the different supports we may need. I hope that you’re able to advocate successfully against this and I’m more than happy to lend my support to it so please feel free to reach out if at all of help or use.
I think one area of mental health that needs immediate attention is in psychiatry. I believe the numbers are very similar worldwide, and unfortunately we do not have enough psychiatrists particularly in adult mental health. This often means the clients are trapped in the triage stage of the system for many years until they’re able to receive appropriate care. Not to mention, their conditions are often very accelerated by the time they’re able to see a psychiatrist. I honestly don’t know what the solution could be to this. And I’m very concerned that if we are unable to find a solution then we will have people stepping into the Obvious gap in care from professions that are not trained as doctors or psychologists. I have heard that both nursing and public health don’t quite see a problem in a few hundred hours of training to fill this position gap.
I’m autistic. I have six degrees, including a higher research degree. One of my degrees is a post graduate diploma in autism studies. So I actually know a little bit about autism. I’ve lived it all my life and I’ve studied it as a discipline. I have absolutely no doubt that I would never have succeeded in life if I’d been exposed to ABA. It is abuse pure and simple. Abuse only suppresses symptoms, while creating more problems in the long term. The US is falling behind the rest of the world in a lot of areas of human rights. This is an example of human right abuse exercised against vulnerable people. I congratulate you Paige on tackling this issue and making such an important video.
The United States has a deplorable record with regard to human rights.
It's just that most Americans aren't aware of this because we're so busy pointing the finger at China.
the things she talks about are old/bad ABA. my clinic does none of these things she is talking about. kids are given sensory/movement breaks whenever they need, we do not suppress stims, we don't force anything on them, we encourage their interests and are always positive and receptive to their "zone" or how they are feeling/how their day is going and run sessions accordingly. the goal is to teach independent skills and decrease harmful behaviors (self harm, violence to others).. could say a lot more. its mostly natural environment teaching as well. its a bit of hysteria and misinformation with this field, but at the same time, there are bad centers/practitioners.
@@vp2718 Every piece of independent research on this issue that I have read is clear in its condemnation of ABA. Autistic children have highly sensitised nervous systems. Using exposure therapy does nothing to change this. What you appear to be doing is trying to teach this children to suppress these sensitivities. To hide them. This is called masking and is highly dangerous to the long term health of the child. It’s good that your clinic is doing something to address these concerns. But the underlying issue remains: that autism is seen as a societal problem that needs to be corrected. This speaks to a cultural fear and an othering of autistic people. I support the idea of educational facilities being set up to specifically address the learning requirements of autistic children. But this is a lot different from attempting to modify the personality of young people so that they fit into a socially acceptable notion of citizenship. Too often, people observe secondary difficulties in autistic children such as ID or anxiety, and believe these are representative of autism itself.
@@vp2718
We're not interested in your apologetics, all ABA is bad and regardless of what changes you make it will remain bad because the problems are the core assumptions ABA is based on including "positive reinforcement".
If you are not using behaviourist approaches you are not doing ABA, it's proven behaviourism is outdated and already was in the 1950s. ABA is just a money scam which is why you're partners with both the Judge Rotenberg Centre and Autism Speaks confessed by resigned ABA therapists.
According to ABA's ethics code you still approve of everything ABA has ever done since Ole Ivar Lovaas founded it including shock therapy.
If you work for ABA, you are also working for the JRC and Autism Speaks. You not doing shock therapy individually doesn't mean it's not ABA, as long as the BACB continues sending credentialed BCBAs to perform shock therapy at the JRC, shock therapy is still ABA.
@@vp2718 omg! I agree! I work at an ABA clinic and I have never seen these methods being implemented! Ever! We prioritize the comfort and the assent of our patients.
As a mother of an 20 month old boy who is currently on a waiting list for an autism assessment thank you for posting this. I’ve been doing my best to do all the research I can in order to be the best advocate I can for my son. There is a lot of conflicting information but Ive decided i am going to listen to actual autistic people, like you. My son isn’t even diagnosed yet and ABA therapy has already been brought up. Now with this information I will NEVER put my child through this. Thank you for saving my child from this abuse. He is currently non verbal but I’m doing my best to find ways to help him communicate his needs. I know there is still a chance he may talk but I’m learning sign language just incase so I can inturn teach him and hopefully be able to communicate with him. He already knows the signs for “done” and “more”. Even if he is verbal I think ASL needs to taught more often so I figure either way it’s good to learn. Anyways thank you and I will share this information with everyone I can and will never ever stop advocating for my boy. Autistic or not.
Yes!!!!! You are doing the right thing by listening to autistics!!!!! My son is 3.5 and was diagnosed about 1 year ago.
I HIGHLY recommend getting him into speech therapy they teach all different kinds of communication
Your son is a lucky boy to have you for a mama. Love and strength to you as I know your journey won’t always be easy, but starting off by researching what is best for your child is a beautiful start.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 a method we are currently using with our non verbal 26 mo is floortime (applied to comunicational therapy, occupational therapy and music therapy) and trying to really get involved as a parent in all of these techniques, as you can play with him and continue working in your home aside from the weekly hours he goes to therapy. I think the method is actually Called RDI or DIR ❤️
Please hug your son tight from us! We send much love for him and your whole family❤
I ignorantly worked at an ABA facility earlier this year and quit after two months because of the shit I witnessed. One of the most horrifying things was during my last week. There was this little child who understandably hated to see other children cry. I was shadowing the RBT running a session with this child, where they forced him to watch a video of one of his peers crying for 15 minutes. He kept trying to cover his ears and hide his head in his hands, but the RBT would restart the video every time until he made it through the whole video without trying to “escape”. This little boy was so distraught and had NO CHOICE but to endure it. I bawled my eyes out that night, and it was that moment that I knew I had to get the fuck out of that place and actively fight against ABA
I think it would be best for you to consider getting into DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, or Hanen.
Watching anyone cry makes me cry. I feel what others are feeling if it’s an exaggerated display of emotion. I have difficulty processing through my own emotions let alone other peoples. What the heck was the goal of this? To desensitize him and make him shut down every time he sees tears?
how & what does that Teach?????
Holy shit-
Omg is the boy still in it? Is he okay??
Why does paige have to apologize for not debating people about whether TOURTURING CHILDREN is therapy or not, WTF. Treating a human as if they where a dog isn´t therapy and any therapist who says otherwise is sick
Because we as a society have decided that children are property, not individuals. It is enraging.
@@sarakeeet so by SHOCKING your kid instead of actually parenting is ok to you? It’s hella abusive and no one would see it right to shock a Neurotypical child.
It’s actually not OK to use electroshock on dogs either. And dogs shouldn’t be looked down on. Humans are part of the ecosystem and no better than other species.
@@golden2370 Obviously you shouldn't shock people, but ABA is such a huge and general term it covers an enormous range of things from things like shocking someone all the way up to teaching someone something in small steps and saying 'good girl' if they get a step right. Or giving a kid a toy or candy or time to play a game when they succesfully do what you ask them to do. It's so vast and there are both abusive and non abusive things that are called ABA.
@@junbh2 well that’s a bit of a problem. Why is it so broad then? To avoid accountability when things go wrong?
My son is autistic and from the time he was diagnosed I was pressured and manipulated by " experts " to see him as a problem to be solved , controlled etc. I was bullied to the point of years in school meetings and told that my son would have a terrible life that might end in suicide if I didn't get on board with their program . I chose to listen to the greatest expert on my son's autism which was my son. I also get advice from autistic adults . Today my son is sixteen , happily employed , doing great in on line classes and has dignity and an awesome sense of humor .
Listen to autistic people .
I love this story so damn much as a kid who grew up undiagnosed and seen as a problem rather than a person.
Everyone deserves a parent like you that supports and listens to them. Your son is so lucky to have a supportive parent in an ableist society and I hope his life continues to go in a positive direction.
Would love to hear what was the alternative that worked for your son
Makes me more grateful that I homeschooled. My children who were both diagnosed has no regrets.
Update :
My son finished high-school online while working a part time job . He is currently working as a cook in an Irish pub style bar / restaurant. He drives , has a credit card and has saved a considerable amount of money . He will be beginning courses in realty soon and is pretty excited about it .
Social relationships outside of work are still a challenge but he hasn't given up .
We are so proud of him .
As a mom I really wish the " experts " would reexamine the current methods used to educate autistic kids . I worked in a classroom of eight autistic preschoolers before my son was born and even then ABA felt wrong to me .
There s no magic formula for parenting or educating a child that is on the spectrum. Just let them show you who they are and support them in unfolding in the direction they are drawn to . It may take time but overwhelming and bullying someone is not a good strategy toward a happy life or self esteem.
You did great
Thank you. I am the mother of a 4yo with Autism. I live in the USA and I have been referred to ABA but the idea scares me. I do not feel my daughter's "behaviors" are problematic and I want her to live a happy life and will do everything I can to make that happen. I appreciate your videos because I need all the information I can get to better understand my daughter.
You should consider DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, or Hanen.
You’re an amazing parent
If you didn't already know, stay away from Autism Speaks as a source of anything on the subject.
Obviously I do not know where on the spectrum your child is, but 4 years old to me sounds super soon to want to try to get therapy for the child, trying to get information how to learn to cope with your child now and in the future is obviously good, but at this moment try to support your child just like a parent should do with any other child.
stay away from autism speaks too
One of the favorite journeys in my life was growing up with my nephew. I was 5 when he was born (my sister was 18). The early years where rough, he would pull out our hair and punch us, but that didnt stop me for adoring spending time with him. Some of my favorite times where when we studied sign language together in the living room so we could learn to speak to eachother together (he was non verbal until we found his secret favorite hobby 😊). He learned to speak through movies. I have a video of him when he was maybe 6, cuddling up to me at night before bed, and we sung twinkle twinkle little star together, and old McDonald had a farm. Im 20 now and hes turning 15 in May this year. He hasnt had a melt down in years. He just speaks in movie quotes and song lyrics. Or video game related stuff 😊😊.
The journey is a hard one but you cant forget, its hard on her ×2 also. But it is full of so much joy and happiness. You're amazing ❤❤❤💪💪
Parents if newly diagnosed autistic children are bombarded with pro-ABA information. California state law mandates that all insurance companies cover ABA. There is. Major push for it here. It’s upsetting that they aren’t provided with more information about different options.
Some insurance providers won't even cover other therapies...
My insurance only approved 30mins twice a week for OT and speech. But wanted me to take 40 hours of ABA. I don’t understand why!
Money. ABA is insanely profitable.
California? Hm then that sounds about right.
@@ambermarie99show 40 HOURS for CHILDREN? THAT IS A FULL WORK WEEK, OF UNPAID TORTURE. How any parent who loves their child could force them through this is beyond me.
Speech therapist here. THANK you, for sharing your voice. I am forced in the position at times to see children at ABA centers, and it’s torture for me. I try my best to educate and spread compassion. I don’t recommend ABA to parents at all.
Also. OTs are BLESSINGS! No ABA therapist knows the ins and outs of the communication system like an SLP does, or the sensory complexities of our bodies like OTs do. ALSO, you can have sensory issues and not be autistic! We all have unique sensory profiles. To suppress stimming and increase the threshold of tolerance for a child to endure something that is sensorily aversive to them is not “helping” them.
Sometimes parents have to learn for themselves, the hard way. There's no easy way to learn the truth.
and you are not trained on behavior..
what clinic that practices modern aba suppresses stimming? they do not... that is old/bad ABA@@Carlcares57
Behavior analyst here. I see speech therapists force open kid's mouths to get them to eat, as well as OTs forcing autistic kids hand-over-hand to put shapes into shape sorters and zip up jackets against their will. The entire time they are crying and trying to move away, but the speech therapist sits behind them at the table, forcing them into the chair. Speech and OT are no longer allowed at the clinic.
ABA today is trauma-informed and assent-based. The child is never forced to do anything. Do you only work with vocal children with no aggressive or otherwise maladaptive behaviors? If so, how do you get them to do the things they don't want to do?
I have seen what speech and OT do, and that is torture.
"Torture is the act of deliberately inflicting severe physical or psychological suffering on someone by another as a punishment or in order to fulfill some desire of the torturer or force some action from the victim."
fits perfectly
✨⚰️✨
-an autistic who was tortured for two straight years until they decided I was ‘good enough’ at masking the pain
@@hah-no. I am so sorry that you had to go through that. Nobody deserves to be tortured for something they can’t control. I hope you are doing okay now.
@@marmoranblade I am! (Now edited with current me :) It’s just hard to try and navigate an environment that hasn’t completely eradicated it’s ableist qualities. People downright blaming us for inconveniencing them with our needs by saying we should think more of others can be quite exhausting to deal with. (When I originally wrote this-) I had a meltdown earlier today, consequentially a shutdown but good news they’ve gotten shorter! (Oh Lord my mental state was so bad when I wrote this) So I’m making progress, even if they are tiny tiny steps. God bless you all, we’ll make it though this mess together
@@hah-no. So sorry to hear what you’ve been through. That’s absolutely horrible to make any child feel that way, let alone a child who is already struggling. I pray for your continued healing and the best blessings that life can offer. May God bless you and bring you comfort on the hard days. 💕🌻
@@BhappyD thank you. So much. You don’t know how good that makes me feel. It’s definitely been a ride having fed into it all these years, but now that I know about it the sooner the better for me to go forth! But yes thank you thank you thank you 🙏🏻 your words propel forward and I wish the same to you
Thanks so much for this video. I took over a classroom of children this year. I told them that I was not trained in ABA so would not be doing it. Instead I created a real classroom where the children learn academics (including science), play, and have fun. Guess what happened. No more crying children, no more tantrums. What I got were happy children that learned a ton of things because it was all just done naturally and with meaning. I did have an ABA person come and observe. One of my students was using his iPad and the man said, you will never get him off that to attend to a lesson. The student turn and look at the guy, shut off the iPad, put it in his desk and went and sat at the group table. I started laughing and said, "its not time for group." The man didnt even realize the child was giving him a big F YOU!!!!!!
Thank you for caring for, listening to and hearing the children in your care. This made me cry in the best way ❤
@@gracelewis6071 Thank you. I cry all the time. There is a human rights violation before our eyes and I dont know what to do.
@@corrinehoward1999 you are doing the best thing you can - the right thing. Hopefully other people will learn by example.
THIS IS WONDERFUL. I AM SO GLAD I READ THIS!!!!
Lmao I love when kids get spicy with idiots 💀
I’m completely speechless right now. I recently applied to work as a behavior technician for a few ABA therapy companies. The first one offered me the job but when I saw that they supported Autism Speaks, I quickly declined the offer. It makes complete sense now, though, after watching this video, that these companies would support AS. Thank you for educating me. I know it’s not your job to do so, but you’re shedding light on a subject that not a lot of people know anything about and I’m grateful for that. I feel duped. They really pitched me a solid speech about all the “good things” ABA can do for people.
I am so happy you are listening to autistics. Please do not practice ABA and speak out against it!
You need to consider getting into DIR/Floortime or SCERTS.
you are the reason i have hope for the future. Listening, self reflection, accountability, and change. What a powerful comment you made. Thank you for dedicated your life to helping support a community that is always looked over or heavily marginalized
I think you should do ABA because you are so ‘woke’ about there needs. Autistic individuals need therapists that have there best interest in mind.
The worst part really is that no "therapy" would be needed if neurotypical people would stop being lazy entitled jerks and lift even a singly pinky finger to meet us halfway.
"You're autistic so you're bad at communicating"
NO, KAREN, YOU JUST EXPECT PEOPLE TO LITERALLY BE PSYCHIC TO HOLD A SIMPLE CONVERSATION WITH YOU. Why NTs can't just SAY things, I cannot fathom. How is having to guess what someone means because they won't just say the words they want people to hear the "superior" and "correct" way to communicate? IT ISN'T.
Or "your autistic stimming is bad and wrong and evil because NTs feel weird about it and clearly the only possible middle ground is to mentally and physically torture you until you stop 'being a bit weird.'"
Or you could, idk, just let me flap in fucking peace considering it hurts literally no one. I'm hugely uncomfortable seeing people wearing Trump merch but I don't insist they be tortured and abused until they stop. It's not hard, basic human decency costs nothing.
I realize the PTSD I have from ABA influences how strongly I feel about this but ffs, WHY do NTs think their way is the best when that objectively isn't the case? It's like if someone really liked their car and decided everyone should have exactly the same car and if anyone disagrees or tries to say "but my truck fits my needs better" the car-crusader beat them with a tire iron while shrieking "NO IT DOESN'T! IT DOESN'T FIT YOUR NEEDS BECAUSE IT'S NOT THE SAME CAR AS MINE! YOU HAVE TO DRIVE THE SAME CAR I DO AND I'M NOT GOING TO STOP HITTING YOU UNTIL YOU AGREE WITH ME!!1!!111!!11!" Everyone would think they're fucking insane, rightly so. But when it's NTs tying children to chairs, insisting meals should only ever be a reward not a given, and saying the best solution for stimming is to physically pin a child down while screaming "NO! BAD! WRONG! QUIET HANDS! QUITE HANDS! QUITE HANDS!" it's suddenly not only A-ok, but is "the best thing for the kid."
I'm glad you saw all the red flags and didn't just go along with it. Cuz I stg, the next person to defends ABA to me is gonna learn that kneecaps are a privilege 🤬🔪
I am shocked that such "methods" exists ...I am so shocked...sorry ...I have no words for this "therapy" ....I am German...my daughter was diagnosed to be on the autism spectrum 2 years ... I can not imagine...this ABA " therapy" sounds horrifying...torture....thank you for your voice ❤ and your fight. ...sorry, I am still shocked and struggle to find words at all
This is so very sad. I am autistic but I have never been exposed to that much horribleness and ableism. I live in a very accommodating place but it does make sense that the world is bad enough that it would have something like this.
Same. I’m in the same situation as you, which, ofc, is very lucky. I hope anyone is a less fortunate situation is doing well. :(
I am autistic and used to work in ABA before my diagnosis. I remember my clients and parents loved me but my supervisors HATED ME. I disagreed with so many of their principals and didn’t realize it was this awful until a few years later and many great videos from autistic creators.
You may want to consider DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, or Hanen.
I have been having a similar experience with working in the field and not doing what my supervisors want. I enjoyed working with the kids and helping them but found myself not wanting to make them do things they didn't like or make them change things I saw as not harmful to themselves or others.
@@keepingupwiththejoness904 Then go to a better company. They exist. As an ABA therapist, I quit and left terrible reviews on Google for the previous company I worked at because they were very ethical and considerate of the autistic community until all the ethical people left and terribly horrible people replaced them. Now I work in a company that is vedt ethical.
This sounds exactly like my story. I am in the process of actually getting my son and myself diagnosed after realizing our issues might be related to Asperger's. I could not understand what I was doing wrong but everyone else loved me.
@@keepingupwiththejoness904 "Asperger's" is an outdated thing nowadays.
I never had shock therapy" but did go through aba. It was terrible. I don't want to call it trauma or ptsd because i don't want to self diagnose. I am having a anxiety attack thinking about it. People sometimes say "you just had a bad experience" but it still stings.
I had the 40 hours a week and i never had time to decompress from school. I am having an anxiety attack thinking about it. None of my therapy providers believe that it is bad. But also as a lgbtq person (who is accepted) that conversion therapy hits too close to home. I literally shaking thinking about this. I don't want to call this trauma but it is.
Will edit later if needed
Fwiw, as some rando stranger on the internet, you’re completely justified in labeling a situation you experienced as traumatizing. Ultimately, if it was deeply distressing and disturbing in a way that has deeply affected you, no one can tell you it is isn’t. You’re valid in that self-assessment, should you choose to make it.
Also, as someone who’s been in the trauma/ptsd/cptsd online world for a while now, I’ve experienced it as a very welcoming place and not gatekeepy or invalidating.
If you ever need a place to talk about it, ptsd/trauma folks discussing recovery online tend to be very warm, helpful, and understanding.
Sincerely, a rando on the net who spent a lot of time in the trauma recovery spaces on Instagram and the like.
(tw car accidents and natural disasters mention used as an example)
If someone who got into a car crash called their experience traumatic, then it is- we can understand it as traumatic, we don’t question why. If someone lost their house to natural disasters we can call it traumatic, they may call it traumatic. And we don’t blame them, we can understand it and don’t question it.
What I left out is I didn’t mention any of them going to a doctor or therapy or *getting a diagnosis* for it. There are many reasons someone might not get therapy or a diagnosis: maybe they can not afford it (money wise or time wise), or maybe getting a diagnosis for something would endanger them somehow. Like what Paige says in the video, we live in an ableist world that provides ableist information. People put too much emphasis on “professional/medical diagnosis” when it’s not always possible. As long as youre well researched and try not to jump to conclusions, you’re allowed to self-analyze; after all, that’s what neurotypical adults said before right? “back in my day, we didn’t have mental health problems”. Im pretty sure that people with mental health problems STILL existed before; they just self-diagnosies or allowed themselves to accept themselves
My point it is, if it’s trauma, it’s trauma. If you’re showing negative symptoms and side effects (reactions!) to trauma, then it’s traumatizing. You don’t need a doctor’s diagnosis to say “yep, what’s happened to you messed with your psyche and you’re traumatized, what happened was bad!” You are allowed to be hurt and scared, or not like what happened. You’re allowed to say it was traumatic, methinks
Please look for different therapy providers! Being disabled myself I know it can be hard to find health practitioners who listen to you, but they're out there. You just have to keep looking
Those people can go to hell if they said “You just had a bad experience”. If you get anxiety attacks by the thought of ABA, then those people should be supportive, instead of being dismissive
As someone diagnosed with CPTSD, please get a second, third, or even fifth opinion. Anxiety disorders and panicking disorders are often a sub-diagnosis of CPTSD and can be managed with the proper medication to help with the flashback or what I like to call spicy memories because that's all flashbacks are. Just really bad intrusive memories that cause a physical reaction and are hard to stop thinking about.
Nothing about us without us, It's that simple. If you are young and autistic, please consider entering the field of psychology and/or become an autism researcher and/or advocate for us.
I was diagnosed a couple of years ago in my late 50s. There is essentially no support available for people like me and others who are seen as "high functioning" (Level 1) from traditional psychology or psychiatry.
Autistic people need openly autistic therapists. Academic autism research needs to be led and directed by openly autistic researchers.
No one else can truly have the insight needed to seek out and develop ways to support autistic people - instead of trying to normalize us.
God, it is horrible that this is even a THING, let alone that it’s the only treatment covered by insurance!
DIR Floortime therapy is billable under insurance! Just find an occupational therapist and a speech therapist who uses this model! I am an OT and use it every day. It is not as popular yet because ABA has been dominating unfortunately but Floortime is MUCH more respectful play therapy and teaches parents and guardians how to change themselves to be able to connect with their autistic children instead of forcing the child to change. Floortime respects neurodiversity and loves autistic people as they are. There IS a better way.
@@otlife4942 That’s great. Yeah, I’m not autistic, so I was just going by what Paige said, but I hope you’re right.
that made me so angry when i heard that. like how is the most torturous method of therapy the only one covered by insurance?!
@FlyingMonkies325 I live north of the border... The corruption we have seen over the past year is horrific and this crisis is being used to forward authoritarianism and corrupt contracts. It's all part of the same pattern, along with ABA... You don't have bodily autonomy, you're just a lab rat for whatever treatment they want to foist on you or stick in your arm... And they'll probably try it by force soon. We also have organ harvesting from corpses now unless you opt out of it... All part of the same pattern.
Wow listening to this hurts me. My son was given ABA at age 2.5 years old. I was a new mom didn’t know about autism not so well. You hit every spot what they’ve done besides the electric shocks. My son’s doctor recommended ABA again and I refused after hearing about ABA they made me feel like it was the only way to help I was relived that it stopped at age 3. I love my son the way he is. Thank you for sharing this video !
I wish I had you as a mom. All mine did was give me complexes.
#StopTheShock
So much love Paige. If you’re reading this, you don’t owe these people anything ❤️
Wow, wasn't expecting this to make me bawl. The idea that autistic CHILDREN are being subject to abuse, and told that who they are is inherently a problem...makes me feel so sick. By far the best video against ABA I've ever seen. As a neuropsychologist, and an autistic adult, thank you Paige.
This is such an exaggeration and not how ABA is implemented. The science of ABA is everywhere. Because some practitioners implement procedures incorrectly does not mean ABA is bad or forcing kids to do things. Learning a new skill to live a more independent life is not abuse. I’m sure there were many things through school you had to do to learn but wouldn’t say that was abuse or traumatic
@@GKingRye24 ABA is bad end of story.
@@jackiemitchell8869 you are ignorant and don’t even know what applied behavior analysis is, end of story. If you do know so much explain how it is bad? Let’s see how fast your argument falls apart. Virtue signaling
@@jackiemitchell8869
Absolutely, they're not willing to accept the truth though because they're in it for the money.
@@jackiemitchell8869 you can’t support that lie
ABA is so astoundingly ignorant as to the actual science of autism. Here's how to understand autistic eye contact aversion: ZOOM FATIGUE. On our screen, people's faces and eyes appear bigger and closer than they'd normally be. We're not used to seeing these things up close unless (a) sex or (b) being attacked. So seeing large eyes and faces sets off a trauma fight or flight response. That tired, anxious feeling you get is more or less how autistic people feel 24/7 in response to eye contact (particularly with strangers). The problem with ABA reinforcing eye contact is that it's teaching children to ignore fear signals and pain. ABA therapists also often encourage autistic children to accept unwanted touch. And all of this compliance focus contributes to why an estimated 60% of autistic women are sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, and is likely much higher for those who went through ABA.
Thank you for the information. I learned something.
It is just horrible to force a child to go against its natural response if that response is not harmful. No one is harmed by the lack of eye contact.
@@saramoldrup you are right! No one is harmed by lack of eye contact! Most autistic people can concentrate and focus MUCH better when they are not making eye contact.
Wait, that's what zoom fatigue is??? XD Zoom has never been different than actual conversations for me and now I know why lol
Do you have any statistics for autistic men who are sexually assaulted?
Any chance you can link the autistic women sexual assault likelihood source? Been looking for the statistic I saw 2 years ago for weeks now--(thought the rate was higher though) but still can't find it.
Thank you. I am autistic myself and so is my sister. I recognized that she was not happy, even though she may have seemed “normal” and I’m glad my parents recognized this and put a stop to it. So, thank you for speaking out for all of us.
My son was diagnosed a year ago. My family is really riding me to get him Into aba therapy so he can go to school and be like all the other kids. The first facility I visited looked like an insane asylum. Concrete everywhere no color, they wanted me to just leave my son there and let them I suppose convert him. This video gave me the validation I needed to know that my reservation about sending him to aba therapy is warranted.
😢 My child is 5 and they keep pushing us to get ABA services. I was told that he would have to stay up to 5 hours 5 days a week. So glad I came across this video.
@@yam3108 i feel absolutely the same way! The least they could do is offer camera footage for the parents to supervise like daycares. Predators and abusers these days are working everywhere in the field of children. Leaving mine alone with a stranger just because they have a license is out of the question for us!!!
I'd recommend looking into some ABA resources online. I agree, most of those places are shite and people don't know wtf they're even doing. One reason my autistic sister (and myself to a lesser extent with ADHD) benefitted was because our mother was the one who learned enough about ABA to cowrite a book with folks with PhDs (she got a BA in biological science) and her teaching always had our interests in mind. It worked, I graduated high school and college (prior I was flunking out of high school) and got a degree without meds or an IEP in college (had one in high school but didn't really need it). My sister learned to self advocate by asking for things she wants and giving a very clear yes or no-- she'll never be able to discuss philosophy or anything, but the "experts" thought she'd never talk at all. She can also do some basic life skills like cook, read, do basic hygiene (which is hard for some non neurotypicals) use her phone etc. Not only that, she's described by others as "sweet" because that's just how she is (and I know it's not an act, she struggles to even fake-smile for pics let alone fake affect) but she's the happiest person I know.
The reason for these great outcomes is because not only was it effective, but *my mom cares about us*. A lot of people don't care, they get into special ed to feel righteous, not to teach life skills and self advocacy to a group of people who will be more capable and less vulnerable to manipulation if they have these abilities (and unfortunately, sometimes they are the very people doing the manipulation, which is why you hear about so many bad reports about ABA, which at the end of the day is just another valuable tool in your toolbox)
@@yam3108 well you should look into ABA therapy yourself and go talk to a clinic and ask to show what it looks like and explain it to you. Don’t rely on someone making money off of videos on RUclips for your source of information especially something like this that can be life changing. ABA therapy may not be right for everyone but those that it is, most often experience life changing progress. This video is a complete joke of a lie and exaggeration, claim after claim are not true. If this video is so true you should get a tour and go talk to a clinic to prove it. But that won’t happen because this video is lying to you
If your son is truly autistic, all kinds of color everywhere overwhelms their senses.
This has been very important for me to watch. I am autistic women who has a job opportunity to be an ABA therapist. Now learning about what ABA does I don’t want to do it. I want to work with Autistic children so bad. I want to help them, not hurt them.
You can! ☺️ I suggest becoming a play therapist, empowerment therapist, speech therapist or Autism Based DBT therapist. I had those therapies and they have helped me reverse the damage done by ABA. Unfortunately my family was tricked into doing in home ABA. They thought it was a behavior therapist but it was a BCBA. I’m now working to undo the damage as an adult and find myself again. I suggest looking into the other therapies I recommended. They worked wonders for me..
Look into self direct services . You can be a DSP.
this is not modern aba at all... good centers dont do any of this.
@@vp2718 How can you be sure of that?
I'm a recently diagnosed autistic, and as someone who experienced a childhood of restraint, hospitalization, and sedation for my emotional disregulation this was absolutely the most painful thing I've ever had to watch. I don’t have any words for the cruelty of this. Yes, the torture eventually taught me how to mask better. I had to to be able to survive and to never experience that again, but my life has been hell because of it. How dare these people... I am a human being and I wouldn't change who I am. I don't want to be cured. Autism is a part of who I am. It's not behavioral, it's not a personality trait, it's part of who I am. God forbid NT's have to challenge themselves to understand differences and make changes to their own lives.
I relate to this and your experience during childhood! My parents would force me to take meds and punish me if I didn’t take them🥺 I was recently diagnosed as well. Sending you virtual hugs🥺
I was diagnosed at a psychiatric hospital this month. My parents were in denial and tried to protect me by hiding my autism. I’ve been sedated too. I’m heart broken by this. So many families put so much trust in these institutions. No one wants to confront their eugenics. It’s a societal scar and we keep picking at it.
@@candace3493
Sadly the eugenics movement is about to be repeated in a sly way by genetically programming and editing genes with CRISPR-Cas9.
They say this requires a global discussion, typically, the general public are not getting to have a say.
The same could be said for autistic people. You cannot exit this NT ruled life, no, but you cannot also accomodate the NT world.... just a bit as well?
I am totally against ABA btw. What happened to you is beyond horrible. You were basically tortured until you complied. There's got to be a better way, but expecting a perfect way to magically appear is impossible. There is striving for a better way, but there is no arrival for that perfect human balance between the two mindsets for either those on the ASD or NT's. Because there are no perfect humans.
We all can do things to improve our lives.
Fellow (physically) disabled person here. I've been advocating against this barbaric treatment of disabled people for years. You are really brave for speaking out on this topic in this public arena. Thank you.
It's all over the place. Medicine is supposed to help people, but an evil sadistic element seems to be increasingly directing it... It has long been there in psychiatry but it has really come to the fore recently.
“I do not have to.” I just want to let you know how amazing I think this one sentence is. I feel like we do often get shamed or guilted into doing things we really do not want to do, and it’s almost become the norm to just oblige. I cannot tell you how long it took me to understand the power of saying no and setting my own boundaries. So glad you are able to do that, and I hope this helps others respect their own boundaries as well 💛
That has happened big time over the past year and the worst part is that it is coupled with shaming and gaslighting people over bodily autonomy, and using the term "science" to forward all kinds of abusive and unscientific behaviour.
The “introduce loud noises until they stop being distressed” reminds me of how they train horses. The difference is, the horses are spooked by the loud noises. It’s like exposure therapy for phobias. Autistics aren’t afraid, they’re overloaded and in distress. You can’t use methods that you use on scared animals on autistic kids. It’s not the same fuckin thing
I’ve had one of those things, but at a normal therapy place. They forced me to listen to music that had static, but otherwise the place I went was good.
my old therapist used to tell me that at the beginning of every day that I should overload myself with loud music and touch, so that it won’t be as overwhelming for the rest of the day. It is exposure therapy, and it’s considered ineffective and very traumatic in the psychological community. After her telling me to do it for two weeks i stopped seeing her, It made my coping so much worse.
"hey guys, humans feeling pain is really annoying and bothers me so if we just hurt them enough, they'll get used to it" /s (this is sarcasm, i wanna make that very clear, #stoptheshock)
It’s called exposure therapy and is super t effective when the person is willingly doing it
@@kicochrane6516 man, that’s not true. It’s 60 to 90% effective. It super works. But forced exposure is abuse
Thank you for this. I just got hired as an ABA implementer and was going to start next week. I’m putting in my withdrawal notice.
Thank you! I just have SPD, basically the sensory problems without the communication problems. And I was treated badly in an ABA way my childhood and as a result I lived my whole life dissociated and masking. I have ptsd from it. Thank you for not doing it! How we process sensory information will not change through electric shocks or other painful methods, because it doesn't change how our brains work. It just traumatized us.
I’m a senior in college studying speech and language pathology with a minor in autism spectrum disorders. SLPs are combating the ABA field because SLPs are doing way more to fix the root of language/ communication disorders. It can actually be very difficult though to work with ABA therapist because they are telling children to mask their communication behaviors which makes our jobs so much harder. So if a child is receiving both ABA therapy and Speech therapy, we have to tell the child to say do what they would do normally, not what is expected from them by society. This is to get to the root of the problem and actually help instead of giving them stupid tips on how to fit in. There is a huge disconnect in these two fields. SLPs can teach different ways of communication, like ASL or alternative communication. It’s dumb what ABA therapist do, it’s like they are trying to teach a dog and not a human being.
CAN YOU SHOUT THIS FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN TOP SO ALL THE ABA “THERAPISTS” CAN HEAR?????? Amen! Please keep fighting against ABA!
SLPs are heroes. ABA's research is based on a load of crock. They claim that nonverbal autism is just a product of WILLFUL BEHAVIOR. Of course, they said the same about mute and deaf people. SLPs are much more interested in the science, functionality, and helping people actually communicate the way they need to or prefer to.
SLP's need to be aware of ableism in their field as well. I think it's great that you are focused on teaching your clients AAC or ways to communicate that are effective for them and what they want. I had an SLP that pushed me to communicate in a neurotypical manner and that was not pleasant.
As an autistic person who is wanting to study speech language pathology I'm glad that there is a movement against it at least somewhat with SLPs. It's honestly been holding me back from school because dealing with it was just feeling like it would be a complete uphill battle... (I mean I'm sure it isn't everyone. But yeah.)
It's funny you say the last comment. I use to work with dogs - training them. I played a video of ABA therapy to see an example of it when I was first learning about how terrible it is and my husband almost immediately asked me if I was watching dog training videos of bad dog trainers because even he could tell from his experience watching me with dogs that 1) it was training based and 2) it was terrible practices (good handlers don't treat dogs as terribly as autistic kids in ABA are treated). We were both absolutely disgusted by the entire concept of ABA already but the examples of it that we watched just made us angry and sick over it to see it in action and how manipulative it is.
“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” Krishnamurti
That's one of my favorite quotes, I've been quoting it to people for years! It's soooo true. It's starting to occur to me that maybe the "problem" with autistic people is it's harder to control how we think, we're harder to indoctrinate. We're too trusting and are easy to exploit and con, but we're probably harder to indoctrinate and do "social engineering" on and impose "group think" on.
Such a great and informative video. My daughter is 5, Autistic and non speaking. When she was first diagnosed the Drs pushed for ABA but having a 3yo in therapy for 40 hours a week did not sit right with me. I decided to take the RBT certification to help her at home and 10 minutes into the training videos I felt like I was going to be sick. Since then I have learned more about ABA and I will never place my daughter in ABA therapy. She is loved, her needs are taken care of and she is happy. Thank you for educating people, you are making a difference in this world. ❤️
It is ridiculous to me how many BCBAs say ABA has changed when we all know for a fact it has not! Like you said, certification just 2 years ago made you sick.
Hi, what does RBT stand for? Thanks
What about it made you sick?
@@baby5968 Registered Behavior Technician
So what did they say that pushed you away?
I am a parent and caregiver of an autistic person and I understand that ABA therapy makes parents' lives be easier but my non- verbal daughter is a person with feelings and emotions that must be aknowledged. Even if it's harder for me, I want her to be happy and as independent as she can, not to be "normal", she is perfect to me and I love her. NO TO ABA!!! from a mother who burst into tears after watching my daughter going through a very traumatic therapy and I am depressed and kicking myself for letting that happened. NOT AGAIN!!!
Also, if someone knows an international organization I can address to talk about this, because the social worker is kindda threaten me that my daughter must be in the system and I must not complain because things are done like that in Mexico, and I am not, by any means, taking my daughter back to that therapy and I dont want them to force me or claim I am neglecting my child for looking for different options (which she implied, that I am being abusive to my daughter by "overprotecting" her and that I desperately need psicological help, I do need it, but not because taking care of my daughter as she implied). I'm afraid they can file a complain for looking a private therapy, more friendly, saying I am actually denying my daughter treatment, so they can take her away from me.
@@SusanaGonzalez-kn4il
I don't know of a service you can report to as I don't live in America.
You can look up and read about "DIR Floortime", it is the direct opposite of ABA rooted in the importance of relationship.
If you know what your daughter is interested in link it to what you want to help her learn, like if you want to increase language read a book about it with her.
Behaviourism is not for humans in general, treating your daughter as a daughter and human can improve her development. As humans, how people treat us influences brain and human development. You need to forget about the milestones as they're not even real.
I’m so sorry this happened to you. I work with kiddos with autism and I’m so sorry. I wish I could be a helping hand to you and your daughter.
Omg what happened tho?
My mom is too! We recently discovered my parents were tricked into doing ABA with me as a child. They thought it was behavioral therapy but it was ABA. I’m traumatized because I grew up thinking I didn’t have it. I wondered why I can’t think for myself, why I ask stupid questions, why I seek advice, why I’m so needy, clingy and co dependent, why I make the same mistakes, why I need to be given instructions, etc; finding out I had ABA makes everything clear now. I feel like I’m having an identity crisis because of this. I’m completely traumatized and my mom can’t look me in the eye because she feels so guilty.
gosh it was so hard to even click on this video. i hate seeing people like me be tortured ugh it’s just. not good. very off. very disgusting. ABA is NOT therapy, it’s torture. thank you for sharing your thoughts, they definitely speak for me
We are living in a society where human rights are being advocated more and more. And yet, ABA, which is violating Article 3, 9 (Part of it) and 10, is still ongoing. Just because someone is autistic, it doesn’t make them less deserving of human rights. I, an autistic person and as a believer of human rights, am heartbroken when I hear about my fellow autistic humans being treated like dogs being trained. It is truly despicable.
@Amy Ritchie I would agree with that. A lot of lip service for that group and this onex but bodily autonomy is being removed for all worldwide, even when unscientific or dubious. Recently they've passed a law in Scotland saying anyone can have their organs removed after death - I know some people are okay with that, but there is a very complex opt out system... 2020 & 2021 have shown us how shallow our human rights are, and you will be gaslit and called names if you question the logic of much of it (or point out most of it is unscientific)
They are treating us like animals, I'm not asking to become like a neurotypical I just want the rest of society to understand us that's all I'm asking, we need more choices.
And the truth is, most dogs don’t need to be trained that way either and it hurts them too they just can’t express it like humans. And by not having the same memory as humans they may not suffer as much but it’s clearly absurd, why not use positive reinforcement instead?
@Amy Ritchie What's your evidence of that?
@@filipeflower The U.S.A P.A.T.R.I.O.T A.C.T (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) of 2001 allows the United States Government to disregard all rights guaranteed by the US constitution in the investigation of certain groups or individuals so long as it is approved by the U.S Department of National Security. This law allows U.S officials to perform otherwise unlawful search and seizures of person and property. It also allows for unlimited incarceration without the right to an attorney or fair trial by jury.
But that was back in 2001 so I'm not sure if it's what Amy Ritchie was referring to.
I love how she says "Tone does not register in my autistic brain." I feel so validated.
I felt validated by that too. My tone is what people recognize about me and don’t know I have autism. It’s why I have no friends in my 30s. Only rarely does someone respond to me with a kind look instead of a confused look when I speak. It’s infuriating, how hard is it just to be nice back?? We can see that dumb confused face people make. I’m nice to everyone in public, regardless of how they communicate or their situation
Same. I have a tendency to sound too robotic or too excited, even when I'm talking about something horrible! 😅
@@thema1998 there’s nothing wrong with that. People need to learn we just communicate differently. If it makes others uncomfortable, they’ll get used to it and learn to tolerate it. Don’t be afraid to be you
@@slowslug3247 same! Until last year I had 2 friends that I saw every few months. I started allowing myself to get into what brings me joy and have made some friends in the houseplant community and I love these folks! I actually feel energized as we talk plants and all things related and I've actually found most of them are neurodivergent so they get it. The energy people bring matters, I can't talk to my mother but I'm learning that's okay because my boundaries matter!
ABA "treats" the "symptoms", not what is underneath. It's basically just a temporary "quick fix" to "manage" your child. Parents who commit to this are making a terrible mistake in the long run.
Good analogy! ABA is just a band aide but as adults the band aide falls off and we become unable to think for ourselves and become unable to be independent and it can cause us to develop zero empathy for others. Thankfully for me, DBT saved my life and reserved the damage.
thank you for this. i worked in aba for a little over a year. i went into it not knowing a lot about aba and it’s effects. after doing my research i decided to quit my job and work in a school with special ed students. i now work with a teacher who cares about meeting the children’s needs more than anything else. if they need a nap, food, another recess, whatever it is they get it. it’s so refreshing to be surrounded by people who just want the best for children with disabilities rather than just trying to “fix” them. if you work in aba therapy i highly suggest doing your research and listening to those with autism, rather than neurotypical people. this needs to be talked about more and shouldn’t be ignored.
My daughter is autistic. I came across your video and was curious.
Then I started to feel physically ill. Because What you described as ABA therapy is LITERALLY how my narcissistic father raised me. I am neurotypical, BTW.
And I DID end up with CPTSD until I was able to overcome it, at 48 years old. Thank you for raising awareness!!
I may be autistic. I very much recognize ABA in my upbringing from narcissistic parents. Ugh!
I have SPD -sensory processing disorder and ABA sounds like my narcissistic foster parents raised me. Put into cold water when having meldowns, no stimming allowed, being hit, yelled at. At one point they wanted to train me with a clicker like a dog. I got c-ptsd from that as well.
Ever notice how much NTs alternate between saying we don't have feelings and telling us we're too sensitive...?
...And after telling us we're too sensitive, will have a breakdown upon seeing the slightest hint of non-conformity.
Wow that is an excellent point.
My son was just diagnosed as autistic . As soon as his aba therapist called to set up an appointment and evaluation they informed me that I would not be allowed to participate in his aba therapy . Which I was ok with . But then they stated I couldn’t even watch his therapy . They wanted him to come 3-4 hours a day Monday thru Friday with me leaving my child with a stranger . Mind you I do not let anyone watch my son unless it’s grandma or other side of the family grandma . And when he is watched it is for emergency purposes ONLY . I canceled the evaluation and further appointments . Me not being able to be there for my son was a huge red flag for me. Usually when my son is overstimulated he needs me there as comfort . After watching your video I knew I made the right choice. His therapist was rude and said that’s how their programmed worked and if I didn’t like it I could go else where . I thanked them and said we are fine as we are . I continue to learn as much as I can on my own while continuing speech therapy and occupational therapy . And with those therapies I’m allowed to watch and I encourage my son to be active and responsive
This is my first video I'm seeing of yours. I'm not even sure why RUclips suggested this no one close in my life is autistic. I have no idea how anyone could be mean to you. You're such a lovely person and advocating for those who can't speak for themselves. Upon watching this video from beginning to end, I have emailed my local congressman in Missouri and linked this video. Thank you for raising awareness!! ❤ sending my love!!
Thank you. I am autistic and grew up back in the Stone Age when children were still beaten or hit for supposed misdemeanours... I still have residual effects from it, and I can't imagine what it would be like to have something like this.
Thanks for your support, I'm within the spectrum have been masking it basically all my life and let me tell you society doesn't give a crap about us or at least that's how it feels, sometimes I feel that there's a very powerful group out there who wants us eradicated or give us a hard time.
@@kevinchavarria6792
Those claiming they're trying to eradicate us are actually lying, they don't want to eradicate us, they want to continue capitalising and profiteering on us in our capitalistic economies.
Not long from now they're going to try genetic engineering and they will charge parents to have their children genetically modified.
"Behaviour is a secondary reaction to something else going on." 12:11-12:15 very insightful.
I loved this sentence!
Our son Brendan literally speaks like yourself, the pauses, the clean and connective logic, the rhythm and tone, cutting of paper, routines, …I was watching our Brendan and without question everything you said was undeniable. I have experienced that encouraging our child in the passions he has in his life have made him flourish; meanwhile thinking about putting him in ABA. I’m reassessing this decision as a parent. Our child is high functioning, he negotiates, used logic in ways most adults do not… he is intelligent no doubt and it is through positive love, guidance on how others feel, and simply through us understanding him that we have become better people and not because he has to change - it is not he who needs changing - we need to be more like him because it is he who is honest and who doesn’t who hasn’t the need to rationalize a wrong into a right; for him it’s a clearly mutually exclusive opposites and unquestionably a clear delineation which often other adults fool themselves into believing that it’s not. Thank you for this video, truly!
As a late diagnosed autistic person (who was not subjected to ABA), the main thing I wish for my long gone childhood self is to better understand and learn to deal with my emotions. I mostly learned to bury and not feel them in ways that have been bad for me as an adult. So learning emotional intelligence would have been super helpful. I would also have liked to learn organizational skills that worked for me. I have some now, but i had to try a lot of things over a long time to learn them.
Also, just for your information, most autistic people hate functioning labels. Functioning isn’t something you can see on the outside. Someone who is nonverbal can be functioning excellently and have great accommodations for their motor challenges. Whereas I may be at work in my fairly high level accounting job and have not asked for any accommodations, at a workplace event and trying really hard to figure out when I can escape the noise and my inability in that moment to distinguish between all the voices at once. I might then need to go home and sit on the couch staring at the wall for 2.5 hours before I can manage to deal with getting food. In that situation (actual situation from yesterday), I am not functioning - I’m just recovering and thinking about what I could do differently the next time and now I need to go change a battery in the smoke alarm so I don’t lose my mind today. Why do they make this so loud!
I am in Europe and I had no idea about these ABA therapies. Using shocks on autistics should be banned. It’s horrible !
The saddest thing is that it WAS banned (not that that stopped the JRC from using shock devices), but the ban was overturned recently.
@@CarolineErbArt thank you for this information. am also an european and had no idea. shocking!
european psychology student here and same the only reason i know abt ABA is bc one of my professors used it as an example of a human rights violation
I had no idea either as a European...I guess that's good though. Tbh America in general is very messed up.
@@stuckinthelazycorneragain4016 America is messed up, but ABA is being successfully exported all over the world, including Europe. Often it's rebranded as something else like Positive Behaviour Support
this is going to be the video i cite when people ask why i left my school’s autism behavioral studies program. the entire curriculum for the autism studies at my school was based around ABA. it was disgusting the things i was being taught was the “right” way to deal with autistic individuals. thank you for this, you said everything i have been thinking.
You should consider getting into DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, or Hanen.
as you should 😌
You want to cite a misinformed, youtube girl whom nobody has ever heard of? Try reading a scientific article. Leaf et al. 2021. It's weird how one video on RUclips can impact your life choice....
@@IcanSeeMyselfOutThanks Sara Rocha would like to say something about that. She works with science and she's autistic.
@@IcanSeeMyselfOutThanks
It's not weird for someone to listen to the community they want to help.
You're the weird one ignoring the community you claim you want to help, you obviously don't want to help and are just in it for the money.
I was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (which falls on the Autism Spectrum) at age 7, and around that time, my mom considered ABA therapy for me. But when she was talking to another lady whose kid was undergoing ABA, something about it didn’t sit quite well with her. My mom said that feeling was something along the lines of suspicion that ABA doesn’t work, and honestly, Paige, what you covered in this video was probably the underlying reason why my mom felt this way. I’m eternally grateful that my mom decided not to try ABA with me because if she did, my life would’ve been so much different, and not in a good way.
I’m autistic myself and absolutely disgusted by the cruelty of this “conversion therapy”, why change something that’s not broken?
Really glad you spoke out against it Paige we need more people like you ❤
So why do you hate people who are seriously impacted and can't live independently so much?
@@RichardChappell1 I really hope you weren't responding to Dylan. If you were, I have a question for you.
Why do you think people who can't live independently are lesser than you to such an extent that you're okay with their torture?
@@mckennawatson1189 Your fake label is meaningless. It isn't torture. So you're little Kafka trap is a dishonest game.
@@RichardChappell1 What do you mean "fake label"? You never met that user, have you? Be honest.
I’m not autistic, but I have recently started watching you to learn about autism in women because I saw your tik tok about it and it interested me. And oh my god I had no idea this was a thing. Torture to “treat” autism??? I am so sorry you are part of a community that has to go through this :(
Life has been ABA for me. Being paddled in school, belt whipping at home. In mid-life I am having to learn to listen to what my body needs and the true meaning of self care.
I'm just starting to come undone with the life ABA as well, after I realized I felt happier after moving out of my parents house. Hope you do well
My god 💔.. I'm so incredibly sorry you went through that. You did not deserve that and you're not a burden.
It takes a lot of time to unlearn this stuff. Whether from official therapy or not. It's good that you're learning now and it is never too late.
I hope things keep looking up for you.
This is horrible, I hope you live in a saver enviorment now..
❤️
"it awards compliance." You are right. The whole world does. Well produced video, you should be proud of yourself.
And it will destroy you if you give in too much. Learning how and when to fight back is an important skill.
We all have to comply to degree in order to function in society, people with autism are no different.
@@kyladyer2855 so they should be tortured into compliance?
@@Reticulan1 everyone gets forced to comply, autistic individuals are no different.
@@kyladyer2855 so if you misbehave by someone else's standards they should be able to cause you physical pain? I'm not using the word torture lightly.
You may not believe this. But forcing eye contact, grabbing us when we are unaware, hugs, and loud noises can cause us physical pain, like a slap in the face. So I guess you must avocate for hitting neurotypical kids, right?
I am autistic myself, and I don't even dare mentioning my Autism, not even to psychiatrists and therapists. Not even doctors. Because all my issues that aren't visible immediately get pinned onto my Autism. And that's really damn sad. Because psychiatrists and therapists are supposed to be judgement free people. And doctors are actually supposed to help me. But if my headaches that I had ever since I was a kid get pinned onto my Autism, that's not helpful, that's harmful. I don't even dare mentioning my Autism.
When I find the time, I'll get an appointment at a neurologist's office, to get my headaches checked out. And what I will do is I will say that I have Autism, but I will explicedly say: "Please don't pin my headaches on my Autism, at least not without examining me first. I say this, because it happened to me before, and I have a fear of mentioning my actual problems because they all get pinned on my Autism."
It's strange because I've mostly had the opposite problem. My autism gets ignored in favor of my other diagnoses because I'm so high-masking and 'don't look autistic.'
I've had to advocate for my autism to be made a point of consideration with my general health and therapy because otherwise, it'll be ignored completely.
I know you said you weren’t going to read any comments any way, but just in case:
Thank you for making this, even though it must have been so hard. This needs to stop (by this I don’t mean the video I mean aba and that terrible stuff). I wish people could learn what autistic people ACTUALLY want/need. For example the ability to use fidget toys or take a break and be alone for a few minutes. Not trying to get us to be able to act neurotypical. That is NOT what we need. #STOPTHESHOCK (like NOW, RIGHT NOW)
I have Schizophrenia. They did the same thing to me.I was shocked By the doctors, they did it so much that I went in to Seizure. Had to go to the hospital. I was abused dined food and bathroom. This place was a mental health I was held for 8 days. This place was closed now. It was about 20 years ago
I was one that was against ABA many years ago and discussed this with those that was for it. Having earned my PhD in both clinical and neuropsychology, I saw through what they tended to promote. I support you on this.
There has always been a very cruel element in psychiatry, psychology etc... I think some people go into it to help others, but some do it for money and power. Unfortunately the latter group have been a major force in the worst aspects of this year's restrictions.
thank you so much for sharing this. I recently got offered a job at an autism clinic and found out they used ABA. I did my research and quit after the first day. a few red flags i noticed on my first day. 1. The trainer said after a few years some of the children “lose” their Autism diagnosis. This does not make sense because autism is not curable - the children just learned how to mask. 2. she said the children “act out” for attention so they ignore them. Behavior is communication and should not be ignored - this is so harmful. 3. They kept talking about how the “new ABA” is no longer abusive - but they use almost the same techniques and do not address the needs that caused the meltdown. it was sad and i couldn’t bear to spend another day in that clinic. i don’t understand how a someone who claims to want to “help” autistic people does not listen to Autistic people who have talked about how harmful this form of therapy is.
A melt down is not need for attention. That implies a form of manipulation. There is no manipulation in meltdowns. In fact attention just makes a melt down worse I find.
Okay, let's not beat around the bush. I vote we call ABA Therapy what it really is; Autism Conversion Therapy.
I would mot call that therapy. How about Autism conversion brainwashing? Or autism conversion torture?
Autism Brainwashing Atrocities? It’s like the dark ages out there.
"gender therapy" "gay brainwashing therapy" "autistic torture therapy" they always call it therapy so they can slip through the cracks. Because society enjoys hurting people to try to make them "normal" because none of us deserve to have what we need in life to live comfortably. That would just be too much work for them.
Abusive behavior assault
same inventor, so you might as well
24:43 the whole part about not saying "no" and being obedient pleasers sounds too much like what I went through as a child. I may not be autistic but I know what abuse is when I hear it. I know abuse from personal experience. No child should have to fake it and be an obedient people pleaser.
I spent years only saying what I knew would not get me yelled at and never speaking otherwise. I lied so much as a child and withheld so much of what I wanted to say. Because if I wasn't a people pleaser I wouldn't be able to escape harm.
FWIW, my sister was given ABA, and before was unable to say no. Now she not only can say it LOUD and often makes her demands known, but also is just... happy. Like, the least depressed/anxious gen Z/millennial I've met.
It's unfortunately the case that many don't do it to help someone self advocate and be independent, but be "normal" (ie boring lol-- I'm ND myself). The difference is really between doing it to help the individual (and something I myself would be open to for my ADHD to help me actually live my life and achieve my dreams instead of just existing in a flux between stress, panic, and pessimistic depression) and doing it to "normalize" someone. Is it for their wellbeing, or everyone else's? I actually think ADHD's name itself kinda indicates how non-person-centered we are for non neurotypicals and how internal processes, which literally are the reason for the disability, are overlooked-- insanity imo. And with autism it's even worse, and I personally think neurotypicals often really want to not only fit in (can relate tbh) but make everyone else fit in too... and it's not only bizarre but leads to consequences.
It's a more complicated subject than you'd think. I definitely don't think that these horror stories should be overlooked, but looked at as to how we can improve-- and in many cases, that's looking at what the client needs, not what everyone else wants, which is why I think ABA is another tool that, like power tools, can inflict horrific damage, but can also be incredibly helpful *used correctly* (ie with the person's own needs and desires in mind).
#StopTheShock 😡😡😡 This is infuriating!! This young lady is amazing. I’m glad she put this out. We have to follow through with her request!!
My wife and I regret putting our older child through ABA. At the time we were assured this was a great program that would really help him, but he grew to hate it and eventually we pulled him from the program. I have no doubt that a lot of his anxiety and depression and school problems originated with or were exacerbated by ABA therapy. We've learned a lot about autism since then and the problems with ABA, and when our second child was also diagnosed, we knew we would not be doing ABA at all with him. For parents, it's really important to have the mindset of accommodation rather than "fixing". That is easier said than done because society doesn't want to understand and accept autistic children as they are.
That’s how the ABA industry had flourished. Stigmatize Autistic people and then convince gullible and desperate parents that you’re the only one who can normalize their children. In our current society, where critical thinking is no longer effectively taught and ableism runs rampant, this business model has been wildly successful.
SLP here. Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and perspective. We need to hear (and listen to) more Autistic voices.
I was not diagnosed with autism until the end of last year. This makes me grateful I missed out on ABA. I could not imagine being forced to wear shirts with tags or listen to loud music. I'm very sensitive, I would have gone crazy! Sensory issues are not fun.
I don’t think I would have ever wanted that had I been diagnosed with it since I was younger because with that it would have never changed how I react to balloons or fireworks up close witch I have kinda fixed the fireworks overwhelmingness I had from them by a distance but the way I behave around balloons can’t change by setting off louder noises than balloons popping it will just make me volnerable and would probably not really talk to anyone again after that.
@@Jocelyn_Games_And_More7216 Fireworks caused me to have a meltdown when I was little and I have gotten use to them however I still need earplugs. But, like you, I still startle at the sound of a balloon popping.
@@ColorfulBallerina Yeah those have been my sensory overloads since I was younger I’m 19 and I really need to get better with being used to the sound of those things happening but it’s just really hard maybe if I use my beats headphones that are noise canceling then maybe that can help me so that I’m not overloaded on this things like have been when I was younger a positive is that I have been kinda better with acknowledging when people seek my attention for something or about something they either want me to do or when it comes to deciding what to eat at a restaurant it’s still hard for me to decide on things but speaking and things like that wether I’m in public or not has gotten way better from what it was before but it’s still a little bit of a work in progress I also don’t know when to stop talking and when I have something to say but someone talks I interrupt as a result of me trying to get out what I have to say because I have not so good patience skills but I have to try to learn it’s not ok to do that even if I am not patient so that is also something I have to work around my uncle was rude to me that one time though saying how I have to get over being shook about balloons popping even if they don’t but I know he’ll understand how it’s one of my sensory overloads one of my parents have told him multiple times about things like how I can’t take a joke but not about the sensory overload of mine which I will try working on getting used to balloons and not overthink about any popping and then freaking out at the moment it happens
I’m crying. I went to ABA therapy for two straight years. Straight after school. The only reason I ever survived was because I loved the people there. I adored the therapists, and always will. But the way that I was treated was terrible. I fed into it for two straight years and all the years after until now. I knew. I knew it was wrong and I was never given an answer. Thank you. I cannot express my gratitude through these types words. Thank you!
maybe the therapist in their ignorance thought they were helping and because you seemed to still liked them they thought they weren't being abusive??
My daughter is autistic and I hope she is as brave and outspoken as you. She needs women like you, like her!! Thank you Paige
(yes, I'm repeating myself as I do in these comment sections, but.)
So I was diagnosed very early, as a toddler (well, technically it was "some form of PDD-NOS, BUT NOT AUTISM" because I was a girl and quite vocal and this was back in the days of the DSM-IV; then Asperger's at age 5, but now I simply go by autistic). My then-therapist way back then specifically told my parents that ABA therapy was not for me (I don't live in the US, so I believe it's not as widespread over here). Instead, I saw a speech therapist (I was vocal, yes, but I had communication delay) and a psychomotor therapist for several years, and was very much allowed to have hobbies and to generally be myself, unless it was harmful to myself and others. (of course, I still got a lot of teasing from my peers when I was younger, but my parents have been very good with how they raised me since the beginning)
Now, as I start hearing about the horrible things other autistic people go through in terms of ABA, I feel like I'm going to get crushed under the weight of the gratefulness I feel towards never having to experience this, just. Oh my god. Thank you for this video, I'm sending it to my mother, she's always looking forward to learning new things about autism.
#StopTheShock
I am so glad you are posting about this. I have been hoping you would. It has been recommended that I get my daughter in ABA therapy since 2017 and I haven't due to cost and because I don't know much about it. Thank you. I believe you are right and have helped me decide against it.
Glad that something negative like not being able to afford it, saved your daughter from these horrors.
Good luck to her and you, stay strong!
@Ashlee Slack: Im a 35 yr old clinical diagnosed autistic adult requiring very substantial supports (Low functioning) in the USA, I went through a form of ABA or Applied Behavioral Abuse when I was a kid in 2000-2002. I suffer to this day from the abuse from it. I will add to this like I did to my post in this video, IT WILL CAUSE FURTHER HEALTH ISSUES both mental and physical. Being locked up in a tiny room for 10 hrs without food water bathroom etc, being harmfully punished for asking for anything needed, causing severe physical health issues from holding stools as we were not allowed a toilet or an accident in our pants, restrained, hit, contorted by joints in shoulders, legs, even folded up to the point of not breathing. Nothing was ever right in what I did and always a harsh punishment to follow anything. Now you have first hand experience from someone who went through this. When I went through it, The behavior school called the cops to taze or shock us. I had body bruises and my mom just looked around them. She also was told to do the same things which she and my uncle did. Most importantly, money aside ask yourself if you would go through this kind of "therapy". Could you tolerate 2 minutes of it. I endured 2 years of it. Im 35, the meds used and physical harm done has caused severe health issues, including GI and incontinence, blood pressure, collaping veins, heart issues, vascular disorders, PTSD from abuse, I now look at everyone as harmful, more irritation, more irregular behavior, issues with society, people, and I have no one in my life but a counselor and my mom as the rest of the family has disowned me for no reasons other that I have autism. My mom didnt know the horrors I endured until this year, she has since been more supportive but to what purpose now. Im not welcome anywhere, not allowed to work because "im a problem" yet they tell me im one of the hardest workers theyve seen and did a great job, but back to society and the stereotypes, Neurotypical thinking, and abuse. This was and is my experience with ABA.
@@Soapy-chan_old Your making a big mistake, if your daughter is young, please get her the ABA she deserves!! It saved me!!
@@hotdogsruleable HOW DARE YOU comment that in a thread where someone shared the abuse they endured and how they have suffered because of it.
@@hotdogsruleable Autism does not need a saviour, thats what they make people believe. Autistic people are human beings, its not an illness, it doesnt need a cure for being human but having a different brain. Exposing people to this is terrible. Better to prevent sufferment and "not be fixed" rather than being traumatized mentally and physically that any human being wouldnt handle easily, then much less autistic people. Not even animals should be havimg such treatment. Dont know which exact treatment did you get, but thats not good for many people. Read the story of the guy above you.
My god this is awful. The shocking I expected (from the title of the video) but sensory deprivation & isolation will RUIN autistic people. Being under stimulated is physically and mentally painful, it will lead to huge huge depression issues. The Isolation aswell make me feel sick I’m ND (adhd assumed autism) & at school I was undiagnosed. Punished by isolation. I lost my mind. I began to talk to myself. I began to reevaluate my life. I began to hit anything I could for some stimulation. Often hurting myself. Why are we being punished for the way our brains work. This is disgusting and thank you for speaking up about this. Thank you for having actual autistic/ND voices heard over the parents. Because as much as my parents help they will NEVER understand the feeling, the pain, the senses, the anxiety, the social interactions, the bullying, the public looks, the feeling of a meltdown approaching. Thank you.
As a current ABA therapist I wanna thank you for the education. I didn’t know any of this, and appreciate the point of view and facts. All ABA therapists need this education and point of view
I think you should really consider getting into DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, or Hanen.
This is horrifying. It's almost enforced masking, except the mask is being forced onto a person who doesn't want it by people who aren't interested in that person's opinion. I thought we were past this sort of cruelty. At least, that was what I'd hoped. This is a recipe for PTSD like no other.
It’s fucking torture. It’s forcing a human to go against their basic instincts and nature. Horrible horrible horrible
Exactly!!!!!! It forces children to mask!!!
Welp. I’m screwed. Can’t wait to see how this affects me in adulthood!
-the autistic that was tortured for two straight years of this stuff until they decided I was “good enough” at masking the pain
I’m a 14 yr old autistic and I cried a bit watching this… it is so so sad I wish that this didn’t exist it is horrible
I'm 15 and autistic and same.
I’m 18 and autistic and I agree
I'm a 14 yr old autistic, and I've barely even WATCHED it yet and I feel sad, mostly cuz I've recently been signed up for ABA against my will :)
@@saturnzhornetz44 i feel like at your age, you should have the right to opt out. This is not right at all. I wish I can do something
I am an autistic kid who is 10 years old. I very much agree.
I am a therapist who also has Autism and have been educating all the therapists I work with to steer clear from ABA because we are NOT broken! ABA was developed by the same person who developed conversion therapy, also ABA only forces masking, which causes so many additional issues for Autistic people that are ALL worse than the “behaviors” ABA seeks to stop!
wait who invented conversion therapy
@@SeanHartnett-t8c
Ole Ivar Lovaas founded ABA, participated in gay conversion therapy, and the feminine boy project.
@user-cw3wm9lx7w Ivar Lovaas, the con artist who developed and popularized ABA, co-invented gay conversion therapy. Both use the same systems of rewards and punishments to try to get their victims to mask and comply. ABA practitioners, however, have convinced themselves Lovaas was the most wonderful, empathetic person that ever walked the earth and turn into snarling animals if someone dare suggests otherwise. Lovaas is the L. Ron Hubbard of the ABA world.
I'm a mom of two autistic kids and have to say... you're my hero. Thank you for sharing opinion, experience and being their with your own voice.
I just got my daughter’s diagnosis, thank you for taking the time to spread this.
As a pediatric occupational therapist, I was so happy to hear your shout out ❤ I am frequently explaining my horror of ABA therapy to my colleagues and not everybody knows or understands. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak out against this abusive practice.
Your obvious horror and passion about this subject as well as my own horror at imagining this being done to a child had me crying this whole video. This is something we will look back on as a society with deep shame in the (hopefully near) future.
Dearest Paige, AMEN & GOD BLESS YOU! I am the mom of a beautiful and amazing child who's neurodivergent, and I cannot thank you enough for your brave and candid video(s). I had grave misgivings about ABA, was getting pressure to "just try it", and am striving to protect my child from being forced into reflexive masking, feelings of shame or supposedly being less-than, and burnout from masking - especially later in life...Videos from outspoken neurodivergent folks are so needed and valued by those of us out here who love and cherish the neurodivergent people in our lives (particularly our beloved and beautiful children) - keep up the excellent work! GODSPEED
I really appreciate what you are doing. While my autistic brother never went through ABA, he did have to go through us being told untrue information about himself. I feel disgusted by myself for talking to him like he was a child just because he could not communicate well. I feel horrible that my family put lesser expectations on him just because he was autistic. While he does have a different way of going about things he is just as smart and capable of a person. He excels at certain things just like everyone else in the family. I know content like this is hard for you to make but I appreciate it since it gives a voice to those who can not speak in a way that will be listened to. Thank you.
This is so sad. I am so glad I followed my gut and said no to ABA for my son. The place we went for a diagnosis tried to get us to set up 40 hour ABA right after his diagnosis. But his behaviour was not even that bad .. the impression that I got from aba is that they are trying to "fix" my son's behavior because it makes others uncomfortable. I don't get it, like for example him stimming has no effect on anyone else what should it matter.... Again thank you for this video I am just trying to understand my son better and again I am so glad I followed my gut even though people shamed me for not putting him in ABA if issues arise it is great to know that occupational therapy can be a great option. Thanks for putting this out here to educate us all.
Are there autistic schools out there for just autistic children---without ABA? Where are they? Are they accredited? I don't mean private schools where a religious board determines how children should be treated, but based upon an actually proven scientific approach.
Never enroll him in the JRC that is where they do the GED`s shocks!!!
@@see4182 Why? My kiddo is in public school right now and doing just fine. The only extra help he is getting is with speech therapy and some fine motor skills as well as an extra teacher that helps with other kiddos as well. He is thriving. Unless you're curious cuz you are looking into a school for your kiddo?
If you are curious about a school because you have a kiddo that you're thinking of enrolling, honestly, just go to your public school system, meet all of the teachers you can set up an IEP (individualized education program. At least that's what it's called here in the US). I double checked and made sure no ABA therapies would be used at all in my kids IEP.
You can go from there. If they hate it re-assess and look at other options. Luckily my kiddo who started out in P4J for just 3 hours a day loved it. If he ever had a bad day where I could tell he wasn't going to do well. I would contact the teacher and let her know though it rarely happened. Most public schools are also really good about letting kiddos have sensory toys such as little bracelets rings or chew necklaces, which can help regulate them.
ABA therapy was developed by Ole Ivar Lovaas who was also integral to developing gay conversion therapy. ABA is autism conversion therapy.
ABA Therapy goes beyond that, it's one of the most useful therapies we have.
The problem is psychologist don't do ABA to help the children, they use it to make children "less of a problem".
So instead of finding a creative functional behavior to reinforce instead of problematic behaviors, they'll abuse the child by punishing behaviors that don't do anything wrong (like flapping their hands... like, why in the hell that needs "help" to be reduced?)
@@Comunpostinggood point but by nature it doesn’t work they see us as less
I know that, as you said, you won't read this, but I'm in awe of your way of speach and body/face language. Never in my life I had seen someone who talks so close to the way I talk. The awkward pauses between each word, looking out to the distance and quickly changing directions, the monotone tone that sounds as if you're very angry (I mean in here you probably was, but I keep getting comments about sounding angry in normal situations). It's so uncanny really, to see my own pattern of speach in a mirror like that. I must say, just like people often tell me, it IS difficult to focus at listening first, but I'm pretty sure it becomes more and more natural as you listen to it more. Also you made me think of how funny it would be if this awkwardness was the default way of communication in society, like if everyone was autistic. I imagined tv news being presented this way, what a fun world would that be.
Sorry for calling you awkward, but talking the same way myself, I don't know how else to call it without it sounding demeaning.
Also just because ABA has options that aren’t literally torture does not mean they are good it should be banned because no matter which rout you utilize you’re supporting the actual torture that is happening this needs to be better for autistic people they are PEOPLE
I’m so glad I watched this video and did further research
My son was supposed to start ABA therapy - it was created by the same person who created gay conversion therapy . This is autism conversion therapy!!! I don’t think my sons autism is wrong or needs to be “fixed” I just want my son to have less anxiety and be happy.
Thank you for this information
I’m grateful I found out before he actually had to go through this
I think you should instead consider DIR/Floortime, SCERTS, TEACCH, or Hanen.
it’s almost as if ABA was invented by some sort of edgy white 15 year old
I’m glad listened and made a good choice. You’re a good mom.
It is not accurate to say that B.F. Skinner created gay conversion therapy. While Skinner's work on behaviorism has been used in some forms of conversion therapy, he himself did not advocate for or engage in conversion therapy. Skinner's work focused on understanding and modifying behavior in a variety of contexts and populations, and it was based on the principles of operant and classical conditioning. His work on ABA has been used to help individuals with autism and other developmental disorders, but it is not accurate to say that it was created to be used as a gay conversion therapy.
@@joebob9094
She said Ole Ivar Lovaas, not B. F. Skinner.
Lovaas immigrated from Europe to America and studied under Skinner.
I am hoping this video, or at the very least clips of it, hit people's suggested content who may not actively seek out education about autism. Thank you for educating us. Thank you for constantly striving to make us neurotypical folk realize the detrimental ablist society we live in. And most of all, thank you for providing helpful tips and solutions!!!! You are an angel on this earth.
P.S. I am a super chill neurotypical who LOVES a good stimmy so whoever is taking those away can BITE ME.
I had no idea this was going on! THANK YOU for warning me! My son has not gone to any therapies yet. I will be careful to never allow my child to have therapy outside of my eyesight.
Me too. This was recommended and I started doing research
Shock therapy i have never seen it. I work in an Autistic school and never seen such thing.
ABA therapy with family involved can be beneficial.
Not all Autistic children are verbal, are capable of performing their ADLs and are low functioning. It’s great to advocate, and every child deserves love and safety. I work with an autistic child as a private nurse due to other medical conditions the child has. I can tell you that I have been bitten, kicked and pushed on a daily basis not by my patient but from other kids in her class. All I Can say is that people need to understand and put themselves in the shoes of every teacher, paraprofessional or assistant.
Their job is one of the hardest jobs, and they are under the scrutiny everyday for any little thing !!!! Every parent wants their child safe, but when your child is a threat to other children regardless of the reason they have to keep both of them safe.
When my son was three years old we went to diagnosis and the one of the first things they asked me was "what do you want to change about his behavior"... I didn't even know about aba, but I never went there again. I just didn't feel right. he didn't get diagnosed until recently, we had to because he has a lot of sensory problems at school, and I was so scared because of this shit. Had I known there are genuine, sincere doctors out there who really care about the patients, I would have gone earlier.
@@mily87ful Maybe actually listen to the entire Autistic community, speaking out against how harmful ABA is, instead of trying to excuse ABA therapy because you're making a living off of it. And even if you yourself might be a decent therapist, 1 person doesn't make enough of a difference to the millions of kids being harmed by this. There's MANY comments in this comment section of people who have had kids who went to ABA, have gone to ABA themselves, or have been ABA therapists, and all of them know how bad it is.
Paige has also made a more recent video react to ABA therapy clips and explaining whats harmful about them, so I'd suggest watching that and getting more educated on why its so harmful. She also explains in there very clearly that being verbal isn't such a necessity in the first place, and most autistic kids DO know what they need or understand whats needed, their body just doesnt know how to respond.
An ABA therapist physically GRABBING a child and pushing their hands down to their lap, not allowing a kid to stim, forcing kids to do things they don't want over and over again until they comply is NOT therapy. It's called compliance training and is the exact same way you treat a dog in training. Plus forcing young kids to spend 40 HOURS a week doing this, having all their bodily autonomy taken away, whilst alaso atteding school is insane and its borderline abuse.
I'm also quite baffled by you making your comment about yourself and other ''care takers'', instead of trying to educate yourself on WHY the majority of the ASD community is so against ABA in more recent years. The audacity to say "All I Can say is that people need to understand and put themselves in the shoes of every teacher, paraprofessional or assistant.", and acting like caretakers are the ''victims'' because people don't put themselves in your shoes.
Yet ABA teaches kids to comply to whatever the therapist says, not stim, not cry, literally be grabbed and forced to put your hands down, and trained like a compliant little helper is fine? Why don't you try to put yourself in their shoes for once. Why do you think it makes more sense to get rid of a childs bodily autonomy, own idetity, force them to comply to disgusting rules, all whilst doing it for 40 hours a week which is what ABA recommends, and that not listen to ASD people speaking out. Why is THAT okay, but you are a victim for people not seeing your side, when you refuse to see people who are screaming in your face that ABA is harmful and to step in THEIR shoes and stop treating them like dogs?
"Every parent wants their child safe, but when your child is a threat to other children regardless of the reason", this is also very much coming across as blatantly ableist. You said YOURSELF that the kid you take care off has never bitten or hit you or harmed you in anyway. The child is just non verbal and has ADL issues, so how does that in ANYWAY put other kids in ''threat''? And even if their is an autistic kid who hits people, do you really think forcing that child to physically put their hands down, and give them ''compliance training'' is the ''cure''? Instead of idk, trying to nicely explain to them that you are hurt, WITHOUT TOUCHING THEM, and make them understad it, and also maybe figure out WHY they are doing this? Do you seriously think autistic kids are just happy little monsters who want to go and beat up or bite others with NO reason at all, cause if thats the case then you clearly lack education on ASD and its just sad.
The self victimization combined with the ableism is just sad.
I really hope you see the light, and check out Paige's other ABA video. If you can watch that video and STILL excuse this horrible ''therapy'', then that's on you.
@@mily87ful Using the term low functioning is a big red flag mate. I used to be a 'low functioning' autisic kid but it turns out we just neglect our own health in return for 'looking normal'
All I can say is you should probably think about how the autistic person's affected instead of this fear mongering bollocks of calling autistic people threats, which is a kinda no-duh statement in the context of ABA therapy. If you're going to put children in purposely stressful situations and force them to suppress symptoms of PTSD and stress, THEYRE GOING TO ACT OUT. Children aren't yours to control, they're their own people, and sometimes they're going to be dicks. Like hell, neurotypical children would bite, scratch and kick if you subjected them to the same thing you subject autistic kids to.
It’s always people who ain’t autistic who is for it, like it’s not them who is going through ABA, listen to the people who actually got autism
I have autism and I wish I was diagnosed earlier, so I could get ABA as a child. I know that some therapists are abusive, but that’s far from all of them. ABA would’ve been great for me.
@@the_5th_night I'm an ABA therapist, and my clients are all so happy to come to the clinic all the time. Some of them don't even want to go home. I have a client who tells her parents I'm her best friend. People don't like hearing this but ABA is NOT what it once was. Yes, many providers are still terrible, but my generation (I'm 23) truly care about what the autistic community is saying, and we are adjusting a LOT based on the feedback and criticism.
@@avapilsen Any evidence to support that?
@@the_5th_night
You don't know much about the core of ABA then, anyone who thinks about us as humans seriously sees no value in behaviourist approaches.
One of the core beliefs of ABA is that humans don't have a core, there's nothing but surface equating us to everything else as if humans are objects and not subjects.
Anyone who has done actual psychology instead of ABA education know that ABA principles make people more selfish.
Psychologists claim it's more important how a person is motivated than how much a person is motivated. Is the person intrinsically or extrinsically motivated is what matters more, ABA doesn't believe in intrinsic motivation.
Punishment, Extinction, Negative Reinforcement, and Positive Reinforcement have no good lasting effects and the seen changes all come at a cost.
If you reward or praise a child for being generous or caring they become more greedy and selfish. They were being generous and caring intrinsically, and extrinsic motivators (including praise) destroy that intrinsic motivation to be generous and caring. Keep rewarding and praising them and you keep making them more and more selfish that they will only be generous and caring if you're going to reward them for it.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! My son is autistic, and I am grateful for autistics like you who have educated me about ABA, and because of you and others sharing about your experiences, thoughts, perspectives, and the life you live every single day, I will NEVER put my son in ABA therapy, and I am an ally and will share what I know with other neurotypical moms! Thank you.
I had absolutely no idea something like ABA even existed. How disgusting. Listening to this and hearing about the injustice caused so much sadness in me. Thank you for sharing this information. I will look into things I can do here in the States to help irradicate this absurd form of "therapy."
I know it’s been a while since you posted, and you’re not looking at the comments, but I wanted to thank you for this video. I applied to be an ABA behavioral technician in the US thinking I was about to help families and autistic children. I hope you know how appreciative I am to come across this video so I could avoid that path, and I hope to continue expanding my knowledge learning from you to understand how to genuinely help others.
Thank you Paige, I have an autistic pre-teen and I really think she can benefit from associating with you and your content. Thank you so much. I love my daughter so much and I would NEVER want to subject her to these terrible things. THANK YOU SO MUCH....
Thank you for speaking up for so many of us, especially us who don't speak 😌
I love that you masked less for this video. Please keep taking up space 💖
We need you kid.
I hope you're happy and healthy.
I had no idea that people use electroshock I actually had to stop the video to process this. I am appalled this is one hundred percent abuse no question. LISTEN TO AUTISTIC PEOPLE! I admire your bravery and how hard this must have been to even talk about. Thank you for sharing. Please 🙏 everyone who wants to advocate more for Autistic people please share this video!
As an autistic person who didn’t get diagnosed until I was 18, I just learned a BUNCH. Thank you for educating me on myself and the horrors that others like me have had to suffer. As an educator, I’m excited to learn MORE so I can help protect my students
hi paige, thank you so much for making this video. i’m in the process of writing a letter to my parents explaining autism and why i would like to seek a diagnosis. i’ve tried to include as much reputable information on autism as i can since there is a lot harmful misinformation out there and they are not very educated on the topic. i’ll definitely link this as an extra resource they can check out (i’m trying to make sure the majority of the information i get is from actual autistic people). anyway, thank you for all of your videos, they’ve helped me a lot on my process of self diagnosis. sending love💕