ABA Blog: Please Help Schools!

2012-02-29

Please Help Schools!

First of all, do they really understand SENSORY? And have they really tried to address the behaviors involved in the episodes they call "sensory overload" using widely accepted / studied behavior management strategies?

If a child does really present with problem behaviors in the presence of certain stimulation that is assessed and demonstrated aversive, please TREAT this child. Behavior analysis offers a variety of strategies to define, assess, and change behavior! Laws demand that scientific evidence (famous evidence-based expression comes from this) be used to treat people and help them live better. Anything different is not acceptable.

Huff Post says the school's Principal came up with the explanation below, exposing a complete lack of respect for the dignity of this child, to say the least. Even if there was demonstrated sensory overload, obeying all possible definitions and assessment of the contingencies under which the target behaviors occurred, how could this action be justified?

Thank you Elizabeth Newman for your work, explained in an interview to David Celiberti, Association for Science in Autism Treatment's president, in the Winter 2012 issue of Science in Autism Treatment.

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