ASAT
ASAT Responds to AP's "School Accused of Putting Autistic Student in Bag'
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Dear Mr. Schreiner,
We are writing in response to your article, "School
accused of putting autistic student in bag" (Associated Press, December 22,
2011). Thank you for bringing attention to this important story in which a
nine-year-old boy with autism was enclosed in a "therapy bag" as a consequence
for his misbehavior. This is an extreme example of something we see far too
often in autism intervention: educators who are not taught how to work with
individuals with autism may unknowingly resort to ineffective or harmful
practices in their attempts to respond to behavioral crises. As professionals
who work closely with teachers (and have teaching backgrounds of our own), we
want to highlight the precarious position in which teachers are placed when
they are neither prepared nor equipped to meet the unique needs of students
with autism.
As the number of individuals with autism spectrum
disorders continues to climb, unfortunately many educators (as well as
paraprofessionals and related service providers) are assigned to work with them
without receiving sufficient training in evidence-based practices. Not only can
this lead to ineffective educational practices that do not target the skills so
crucial for students to realize their fullest potential, but it may also result
in high levels of frustration for the school staff, thereby increasing the risk
of student mistreatment as shown in this sad case. Your mention of other
instances of dangerous restraint and seclusion further illustrate the critical
nature of this issue. Frustration with autism's complexities plus a genuine
desire to help could lead to a willingness to try anything to address
challenging behavior.
You highlighted another matter that begs
discussion. Autism treatment is filled with "therapies" that may sound
plausible but have never been shown to be effective in scientific research.
Some of these treatments have actually been shown to be ineffective or even
harmful. In many cases, educators rely on the recommendations of others without
considering the presence or absence of research support. In your article, the
student's mother stated that "her son would sometimes be asked to roll over a bag
filled with balls as a form of therapy" but she didn't know her son was being
placed in the bag. While the staff who suggested this may have had good
intentions, there is no evidence of the effectiveness of such an intervention
(see the National
Autism Center's
National Standards Report or the Association for Science in Autism Treatment
for treatment summaries).
Your article could have been strengthened if you had
indicated that there are interventions with a strong body of evidence
supporting their effectiveness (mainly derived from applied behavior analysis)
that can help improve the challenging behavior of students with autism. We
encourage your readers to become familiar with the resources listed above
(www.nationalautismcenter.org and www.asatonline.org) and thank you again for
publicizing this story.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Neumann, M.A., BCaBA
Media Review Committee, Association for Science in Autism
Treatment
David Celiberti, Ph.D., BCBA-D
President, Association for Science in Autism Treatment
Read More at http://xfinity.comcast.net/.../US.Boy.In.Bag
