Applied Behavior Analysis
It is a very complicated issue. If you mention it in most online Autism spaces/communities you’re likely to get very strong and harsh reactions and feedback about it. I assure you, it is not unwarranted. It’s surprising that despite the strong and visceral response from folks, ABA Therapy is still an ongoing and usually the first recommended treatment for folks with Autism Spectrum Disorder. I know I’ve been perplexed by it. Hearing testimony of those who experienced it and those who provide it would naturally make you doubt that these folks are talking about the same thing. And that is, I believe, exactly the problem. It would seem that the ABA of today is not necessarily the ABA of yesterday. And it turns out that not everything that’s called ABA or done under the name of ABA, actually is ABA.
Read more about this in this New Yorker article “The Argument Over A Long Standing Autism Intervention”.
https://www.newyorker.com/science/annals-of-medicine/the-argument-over-a-long-standing-autism-intervention
Listen to this NPR-PBS-WHYY radio episode about it “The Battle Over Autism Therapy”.
https://whyy.org/episodes/the-battle-over-autism-therapy-aba/