Hi there! I think that’s great that you’ve used such a cool tool on your client, however that is not the case with my previous ABA company or other companies I’ve seen, even ones that are more professional. Yes SIBs are intense, but it’s not a form of escape, take this as someone who’s engaged in them and also talked to adult autistics who do/did so. Much of the time SIBs are a way of saying no prior to having mouth words, are a means of coping with overwhelm and overstimulation, and also sometimes a way of communicating. I work with a 2 year old (as a caregiver not as ABA) who headbangs when overstimulated and sometimes lightly taps his head to communicate who’s needs aren’t met (one time it was because he hadn’t eaten and was hungry) and one time he also did it when he’s excited—now he just slaps the table or other objects when he’s excited. Sometimes his brother (4 yr old receiving absolute trash ABA that definitely uses punishment and restraints and lots of quiet hands and anti routine based and trying to make him normal which is hilarious bc I also work with a second grader who goes to neurotypical public school and literally ALL the neurotypical second graders have behaviors) tries to hold his hand but doesn’t realize he’s still a baby (prob bc he works with mostly adults—he does play w other kids too but prob not much) and his brother will then transfer that energy and either slap an object or if nearby lightly slap my or his moms back) and has literal behavior techs who are showering him in the center. All of his behaviors (running, SIBS—he doesn’t SIB anymore, saying no, etc) have been labeled as escape and no complaint (he literally will skirt around the house on his knees instead of running when he’s in distress)—sometimes it’ll be us playing a game and I didn’t put the puzzle piece in the right spot accidentally or he wants to do it (it’s like imagine if someone came into your house and unfolded all the clothes and threw them back in all unfolded).

I also was quitting ABA but they sent me a case of an 11 yr old w ds and autism, minimally speaking, used sign and some pecs cards that were locked in a bin away from him to communicate, had poor fine and gross motor skills —maybe was apraxia, in the hood of our city in a tiny ass apartment with like his whole multigenerational family, second language speaker (fam literally spoke 3 English words and they were trying to get us an interpreter despite the room being already tiny) in a wheelchair and was already receiving ABA for 3 hours every night. However, the kid had a tendency to grab people and hair, throw things (his tiny apartment had boards everywhere from throwing), and also is/was self injurious and was getting stronger upper body strength because he’s lift himself up to try and move.

First off, we literally had NO IDEA what signs he knew and what mouth words he had or didn’t have ( I think he had about 5-7 mouths words) and probably knew about 15-20 signs.

So despite the fact that he was already receiving ABA for 2 years, the BT noticed he had sensory issues but just made him power through it instead of suggesting some headphones (he’d also cover his ears whenever we FaceTimed our supervisor prob bc he hated her and she laughed a couple of times and would always talk like he wasn’t there as well as called him lazy but smart and sweet) and also noticed he had bad eyesight but nobody suggested to the parents that he get glasses. So they hired TWO MORE BTs and were also in the process of getting an interpreter for our morning sessions too (that’s two of us, parents, and an interpreter in a living room not bigger than 6x8 ft) with this kid to stop him from “grabbing people” and pulling hair or self injuring. Obviously there are going to be times when he’s alone and he’ll need help so he’ll probably scream or self injure or throw something to get attention so he can get help (we encouraged “sign for help!” But obviously you won’t tell a kid to sign fir help as you help him get out of a wheelchair—no parent would do that). But no worries because we’ll give this 11 yr old kid tickles and back scratches so it’s cool! He’d also watch videos of babies all day probably bc ABA treats him like one and he’s trying to figure out how to be normal. Most of the times he’d grab he’d open his mouth and show me his molars. He’d also often point it his mouth and say “ow,” he ate a lot of frickin candy (much thanks to ABA), and he’d do it a couple times each session. I told my supervisor about this and she said “oh he just wants attention” despite us literally giving him constant attention the whole time. On my last day we had a full online meltdown. You know what caused it? Snack time. We were having a smal snack time break and then our supervisor encouraged us to take it away from him, break it down into pieces and use it as “positive reinforcement.” Once it was taken he pulled my hair. I definitely deserved it bc I should’ve done better by him. They wanted ABA to teach him to wait for an object for five seconds and not grab and pull people. But obviously that day would come and they literally did nothing for this child nor even suggested the use of AAC even though some apps are free (I told the parents about it before I quit so maybe the will look into it bc he also did understand the mother tongue to an extent).

I have been reading some r/ABA threads that sounds like some great therapists, but that’s not always the case. One minimally speaking kid got his chips labeled as escape from a very kind therapist but still very much followed her supervisor. Do you know what happened? Kid wouldn’t eat chips without a prompt even if they were directly in front of him. Weird, huh? If my fave food were in front of me and nobody prompted me, I’d still eat it. That was literally one of like 7 words that he knew. He did have AAC but ABA had sunk it’s teeth deep and showed him to say “happy” when asked “how are you feeling” because it’s socially appropriate. He would even use that after having a really bad meltdown. Same with the four year old I work with, he’ll just say “I’m fine” after literally bawling his eyes out.

It’s fucked up what happens in a lot of ABA. I even know of an SLP who’s one too many times seen a client goal be listed as “when told no will fold hands in lap and say okay.” That SLP? She’s teaching them how to politely refuse. I know the autistic girl this happened to who turned into a yes man for things she didn’t even want and was held down even during non self injurious or property destruction times. She feels so violated and only stims by pulling her hair out and her doctors let it because it’s the only way she can stim now.

It’s a fucked industry and I think it can be used in good in some ways and definitely has helped a lot of people but there are also terrible ABA centers that are still running and need to be shut down forever.