07/13/2026
Thank YOU Greg Santucci, Occupational Therapist
Claim: people who are anti-ABA are spreading “misinformation”
TW: ABA, ableism
In a recent social media post in an ABA student group, a participant alerted the group that there’s a movement to ‘spread misinformation’ about ABA, and that some are ‘passionately lying’ that ABA is abusive. The post also claimed that ‘we all know how detrimental it can be without ABA’.
Wow.
This is not the first time the claim of ‘misinformation’ has been stated, so let’s go there.
First and foremost, to tell autistic people who have received ABA that they are ‘passionately lying’ is beyond ableist and offensive. To tell people who’ve witnessed the abuses of ABA firsthand that they are ‘passionately lying’ about what they saw with their own eyes is dismissive and wrong. I’ve witnessed the abuses of ABA firsthand. I continue to see the harm ABA does in my clinical practice, even today, even with "new" ABA. I am not passionately lying. I am passionately speaking up for those kids. My “wool hat” story is here: https://www.facebook.com/gregorysantucci/posts/pfbid0jemnH8Fk6HKb4P4HiAE2xKVHGThDMvjdGYNfvg8PgoGkfG4UYzTNDvLeer7Gt6gql
I could stop there, because to blatantly dismiss autistic people and their stories is more than enough to shut down this argument, but let’s keep going.
When we share the TRICARE study that showed 76% of participants did not make progress after receiving ABA services for a year, and 9% regressed, we are not spreading misinformation.https://www.altteaching.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/TRICARE-Autism-Report.pdf
When we share a 2020 meta-analysis that examined Autism interventions and found weak statistical support for the effectiveness of ABA and almost no correlation with the amount hours kids spent in ABA, we are not spreading misinformation. What we’re doing is sharing information that makes ABA practitioners and students uncomfortable. But, we’re sharing information that’s vital for parents to know about and fully understand before subjecting their children to this intervention. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31763860/. Alfie Kohn further examines other analyses of ABA in a 2020 article entitled New Research Adds to an Already Compelling Case Against ABA here: https://www.alfiekohn.org/blogs/autism/
It ‘s frightening to see how quickly students of ABA get indoctrinated into the belief that ABA is effective and necessary. Even though much of modern psychology has moved on from behaviorism, there continues to be a cult-like loyalty to ABA, despite both objective proof and downright horrifying personal stories that prove ABA is not the “gold standard of treatment” that was their mantra for years.
Lastly, it was this comment that really troubled me: “we all know how detrimental it can be without ABA”.
What?
Do they (ABAers) ‘all know’ that? Do they? Is that what happens when you don’t receive ABA? It’s detrimental? And what's the "it", anyway? Life?
The resources in this article, on this page and in the literature, show how detrimental “it” can be when a child is actually exposed to ABA.
So, what’s the alternative? It’s depends what your child needs support in! If they need support with sensory processing, motor skills, emotional regulation or behavior, OT is an evidence-based good start https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24214165/. Speech therapy is recommended for language and/or communication support. There are many evidence-based therapies to explore based on your child’s needs. There are also a mountain of free resources on this page and other's to help you understand your child' needs and what their behavior is actually telling you. A diagnosis does not automatically mean you need a lot of "therapy".
It's not misinformation to inform parents about the controversy and lack of evidence supporting ABA. Are ABA practitioners informing parents of the criticisms of ABA prior to subjecting a child to 20-40 hours of it? Wouldn’t that be true informed consent?
Parents should share the literature provided to the doctors who are blindly recommending ABA as soon as an Autism diagnosis is received, and ask for alternatives.
I appreciate that people choose to go into ABA with the belief that they're truly helping people. However, ABA is the ONLY mainstream intervention for autism that has received this intensity of criticism, both from survivors and in the literature. That’s not misinformation, that’s a hard truth.
While ABA loyalists may falsely claim we are spreading misinformation, we’re not. It allows families informed consent. Informed consent is a hallmark ethical requirement in healthcare. I understand that consent in general can be a tricky concept in ABA.
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