Do-It-Yourself ABA Site: What's Your Opinion?
The mission of rethink autism is offering parents and professionals immediate access to effective and affordable Applied Behavior Analysis-based treatment tools for the growing population affected by autism spectrum disorders. Our web-based platform includes a comprehensive curriculum, hundreds of dynamic instructional videos of teaching interactions, step-by-step training modules, and progress tracking features.After visiting the site and viewing the sample, I have to say I wasn't quite sure how to react. Yes, the video was clear and the interaction between therapist and child was positive. But the demo lesson -- "Appropriate Hands While Sitting" -- confused me.
The program is really designed for home use (as opposed to classroom use), and I've never heard the term "appropriate hands" used in a home setting. Truth is,so far as I know there is no special reason why a child should be taught to put his hands on a table in front of him (rather than at his sides, on his knees, etc.). I can only assume that the hidden agenda for the lesson was to either halt masturbation or limit "stimming" (self-stimulation through hand flapping or positioning). Since "stimming" is a self-calming activity for many children on the spectrum, I have to wonder whether "extinguishing" the behavior at home is really necessary or even a good thing.
As I looked through additional lessons, I found that the demos included some that seemed more like speech therapy than like behavior therapy (teaching the use of prepositions), some that were academic in content, and some that were very generally focused on social skills ("Helping Others"). There was no general table of contents, so I was unable to determine whether any of the lessons were really appropriate for parent/child home use -- that is, focused on ordinary daily life skills that parents typically teach to children. I found, for example, no lessons on tooth brushing, table skills, managing trips to the grocery store, and so forth.
I invite you to visit the Rethink Autism site, and let us know what you think. Would you use these lessons with your child? Do you approve of a tool that allows parents to provide behavioral therapy without the involvement of a therapist? Share your thoughts!
Comments
I lost interest in ABA in 1995 when “The ME Book” said to teach children to play. Uh, if you have to teach them to play, it is work. It is not my intervention of choice and I do have a bias against it. So, I am not a good judge of this site. Even if it were free and Mom-run, I would not be interested in ABA. . .
Lisa,
I’ve seen the science advisors listed as associated, and those are some pretty reputable and expert people, however, I’m of mixed feelings until I trial this out myself up close and personal. I *guess* if one was going to try to attempt to home brew an ABA program because of difficulty of locating a consultant or an attempt to cost control, or for whatever reason, it would be useful to have some kind of template or example which this could provide. I don’t have a sense whether this is meant as a supplement or standalone. I am sure that they would prefer to have some consultant or real-time oversight.
FWIW, perusing the website for a scope and sequence, I found this sheet stated as “sample programs” which does include those self-help skills you stated as being unable to locate, toothbrushing, for example.
http://www.rethinkautism.com/AboutUs/downloads/sample_curriculum.pdf
Regina – thanks for finding that! I clicked around and looked at the list of samples and couldn’t find that “scope and sequence.” My bad.
Also: there’s a disclaimer on the site saying that they do recommend working with a therapist. This program is intended to be either interim or supplementary — though my feeling is that it will likely be used as a program in itself since it’s low-cost and easy to implement.
I’d love to hear from an ABA therapist about this.
Lisa
Thanks for your interest in our website and feedback about the content! As a web-based platform, we strive to develop our product on an ongoing basis, with openness to feedback from self-advocates, parents, and professionals alike. Our impressive Scientific Advisory Board also pushes us to explore new areas for future development.
My name is Jamie Pagliaro, and I work at rethink autism. I previously ran a public charter school for children with autism in NYC, and have been working in the field of autism education for the past 15 years. I know first-hand the challenges faced by both parents and professionals in delivering high-quality services to children with autism at home and school.
Our platform includes hundreds of step-by lesson videos that show you how to teach, and the curriculum is always expanding. The skills can be taught at home or in school. Users begin by completing a skills assessment that allows our system to customize the recommended lessons for each child. By recording their results with a child, users can also get “coached” on when to move forward with a lesson, and see reports on a child’s progress over time.
All of the lessons are based on the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which is currently the approach recommended for children with autism by the American Academy of Pediatrics. ABA is sometimes referred to as Behavior Therapy or Behavioral Intervention, and the field has progressed quite a bit since the “Me Book” and initial Lovaas studies. ABA incorporates science-based teaching strategies that have been shown to maximize the learning potential of individuals with autism. ABA is flexible, individualized and dynamic, and learning can take place in a student’s home, the community, school, or at a clinic. It can be used to teach a wide array of skills, including language, socialization, academics, leisure and activities of daily living (e.g., self-care). It may also be used to address behaviors that interfere with learning or present danger.
Our curriculum currently spans 8 categories and over 20 sub-categories, with lessons at basic, intermediate and advanced levels. I encourage visitors to “Print Curriculum Overview” on our Sample Lesson page (http://www.rethinkautism.com/AboutUs/SampleLessons.aspx) to get a more compete sense of the kinds of skills we may recommend teaching. In addition, we continue to add new lessons and training videos on an ongoing basis – one of the unique features of being a web-based platform!
The American Academy of Pediatrics specifically recommends 25 hours to week of ABA as early as possible in their 2007* report. Unfortunately, we know that many families have limited or no access to these kinds of services. In addition, many public schools struggle to keep up with the growing demand for autism services.
Our platform is not meant to replace a professional. In fact, as one of the previous commenters noted, we strongly recommend that users consult regularly with a qualified professional. Most professionals will tell you that engaging parents and teachers is one of the most important (and challenging!) aspects of delivering effective services. Our platform was meant to give parents and professionals the tools to get everyone involved in a coordinated manner. Such tools have not previously existed. Now, with rethink autism, these tools are accessible to anyone with an internet connection.
Finally, with regards to the lesson “Keeping Hands Appropriate While Sitting” – this is a core lesson intended for a child that cannot attend to basic instructions due to high rates of repetitive hand movements. This lesson may not be appropriate for all children, and our assessment can help users determine this. In addition, our system can help users identify and teach more age/socially-appropriate alternative skills for a child who enjoys engaging in these kinds of repetitive movements.
Thanks again for taking a look at our website, and please feel free to forward any additional comments or questions to us at: info@rethinkautism.com
REFERENCE:
*Management of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Myers, Scott M., MD, (October 2007), American Academy of Pediatrics.
Hi Lisa,
To be square about it, the first time I clicked around I didn’t find that sheet either, and you are one up on me on finding the note about “interim or supplementary”–helpful to know. Thank you.
Isn’t that what parents of kids with autism do anyway? behavioral therapy for their kids? Are we not redirecting and teaching our kids appropriate behaviors? A behavioral therapist or ABA therapist cant be there 24/7, so why cant the parent(s) become more involved? It creates a less clinic atmosphere for the child, eliminates the ever changes in therapists and the expense they charge.
I cant say I agree with the sites program, but any program would need to be structured for that child so a web based instruction for this can only be used as an example. And actually in the end, I’ve heard many times that the parents knows their child the best so them being the one to create such a intervention would be all the more power to them. At the same time, one also has to consider when and if a parent ever get’s to be just that, a simple parent? I’m not sure that’s at all possible with a child with autism, it seems parenting is much different than that of another, and if one has more than one child taking this on their own could prove more difficult.
I do the “stimming” of hand-flapping myself. I’m 32 years old. I can change it so that my hands are at my sides, fisted, and no one is the wiser. When I’m home, I flap away. Me and my youngest have hand-flapping contests. I do tell him to be careful of his “fly zone” so he doesn’t accidentily hurt someone… but I don’t see the need to teach “appropriate” hand placement, other than to stop masturbation or touching of others in inappropriate ways which all parents must teach their kids.
I’m going to be writing an article about Jonathan Mitchell who is against ABA (as well as a few other traditional models of thinking) and he happens to have autism as well. His link is http://www.autismgadfly.blogspot.com/ and it’s one view. I’d love to see what an ABA therapist says to his views as well as rethinkautism’s stuffs.
In applied behavior analysis programs or interventions a lot of time is devoted to teaching language. Because speaking and other behaviors which are together called language are behaviors like any others, and as such respond to the same contingencies, well trained behavior analysts are very good at shaping language, from the simplest to the more complex. Speech, writing, you name it. I thought it was a little funny that it looks like speech pathology because a child is being taught language. One thing is the target behavior and another is the methodology for teaching.
I like the program, and think it could be easily used by a parent even without professional help if they have done generally reading with ABA, and have seen a session or two.