Letters to the Editor
The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Dear Editor,
I am responding to your recent story “Reaching an Autistic Teenager” on October 17, 2008. The information presented in the article is both incomplete and inaccurate in light of published empirical data on autism treatment effectiveness. Several state task forces and the U.S. Surgeon General’s report on autism, unanimously found overwhelming scientific support for Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) as the most effective intervention for autism, and went so far as to recommend it as a primary treatment modality. These sources and information were omitted from your review of the literature, while D.I.R./Floortime, an approach with quite limited research support, was glorified.
Your article further characterizes ABA as outdated. This is simply not true, as each year hundreds of studies are published in peer reviewed journals supporting the efficacy of ABA to teach a wide variety of skills to children across the autistic spectrum. Many of these studies indicate that ABAcan target a wide range of skills essential for building relationships such as initiating joint attention and making conversation. Your readers, particularly those in direct contact with children on the autism spectrum, deserve accurate scientifically informed information that leads to real change and real hope.
Regards,
Jane M. Barbin, PhD, BCBA
Public Relations Committee
www.asatonline.org
Please follow the link below to read another scientific perspective on this story.
http://autisminnb.blogspot.com/2008/10/new-yorktimes-slanted-article-on.html
Read More at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/19/magazine/19Autism-t.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
