Autism's answer

I was watching a whole range of laughing babies on YouTube with a friend yesterday, and then I thought hey, why not speech therapy? I came across various videos of speechies doing all sorts of sessions, and then came across these ABA autism videos...I think it's from a group of people in Australia. One video (one of many made by this YouTube user) was viewed quite a bit more than others. The parents of the child featured on this video appear to be advocates of ABA therapy, or to say it in other words, their child appeared to benefit from ABA therapy. And yes, I think it's great, but not for everyone and you have to really know what you're doing. My struggle to understand ABA and its place comes up when I see how it is based on behavioral theories, strictly observational...but then see how communication, one of the largest difficulties with autism, is so much more than simple cause-effect...so much to communication is subtle...I see so many kiddos that do benefit from ABA, but then hit a wall...they can say a whole bunch of words and will stop and listen when told, but then don't initiate...that's the huge wall that needs to be climbed. Can ABA teach a child to initiate? Another issue to want to know more about is, how does ABA address language function and use? They can teach language form and content just fine, but to use language in a social context...that is lost. What then is knowing language if you don't use it? It's so hard to untrain rote phrases and the idea that if I say something, I'd get something...communication is so much more than that...it starts with intentionality--attention, just knowing that there a communication partner around, and then goes all the way up to complex conversations still with that other human being. The child may be able to say his/her name and age and I love you with perfect enunciation when asked, but can he/she say it within context, in play with a peer or when given a hug by mum. I learned early on that the phrase 'I love you' is one that parents hope for, and ask a speechie to train in once the child shows signs of verbal communication...and yet, ironically, it's one of the hardest phrases to teach...it has all those higher level phonemes in it, it's a whole 3 words, and it's an abstract concept.