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I had already responded to this on another post. Ended up having a long argument with a BCBA. All the large scale studies in support of ABA were meta-analyses. It’s concerning when the “gold standard” therapy for autism lacks large scale studies.

The only large study I can think of is the TriCare study that concluded that the VA should stop paying for ABA because it was expensive and did not have any long term effect on the abilities of the kids involved. It also noted that the most effective amount of therapy was 6 hours per week.

The study also couldn't find durable effects on any subpopulation. The autistic children who had the highest support needs saw the fewest changes in long term outcomes whereas the lowest support needs had the most (but that population didn't have any significant changes in long term outcomes)

Never a good day to argue with a BCBA. The same arguments have been recycled for years. It's exhausting.

I couldn’t help but notice that he keep emphasizing the sheer number of studies rather than the quality of those studies. He tried to hand wave away the lack of large scale studies as “hard to conduct”. Are BCBA’s required to support ABA online?

Because we tend to trust respected, progressive publications and writers as both intellectually rigorous and socially fair, their ableism often goes unchecked, and so can be far more dangerous than that of their unapologetically prejudiced counterparts. thinkingautismguide.com/2024/06/how-...

And to be fair, most people don't question ABA therapy as the "gold standard" for autistic kids, especially high-support kids like TPGA editors' sons. But OTOH it doesn't take much research to discover the considerable pushback against ABA, especially from autistic people. 3/

E.g., those "gold standard," "evidence-based" claims? When examined, ABA research is riddled by conflicts of interest. And per Dr. @kbottemabeutel.bsky.social, "we shouldn’t have a separate set of lower standards that we only apply to autism research." thinkingautismguide.com/2020/05/conf... 4/

I am retired Exceptional Needs Specialist, five children with autism in one class. Each child was unique in every way; learning styles, methods of communication, cognitive abilities, etc. Insurance should pay for therapies because autistic children may require assistance for basic needs.