I'm super interested in what prompted you towards exposing Lovaas. I appreciate the effort AND the writing quite a bit. I would love to add this to my compendium of anti-ABA and -radical behaviorism.
Thanks for sharing it! Well, I have been involved in neurodiversity activism in Norway for several years, writing several pieces in the Norwegian press about the abusive and pseudoscientific character of ABA. And I also work as a historian. So, I though it was time for someone other than ABAers to..
(I also, am not paid to do this work... but it's work that I feel is critical and, as a speech/language therapist and coach... it contributes to my pedagogy and praxis.)
It's wild to me because we now have A LOT of RCTs. And with that replication? The data all points in the direction that ABA is not doing what it says it's doing.
Yet... the radical behaviorists continue to sing the song of, "The largest evidence base," but they never share that the base points in the direction of: This is not at all effective, there are likely harms being done, plus look at all this conflict of interest.
..look into the history of ABA. And it seemed logical to start with Lovaas, as he was one of the first to do this with autistic children, and he was also a bridge between the US and Norway, probably the two countries in which ABA is most common (but my paid work is on other topics, so...
..I´ve had to do this research on my free time, which means I won´t be writing the full history of ABA and autistic people any time soon, unfortunately)
Wondering if he was also a pedophile, since many of those who are arrested for those crimes, tend to have extreme right wing affiliation.
🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽lovaas.
Comments
I accumulated meta-analyses and systematic reviews of RCTs and self-published a piece awhile back:
https://www.inclusionnow.space/2022/05/10/in-plain-language-we-should-stop-using-applied-behavior-analysis/
I never considered that ABA would/might also be popular in Norway, though it obviously makes sense.
🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽🖕🏽lovaas.