A Theoretical Aside I have repeatedly mentioned here on this blog that I am not a fan of Applied Behavioral Analysis (link). I have stated that I hold these objections for various reasons: I consider ABA to be compliance training and I have grave concerns regarding the long-term consequences of teaching disabled youth that compliance … More Why ABA is not Effective: A Behavior Analysis Perspective
An Educational Aside I am watching the US education system not very subtly invite punishment back into the mainstream classroom. This appears to be driven by the field of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA). Recently their governing body started to loosen the reins on the therapeutic application of aversive stimuli and intervention plans have since started … More Defining Reinforcement and Punishment for Educators
Why Haven’t They Done That Yet? I have been in many classrooms where the behavior specialists come in and suggest methods to overcome a persistent challenging behavior in class. I always had to work to keep my mouth shut when I hear these professionals suggest planned ignore, praise around, and behavior charts as a panacea … More Moving Beyond Planned Ignore and Proximity Prase: Strategies to Address Challenging Behaviors
An Educational Aside I have been thinking a lot lately a lot about why students break the rules and push boundaries and what we, as teachers and parents, can do about it. What I have come to a rather simple conclusion that I think is borne out in the literature. I believe there are … More Why Do So Many Autistic Students Constantly Test Boundaries
A Theoretical Aside TW/CW for the below sections: Abuse, Restraint, Injury, Language Well, we are back to this again. Some local school districts have approved more invasive manual restraint and forced physical guidance techniques for use on K-12 students. Since this will disproportionally apply to students in special education, and more particularly to autistic students, … More On Restraint…and How it is Used Incorrectly
Why Haven't They Done That Yet? 