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My response from the 23rd never made it to the list, but here's the gist (and

then some). Reg is right on the nose with the comment about programs

incorrectly being labeled as ABA programs. Some individuals believe that ABA

is sitting down at a table in a one-to-one arrangement, correcting mistakes,

giving food to the child when he or she is correct, and repeating the trials

until the child is correct for 80% of 10 trials. That is NOT ABA.

Programs that 1) do not select socially significant objectives, 2) do not

define and measure behavior, 3) do not use research designs to show influence

of the procedures, 4) do not detail, in writing, how skills are being taught,

5) do not demonstrate effective changes, and 6) do not design curriculum so

that the skills of interest show up at the right times for the right reasons,

are not doing ABA (I left out the part about linking to conceptual systems as

I believe that that is more appropriate for journal submissions).

In some schools one will find people attempting to teach students various

objectives, not because the student needs to learn the information, but

because the teacher has done something similar in the past. One also will

find teachers endlessly subjecting a student to a procedure that does not

result in the student learning. My heart sank when I recently learned about

a school that was trying to teach a 16-year-old to name some of the letters

of the alphabet, and that they had been using the same procedures for 2

years! Data is not something that is collected because the act of collecting

data is part of an ABA program; it is a record that is supposed to change

teaching behavior. Taking all those numbers or symbols and transforming them

into a visual display (e.g., graph) is supposed to make the interpretation of

what's going on, easier. If it doesn't, then something needs to change. In

some schools one will find people paying no consideration to the student's

dignity. The student may be restrained in front of peers; food crumbs on

clothing, body parts, or education materials; undignified language towards

the student used; etc...

None of this is consistent with ABA, but people will say that they are " using

ABA, " and when others see these practices and equate them with ABA, it's no

wonder that those individuals would say " no way is my child going to be

subjected to that stuff. " Nor is it surprising that individuals with a

limited understanding of ABA would latch onto egregious anecdotes and portray

the field in that false light.

I once had an individual on another list tell me that Hitler used ABA to kill

the Jews. Never mind the fact that ABA wasn't even around for at least

another 20 years; people hold strong, erroneous convictions. However, it's

not only the detractors that spread misinformation, it's also the supporters.

People will tell you ABA is wonderful and won't have a clue what it's really

all about. So as Reg said, not everything that is called ABA is ABA. Get

information. One place to start is: http://www.behavior.org. Visit the

programs; get independent evaluations from qualified individuals. Look up

some of the qualified individuals at http://www.bacb.com

Warm regards,