Autism: Challenging Behaviorexplores the history of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) and how it has been employed as an intervention totrain children with autism. The main thing that stood out in the documentary was the preconception that autism needs to be cured and controlled. It was especially disturbing listening to the Swedish man and his apparent ‘curing’ of autism and his opinions on the same. This was upsetting. However, I was raptby the mother who was suffering from ASD and her comments that she did not want to change the soul of her child and the society should embrace difference. The documentary portrays that an autistic child has to change to fit into the norms of the society as opposed to the society adjusting to them.

The documentarygave the impression that ABA was about reprogramming the autistic child. The use of sweets as inducements to train behavior was appalling. It brings about queriessuch as; what is this teaching the child? Why not use other forms of rewards? What if it does not work in the long term? Personally, it seemed Pavlovian. The applicationof ABA does not meanthe condition has been cured,it has simply beenrepressed or bottled-up. This does not prepare the child for life as an adult. One weakness of the documentary is that it failed to show home situations where the child was receiving other forms of interventions such as, onetoone support via portage, speech and language therapy, and the use of visual symbols. These were missing.

In conclusion, I am of the opinion that Applied Behavior Analysis can work excellently well for specific children in particular situations, however, it is not prudent to apply it as the single form of support. Considerations such as the child’s age as well as a balance of factors such as need to change, distress and understanding of the child need to be taken into thought. Once all these dynamics have been considered, other more apposite methods and therapies may be realized. Autism is too eclectic to suppose that only one approach works.

References

Robertson, F. (Director). (2013). Autism: Challenging Behaviour [Motion Picture]. Retrieved June 12, 2014, from https://www.dropbox.com/sh/aso1ktf9usw77m4/AAAVqU2C5ig537B5wEEbYTu8a

 
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