I refer to the articles headlined, 'A world of their own' by Margaret Cheng and 'A child lured out by an emotional connection' by Sue Mulley, both of which appeared in the South China Morning Post, on October 22.
I am a therapist working in an Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA) programme for autistic children and I am extremely disappointed by these articles for a number of reasons.
The articles gave the impression that behavioural therapy was 'expensive, trains kids like Pavlovian dogs, and is not effective'.
No mention was made of important facts, such as studies by Dr Ivar Lovaas, the history of behavioural modification and its empirical research, current methods of ABA programmes, etc.
The truth is, we do not train or treat our children like Pavlovian dogs.
In fact, behavioural therapy has always been updating and improving so as to maximise the effectiveness and naturalness of the programme.
Specifically, the programme we are doing stresses a concept called 'structural-flexibility'. Reinforcers, both tangible (for example, toys) and intangible (for example, praise) are used, just like when kindergarten teachers praise the children and chop a rabbit stamp in their handbooks if they are tidy and clean.
