Autism Treatment - Anti-ABA Activist Michelle Dawson Regurgitates Her Tired Anti-ABA Rhetoric

Perhaps she senses that the battle is lost.

Michelle Dawson is once again lashing out with the same stale anti-ABA rhetoric in An anomaly in autism intervention research. There is little new in this latest rant. First diagnosed as an adult "autistic" with an unspecified Autism Spectrum Disorder Ms Dawson has made a career out of opposing efforts by parents to obtain ABA treatment for their children.

Together with her comrade in arms in anti-ABA activism, Dr. Laurent Mottron, Michelle Dawson has appeared before the Supreme Court of Canada, the Canadian Senate, several times before CBC cameras and microphones, and been interviewed numerous times, telling the world that she and Dr. Laurent Mottron know better than the US Surgeon General, the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, the MADSEC Autism Task Force, the New York State Department of Health, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the May Institute, the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, Inc. and of course the Lovaas Institute.* (not an exhaustive list) about the effectiveness of ABA as an autism intervention. And now she is at it again.

Ms Dawson's latest anti-ABA rant features more of the same old arguments and allegations and one revealing statement that shows that she really is out of touch, not just with the realities of autistic children, but also with basic family rights and responsibilities:

The practice of claiming effectiveness for an autism intervention which has not been fairly tested, then using these claims of effectiveness to deem fair tests unethical, has clear benefits to service providers. And this practice has received wall-to-wall support from autism advocates, who have in turn imposed it on autistics through lobbying and litigation.

ABA is not generally imposed on adult autistic persons. (Never to my knowledge) . The autism advocates that Michelle Dawson is referring to are parents of autistic children seeking to obtain the well documented benefits of ABA treatment for their children. Ms Dawson to my knowledge, is not herself a parent. She apparently believes that she, diagnosed as autistic as an adult, is better informed and has a greater right and responsibility, to determine what is good for autistic children than the parents of those children.

Michelle Dawson is wrong. Again.

*(Note: the May Institute, the CARD and the Lovaas Institute actually work with autistic children applying ABA, helping them overcome autism disorder deficits, and know what they are talking about from direct first hand experience).

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Canada's Autism Wastelands - Saskatchewan, Ontario, Nova Scotia

On September 02, 2007 I described Saskatchewan as Canada's Autism Wasteland. In fact Canada has at least three autism wastelands although Saskatchewan still ranks as the worst province in Canada for provision, or more accurately, non-provision, of autism services.

1. Saskatchewan

As stated in Canada's Autism Wasteland To Take First Step Forward on September 02 2007, Saskatchewan, at that time, was the only province in Canada without a program for provision of autism services. 14 months later nothing has changed according to Theresa Savaria, the executive director of Regina's Autism Resource Centre. In Man running to raise awareness about autism spectrum disorder , Leader Post, October `17, 2008, Savaria states:

"Parents can go on the Internet and see that everyone is recommending intensive intervention, but Saskatchewan is the only province that doesn't have that"


2. Ontario

Ontario is notorious for its lengthy waiting lists for provision of autism services. As reported on April 29, 2008 in the Toronto Star:

The wait list of autistic children who are eligible to receive intensive behavioural intervention therapy, or IBI, reached 1,148 on March 31, up from 985 last year.

More than 1,400 children were receiving IBI services as of March 31, according to newly released government figures.

But the long waits have forced many parents to drain their savings and go into debt to pay for the therapy the province has promised to provide, said NDP critic Andrea Horwath.

3. Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia does provide some autism treatment services but not for everyone. In Nova Scotia a lottery system is used to determine which autistic children receive autism treatment. Nova Scotia lost two medical professionals, a husband and wife, who moved to Manitoba to seek ABA treatment for their autistic child.

In Helping kids with autism shouldn't be a lottery Bobby-Lynn Hall reported that:

In Nova Scotia, there are children receiving Early Intensive Behaviour Intervention, a treatment proven to improve vocabulary and social skills and reduce behaviour issues in most children with ASD, but it's based on a lottery system.

We all talk about how great it would be to win the lottery and what we'd spend the money on. But what if your child's future was dependent on winning a lottery and what if you didn't win? Would you be thinking maybe if you had picked a different number, or maybe if you had bought your ticket last week instead of this week, that maybe things would have been different and maybe your child would be the one receiving the treatments that could help him experience things that otherwise may not have been possible?

I agree with Ms Hall. To me Nova Scotia's lottery system is an immoral attempt to avoid the responsibility for providing autism treatment to all those who need it without accepting responsibility for excluding those unfortunate enough to draw the lottery number. It is both immoral and cowardly.

Canada's Autism Wastelands are evidence of the need for a National Autism Strategy in Canada, a real National Autism Strategy, not the phony PR efforts of the Harper government and its alleged Health Minister Tony Clement.

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Welland Ontario Needs Medicare for Autism NOW!

The Welland Tribune is reporting the heart wrenching story of 4 year old Branden Hayward of Welland, Ontario. Branden has an autism spectrum disorder and has been on a waiting list for Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI/ABA) for the past two years. His mother Stacey was told just 3 weeks ago that Branden would begin Therapy in September because he had made his way up one of Ontario's notorious autism treatment waiting lists. Then, this Monday she received notification that funding limitations precluded accepting new clients and Branden would NOT be receiving IBI services after all that time waiting:

"We kept going because we knew the treatment was coming," says Hayward. "It was a slap in the face" to open that letter.

She says only three weeks ago she was called to attend a meeting at Thorold's Bethesda services, where program staff informed her about Branden's entry into therapy in September, because he had finally made his way up to third on the list.

Visibly upset, she says she was given no warning of the impending delay at the time of the meeting, and was "pumped up" about the upcoming treatment."

Canada needs Medicare for Autism NOW!

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An Excellent Autism and ABA Blog

Michael Goldberg, at Autism Bulletin, has highlighted an excellent blog about Applied Behavior Analysis and autism by Angela Mouzakitis, BCBA, (Board Certified Behavior Analyst) called Applied Behavior Analysis: Current Topics. There are many "anti-ABA" blog sites on the internet, mostly by people with little or no knowledge of, or experience with, ABA. Ms Mouzakitis blog site sets out her very impressive credentials on these subjects:

"Angela Mouzakitis
Astoria, New York, US
I teach in the Graduate Program in Special Education at CUNY Queens College. I am certified as a school psychologist, special education teacher and behavior analyst. My field of interest and experience is predominantly working with and teaching children with autism following the principles of applied behavior analysis. My research on my dissertation addresses the treatment integrity of behavior support plans in public and private schools that provide educational services to children with autism and developmental disabilities. In the future I am interested in exploring functional behavior assessment in relationships. "

http://appliedbehavioranalysis.blogspot.com/