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NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 10:04
Parents of children with autism are calling for a ban on treatment for ‘autistic behavior’, such as uncontrolled movement or avoidance of eye contact.
The interest group Pupils Interest in Special Education (LBVSO) received 450 complaints last year, Trouw reports. An online petition was signed 2400 times.
It concerns various treatments under the name of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA), which have come over from the US. According to the LBVSO, there are hundreds of providers in special centers, ABA houses and ABA schools in the Netherlands.
In addition to unlearning ‘autistic behaviour’, the therapy focuses on teaching practical skills, such as traveling on public transport. Usually they are not reimbursed by health insurers, but through the Youth Act, the personal budget and the Long-Term Care Act, the newspaper writes.
‘They take away food and hugs’
The complaints to the LBVSO showed that three-quarters of the children experienced the treatment as traumatic. And that more than 90 percent of them were subsequently diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“You are forced to suppress your own self and your own being,” says Elijah Delsink, who has autism and founded the LBVSO in the NOS Radio 1 Journaal. “They take away food, the ability to go to the toilet and comfort items from the child such as a blanket or cuddly toy. You get them back as a ‘reward’ if you think you are doing well. It definitely does damage.”
Professor of diversity and inclusion Sander Begeer (VU University Amsterdam) does not recommend the treatments, but thinks it is too early for a ban on ABA. He states in Trouw that these therapies must first be thoroughly investigated.
‘Nothing wrong with flapping arms’
State Secretary Van Ooijen (Public Health) wants to talk to parents and practitioners to “better understand what the complaints and concerns entail, and how to deal with them as best as possible in professional practice,” he says in Trouw. Last year he visited an ABA house in Rotterdam with Minister Wiersma (Education).
The Dutch Association for Autism (NVA) finds it problematic that the aim of the treatments is to treat ‘autistic behaviour’. “There is nothing wrong with, for example, rocking the upper body back and forth or flapping the arms to calm down,” says the website. “Or avoiding eye contact during a conversation because otherwise you can’t think properly about the answer to a question.”
A qualified ABA practitioner says in Trouw that he recognizes the complaints of parents and estimates that half to three quarters of ABA training in the Netherlands are “no good”. He wants a register of qualified practitioners and more supervision.
