…yeah neither of my autistic kids have needed ABA or anything like it to develop social skills outside of school and neither have I. And before you say “hem hem you must be MILD,” both of my boys are considered moderate needs. Both of them have speech and occupational therapy to help them adjust to a neurotypical world, and beyond that, they have accommodations in their classrooms to help them with their sensory needs and other areas that can’t be helped with therapy. We opted out of ABA for both of them; the ABA we DID get for my younger son before he started public school was roughly useless.

ABA by definition is about behavior, not social skills or coping skills. It’s about training autistic kids to act less autistic, which can be absurdly traumatic. I understand you’re drawing on your experience as a special Ed teacher, but in ignoring the experiences and opinions of autistic adults and autistic kids, you’re coming across as the kind of teacher I’d want to stay at least a thousand miles away from my kids.

That’s not how the autism spectrum works. It’s not more or less autistic, and those within the autism community prefer to talk about high versus low needs as a reflection not of a person being super duper or a little autistic but rather of what they actually need.

And yes, the language matters, at it focuses on what the autistic person needs, not how inconvenient they are to the people around them.

Nah this is a pretty standard feeling among adults with autism as well as those of us who’ve experienced ABA with our kids. What autistic kids need isn’t to be trained out of their autism but rather to have a program that actually works with them and their neurodivergence. Models like floor time are significantly more in line with more modern research that’s not looking to erase or cure autism, as it’s not something that can be cured.

Which isn’t to say that I think homeschooling is necessary, but ABA is useless at best and abusive at worst.