Green: I do feel for parents because as soon as their kid is diagnosed they are just, especially in the States, they are bombarded from all sides. “You need to put them into 40 hours of ABA or they’ll never do this, they’ll never do that, they’ll never do the other thing." #BetterWaysThanABA 75/
Green: And I have now seen multiple testimonies from parents who had put their child through ABA, through full-time hours of ABA for years, who are aghast at what they did. It’s so scary.
#BetterWaysThanABA 74/
Don't be fooled by the "new and nicer" ABA therapy: "In 'play-based' [ABA] sessions, toys are often not used for genuine exploration or creativity. They’re used as reinforcers, a behavioral currency. Play isn’t child-led; it’s adult-orchestrated."
endseclusion.org/2025/10/31/t... #BetterWaysThanABA
Another ABA therapy sticking point: "Conditioning a child to 'play right' may look harmless in the short term. But the message it sends is 'your way is wrong; our way is correct.' This becomes a lifelong wound." From @endseclusion.bsky.social:
endseclusion.org/2025/10/31/t... #BetterWaysThanABA
One of the dangers of normalization therapies like ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) is that they can interfere with parents knowing what their autistic kids’ legitimate likes and dislikes—and even personalities—are.
#autism #neurodiversity #BetterWaysThanABA
Another abusive ABA "therapist"? (They're even calling them "technicians" now!) Must be another day that ends in "Y". This field is inherently abusive and attracts abusers, because it trains kids to prioritise compliance over comfort or safety #banaba #betterwaysthanaba
Therapies and other approaches for supporting autistic kids should be neuroaffirming—meaning working with their neurology and how that influences their sensory and social perceptions—rather than ABA therapy’s model of “normalization” through conditioned compliance.
#autism #BetterWaysThanABA
Plus, many contemporary incentives behind implementing ABA therapy have nothing to do with helping autistic clients, and instead are about profits, private equity, and milking an emerging market. #BetterWaysThanABA
Did you know that ABA therapy’s widespread adoption “was not driven by consensus among developmental pediatricians, but by insurance mandates, billing incentives, and a cultural push for normalization”?
kevinmd.com/2025/11/a-pe... #BetterWaysThanABA #autism #neurodiversity
"ABA therapy does not teach children to be typical. It teaches children to act 'normal,' all the while inhibiting them from finding their own normal." From @cosmichael.bsky.social, at TPGA:
thinkingautismguide.com/2018/05/why-... #autism #autistic #BetterWaysThanABA
Today in #BetterWaysThanABA: yep, ABA is indeed implicated in long-lasting and serious mental health crises for young people, according to in-depth new research. But go ahead and tell us how ABA is the "gold standard" again? @nahime.bsky.social et al:
journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1... #autism
I honestly believe that most parents who put their autistic kids in ABA therapy want to help their kids. But what they don't know (because how could most parents know?) is that they will be traumatizing their child by putting them in conversion therapy.
SO PLEASE SHOUT IT LOUDER: #BetterWaysThanABA
I've never seen a single skill taught to an autistic kid by an ABA therapist that required ABA therapy to be learned. Not one.
I *have* seen many harms imposed upon autistic kids because ABA therapists considered autistic traits like sensory needs "behaviors," however.
#BetterWaysThanABA #autism
No kid should be in "therapy" for 40 hours/week. And no one would do that to a non-autistic kid; why is it OK for autistic kids?
#BetterWaysThanABA #autism #neurodiversity
Is it even possible to reform ABA therapy? Still skeptical but this is better than nothing:
"Comparison between naturalistic and structured intervention components additionally showed that autistic participants favored naturalistic strategies."
link.springer.com/article/10.1... #BetterWaysThanABA
"People who can’t say no can’t say yes meaningfully. Looking happy isn’t meaningful if you’re rewarded for affecting happiness & punished for looking visibly distressed. Making the best of a bad situation isn’t consent." By Real Social Skills:
realsocialskills.org/2015/07/17/a... #BetterWaysThanABA
There is no "Good ABA therapy," as "Removing aversives from ABA has not resulted in changes to the underlying theories & aims of ABA; that is, to make people with [intellectual & developmental disabilities] ‘indistinguishable from peers.'”
thinkingautismguide.com/2025/03/when... #BetterWaysThanABA
#AutINSAR A3: Concerns—lack of attention on aging amongst Autistics; too many non-Autistics doing research on Autistics without considering ethics and without understanding Autistic ways of being; too many efforts to ‘cure’/ find causality (again); huge lack of attention on #BetterWaysThanABA
"We trained two autistic people to ask for a thing and behave in the way we wanted, this is interesting"
There are #BetterWaysThanABA.
Please don't use it.
Link to an article outlining Locaas' links to fascists. TW for mention of eugenics, abuse. Surprise, he's a liar. ABAers will probably claim this isn't relevant; the same way they gloss over the electric shock, slapping etc
#Autistic #BetterWaysThanABA
lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-...
I don't know if many people understand what ABA teams are trained to do.
So, in a way, I'm glad that this paper has set it out so clearly.
Choose kind, caring approaches instead, please.
Ask the autistic specialists and our allies for their wise advice.
#BetterWaysThanABA
"Many families and most autistic advocates do not think ABA therapy should be funded at all. And there’s a robust body of research that shows ABA therapy is not science-based." Anne Borden King, at TPGA:
thinkingautismguide.com/2024/12/how-... #BetterWaysThanABA #Autism #neurodiversity
“It is nothing short of stunning to learn just how widely and intensely ABA is loathed by autistic adults who are able to describe their experience with it.” From @alfiekohn.bsky.social:
nepc.colorado.edu/blog/autism-... #BetterWaysThanABA #neurodiversity #autism
#BetterWaysThanABA will lead to a variety of organisations & ideas, on this platform & others.
a) Listening to the person & family & collaborating on solutions
b) Getting really good modern training on autism
c) Supporting their actual needs
Most other professionals do a v good job of this.
It is, ruefully, possible that my autistic son has always had these headaches, but that when he was younger and we were interpreting his autism through an applied behavior analysis lens, we considered his pain episodes “autistic behaviors” rather than distress. #BetterWaysThanABA 5/
Square Canva image with a black background. White block text reads, "Autistic behavior is often but not always communication. It can also be an issue with impulsivity or motor control, or an uncontrollable obsessive/compulsive urge"; the words "not always" are red. Small white text at the bottom reads, "@ThinkingAutism" and "tinyurl.com/NotAllBehaviorIsCommunication"
"I used to teach that all behavior is communication, and I’m trying to undo that teaching now, as I’ve learned from autistic people that all behavior isn’t necessarily communication." At TPGA.
thinkingautismguide.com/2016/08/when...
#neurodiversity #BetterWaysThanABA #autism
I’m sure you believe what you are typing. We stand behind #BetterWaysThanABA
Essential read...
#Autism #AuDHD #Neurodivergent #ActuallyAutistic #BetterWaysThanABA
Square Canva graphic with a white background. In the lower right corner is a circular photo of a small Black child smiling at a Black woman while holding her face. Black text reads, "ProPublica missed the real story about insurance & ABA therapy. How could they get it so wrong?" "by Anne Borden King, at TPGA" "@ThinkingAutism "tinyurl.com/ProPublicaABAtherapy"
As a historian of Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA therapy), Anne Borden King knows @propublica.org missed the real story about insurance and autism therapy. The question is, how could they get it so wrong? At TPGA.
thinkingautismguide.com/2024/12/how-... #BetterWaysThanABA
