Thread by @KaiaSonderby

The next chapter, Positive Reinforcement, forces me to engage with one of #HellMother's quotes again.

"If punishment is the bad guy of ABA, who is often misunderstood...Then reinforcement is the hero of ABA, who is loved by all."

"Zack now comes willingly to the table to sit for drills, wholly compliant in line with our aspirations."

Wow. I don't even need to comment on that one. It speaks for itself.

#HellMother

#HellMother "'Compensating behaviors' in ABA-speak refers to functioning which allows the child to stifle his autistic tendencies in favor of conventional behaviors. Expressive language, suppression of tics, cluing in to social cues, all allow the child to function enough to

'pass for normal.' The child has been successfully rewired and thus capable of assimilating."

Christ on a crucifix-shaped pogo-stick! How could anyone read something like that without a chill going down their spine? #HellMother

(ASSIMILATION NEVER! ✊🏻)

Zack identifies a purple ball, going so far as to say the word "Purple." But it's alarmingly clear by #HellMother 's description of Zack's "progress" that he is aiming to please.

That might sound harmless, but in autistic children it frequently leads to harm, abuse and even

sexual assault later in life. A child should not succeed at things for the sole purpose of pleasing someone else. It needs to be for their own sake's, or it ends in dangerous compliance.

#HellMother

This is so uncomfortable. If Zack had achieved these successes in another way, this part of the story might be uplifting. But it's so easy to see the compliance training, the manipulation and bribery, the violent suppression of his natural behaviors. #HellMother

So because Zack, after some FIVE HOURS of testing, is not in the mood to point at something, Cara the therapist is disapproving. But wait! #HellMother rushes off and comes back with Zack's favorite bribe--vanilla ice cream--which of course he points at when asked "What do you

want?" because it's something he likes and constantly a reward for his compliance. Of course he wants it.

This does not prove that he's aware others can't read his mind, but frankly, I don't for a second believe he ever had such a notion. #HellMother

Another chapter down, yet my Kindle tells me I'm only at 36 percent. It's like walking through mud up to my knees. No matter how hard I try to move fasting, it just holds on tight and forces me to slog. #HellMother