Farewell ABA, Your Services Are No Longer Needed

by Katrina Martin on September 21, 2021

Imagine if someone told you that they will give you a delicious ice cream cone of your favorite flavor— two scoops, sprinkles, cherry on top, the works! Sound good, right? You want that ice cream? Great, now that you’re fully motivated, here is your task…

…All you have to do is breathe underwater.

No? Surely, though, if you get something you really want, then you’ll do it. Maybe you don’t like ice cream enough? What if someone gave you $100 to breathe unassisted under water, instead? Still no? How about a punishment—if you can’t breathe underwater, I will take $100 dollars from you.

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) suggests that if the reward and/or consequence is motivating enough, strong enough, coercive enough, the behavior will occur. But of course, that just isn’t true. There is nothing that anyone can give you, or take away from you, that will make breathing underwater with the body you have any less unnatural and impossible.

I can hear you thinking, “But, NO one can breathe underwater!”

Frogs can. Fish can. Just be a frog or a fish. Just be something you are not. That’s what ABA logic is expecting of autistic children. It suggests that they just become something that they are not.

But you know someone who has “benefitted” from ABA. Someone who now looks more neurotypical.

What does ABA compliance look like?

Neurodivergent kids don’t engage in neurotypical behavior naturally. However, sometimes the manipulation is strong enough that they learn to suppress their natural behaviors in order to perform expected ones. Children assume unnatural actions, body positions, and demeanors to escape consequences or the withholding of rewards.

You can’t breathe underwater, but you want that reward. So, you hold your breath. The longer you mask your natural behaviors and appear to complete the desired outcome, the stronger you need air. This takes an enormous toll on the body and psyche; your lungs begin to burn, you start to feel lightheaded, and your body is tiring quickly. Your brain begins to question whether this actually something you need. Everyone around you seems to do this without any problems. Your ability to validate yourself and trust your own body disintegrates rapidly. You can only keep the mask on for so long before your brain and body cannot physically tolerate this unnatural state any longer.

The mask comes off because you have to breathe.  You gasp for air; you have failed. You have lost the reward and your apparent meltdown comes “out of nowhere.”

Let’s be clear. Forcing behavior compliance is abuse.

According to Autism Speaks—an organization notorious for prioritizing the wants of non-autistics over autistic needs– “The goal [of ABA] is to increase behaviors that are helpful and decrease behaviors that are harmful or affect learning.” The unspoken part of ABA is that what is deemed helpful, harmful, or “in need of remediation” are all driven by a neurotypical worldview and are steeped in ableism. In this worldview, values and beliefs that are held by the neuro-majority drive the goals and perceived needs of those who are deemed different.

The goals of ABA are rooted in what is comfortable, “normal,” and understandable to neurotypicals, not what works for the autistic individuals. Consider, for a moment, a few of the behaviors that are targeted for intervention within an ABA setting. Behaviors like:

• Child will expressively label 50 nouns
• Child will give eye contact
• Child will play appropriately with toys

What if we looked at these through understanding what autistic and neurodivergent students’ needs really are?

If you want to support the real needs of autistic and neurodivergent children, it is crucial that you adopt an anti-ABA approach.

What does an anti-ABA approach look like?

At Bridges Learning System, we can help you re-frame your thinking away from the all-encompassing burden of constant data used to determine how close to “normal” your student/client is. With our curriculum, we cultivate an appreciation for the strengths and uniquities that make up everyone.

At Bridges, we:

• Validate and hold space for a diversity of needs.
• Develop effective communication in ways that are natural for the individual.
• Support bridges of understanding between neurotypical and neurodivergent individuals.
• Encourage students to pursue their interests and engage in ways that allow them to be their authentic selves.
• Celebrate and foster the inherent strengths that exist not in spite of neurodivergence, but because of it.

So, ABA, farewell. We’ve listened to the autistic and neurodivergent communities. We know there is a better way to meet the real needs of neurodivergent students, and with that, your services are no longer needed.

If you’ve been wondering what an anti-ABA curriculum looks like, explore our SEA Bridge curriculum.