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This is a complex topic, making it challenging to concisely and accurately summarize. It's hard to find a good way to start, but let's dive in and do our best.

Several years ago PBT founder, Heather, started to learn about the anti-ABA movement and strong criticisms of ABA from Autistic adults. While this movement was new to her, it is not new historically. Many Autistic adults and allied providers have criticized ABA for harsh, traumatic approaches and practices. Some of these techniques include: extreme planned ignoring and removing all attention or support during meltdowns or other challenging behavior, forcing eye contact, suppressing non-harmful self-stimulatory behaviors, intentionally evoking intense challenging behaviors, and heavily relying on extinction bursts to "change" behavior, in which preferred items, activities,  attention, and/or breaks (i.e., reinforcers) are denied or withheld until a direction is followed or a task completed. There are other criticisms as well, but these are some specific examples.

In this case, a common assertion is that ABA supports ableist views that either outright or insidiously assume Autistic people are "broken" or inferior. Similarly, critics say that ABA clinicians do not embrace or even fully understand neurodiversity and they attempt to make Autistics appear more neurotypical or "normal."

At PBT, we work hard to evaluate and change lingering ableist practices, which can be tough because some of these views are subconscious or deeply ingrained in ways we may not initially notice. We know and have seen that ABA can create meaningful, empowering change for people, including children, parents, caregivers, and the greater community. It is our mission to: 

• Constantly evaluate the language we use to conceptualize and discuss our clients
• Think more wholistically about our clients' needs
• Adapt our practices when new information is learned (including a majority viewpoint from the community we serve)
• Understand how trauma and burnout impact our clients and manifest behaviorally
• Provide better neurodivergent-affirming support overall

You can check out some of our social media content (links below) to get more information and examples about our philosophies and practices.