comments on ABA and communication

[Guest guest]

this is from Dr. Mac from Play To Talk (Communicating Partners- CP)

fame.

I have always been leery of ABA and he sums it up brilliantly why my gut says

it's just got no heart, and is probably, in the long run, not a great

approach.   Anyone can join Dr. Mac's group here

<communicating>

Liora

re: ABA

It really bothers me deeply- so much that I have to keep it out of my

mind at times--that children who most need social learning get into

programs that do just the opposite.

I talked to a

mother whose 10 year old son has been in ABA since everyone told her it

was the best for autism.

It has trained him to

be very passive and not communicative at all.  They question him with

the same thing over and over.  He wants to be alone and is starting to

rebel against the training.  He screams the morning when they come to

insist on their verbal routines.

It was very

sad to hear.

I have to admit that I was pleased

when I hear he has recently gotten rid of two the the " dog trainers " by

being increasingly negative with them.  I could totally understand when she

said he

put one in a head lock.

If I forced you to

answer repeated questions for hours on end, and I would hope you would

just throw me out of your house.

I am so glad

they are coming to see me.  Talk about deprogramming, I will have the

whole family to deprogram.

Why would anyone

want a child to be a passive compliant talker who never  communicates

back and forth.  What people are doing for money drives me batty.

Dr.

Jim

----------------------

and further down the thread is this about education in general:

My main point on the academic-interactive focus is this.

Academic training does not make a child more social.

BUT INTERACTIVE PRACTICE DOES MAKE A CHILD COGNITIVELY MORE ALIVE.

WE LEARN AND USE THE KNOWLEDGE WE GET IN DAILY INTERACTIONS MUCH MORE THAN THE

ACADEMIC FACTS WE GET IN ACADEMIC LEARNING.

It is almost that academics are for work futures while interactive

work is for life.

AND THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT MOST OF OUR LATE- TALKING CHILDREN NEED

SOCIAL LEARNING MUCH MORE THAN THEY DO ACADEMIC LEARNING. ACADEMIC

LEARNING IS FINE ONE A CHILD HAS THE SOCIAL AND COMMUNICATIVE

MOTIVATION TO USE WHAT THEY LEARN.

I am greatly concerned not only for what is missed in academic

training, I am very concerned about what children learn in strict

academic training:

1. to be passive,

2 to value what others want you to learn vs what you personally need

to learn

3. they learn to be less interactive and initiative.

4. they become more followers than independent minded.

5. they learn to value facts over experiences

, 6. they get clogged up in " what's right, what's wrong " instead of

what is useful.

7. They become less concerned about communicating what they care

about.

8 They do not learn the critical skills of friendship.

9 They learn to take and perform rather than to give and exchange.

10, They see people in heirarchical terms: as leaders and masters rather than

partners and

social models.

11. They see learning as being taught, not as social living that

it is.

12. They learning that learning is hard work and not enjoyable.