Dear Katelin Flint and NBC 10,
Thank you for your recent heartwarming story about Louie, a boy with autism, whose Behavior Analyst (“Mr. A”) wrote and sang a special song for him over a video platform when they were unable to see each other in person due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The article identifies the challenges that children with autism and their families are experiencing while out of school – disruption to their schedules, challenging behavior, and difficulty participating in online learning. Thankfully, it also exemplifies how many schools, clinics and staff members are going above and beyond to make sure they stay connected with their students and provide the best possible education and support despite the difficult circumstances. Since motivation is the soil in which educational success can take root, particularly when teaching routines and structures are impacted, Mr. A deserves the recognition for finding this wonderful way to motivate and connect with Louie.
One thing was troubling about the coverage, however. Your headline, “He Was so Excited: Boy with Autism gets Musical Therapy from Mentor,” is false. He was not receiving musical therapy; he was receiving instruction based on applied behavior analysis (ABA), and this distinction is critically important. ABA is the most effective and evidence-based intervention available for children with autism. It has been proven to be effective in numerous studies to teach new skills of all sorts, decrease challenging behavior, and (in young children) produce large developmental gains decreasing or eliminating the need for special services in the future. In contrast, Music Therapy has limited research support and has not been shown to make meaningful, long-lasting changes in the lives of its participants. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of treatments, like music therapy, that lack robust scientific support; yet many are frequently touted in the media as cures. This misinformation can lead families to choose ineffective treatments — which can detrimentally impact the rest of their child’s life. This is terribly unfortunate when there is an effective alternative in ABA.
Your article highlights an example of the flexibility of Applied Behavior Analysis. ABA is not a specific treatment, but a science of human behavior that can be applied in numerous ways and contexts, incorporating a child’s unique needs and interests. As you noted in this lovely example, since Cahan likes music, it is being used to maintain the rapport between him and his behavior analyst (that relationship is the foundation of good ABA therapy and is the soil in which effective intervention can take root) and to motivate him (using positive reinforcement) to participate with this new learning platform. They were using a very highly preferred activity (music) to overcome the challenging new situation and assure learning continued. If a child had a different interest, such as Legos or Thomas the Train, those could be incorporated into ABA as well. In this later case, it would be similarly inaccurate to tout its inclusion as “Thomas the Train Therapy.”
Our mission at ASAT, the Association for Science in Autism Treatment, is to share accurate information about evidence-based interventions and counter pseudoscience. Our website contains summaries of the research for common treatments as well as resources specifically for journalists. Please stop by and check them out, and reach out to us if we can be of any assistance. Thank you again for highlighting the wonderful and creative way Mr. A at the Center for Applied Behavioral Instruction is implementing ABA remotely during this pandemic.
Sincerely,
Chante Stoeckley, MEd, BCBA
David Celiberti, PhD, BCBA-D
Association for Science in Autism Treatment
