A controversial online petition calling for a ban on applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment for children with autism in the Netherlands has gathered 2,400 signatures in recent weeks. Parents are comparing it to homosexual conversion therapy, Trau reports.
Strictly speaking, ABA is a set of therapies aimed at teaching everyday skills and forgetting autistic behaviors such as uncontrolled movement and avoidance of eye contact. This treatment originated in the United States and is on the rise in the Netherlands.
Last year, LBVSO, an interest group for secondary and special education students, received 450 complaints about ABA from parents and children. According to LBVSO, there are hundreds of providers of this behavior therapy in the Netherlands.
According to complaints received by LBVSO, three-quarters of students experienced the treatment as traumatic. “And more than 90 percent of them have since been formally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” says LBVSO founder Elijah Delsink, who has autism himself. He compared ABA to homosexual conversion therapy. “With ABA treatment, children must stop autistic behaviors such as arm flapping and other tics. This is done through punishment and reward. They learn to behave normally, which is painful for many.”
Sander Begier, professor of diversity and autism at VU University Amsterdam, is also hesitant about ABA. “In the short term, improvements in communication, social behavior, and intelligence can be seen. However, the long-term effects have not been adequately studied. More and more adults are looking back on their traumatic training sessions with regret and resentment.” But he insisted on proper research before banning treatments.
Maarten van Eugen, State Secretary for Public Health, told Trau that he takes complaints from parents and children very seriously. He wants to talk to all concerned “to better understand what complaints and concerns entail and how they can be addressed as effectively as possible in professional practice.”