Thursday, July 19, 2007

Skeptic's Circle

A 4th grade class will be visiting the Museam of Skepticism.
You can too.

3 Comments:

Blogger KeithABA said...

Interverbal,

I had no idea how else to contact you, but to post a comment. Sorry that this comment doesn't really belong here, but I was surprised to see a link to the Autism Diva blog.

Autism Diva and the active members constantly berate ABA, and are quite offensive without very solid grounds. Further they insist that ALL ABA programs utilize Aversives and Yell at kids regularly to get them to comply. They also disregard any of the scientific evidence indicating the effectiveness of Behavior Analytic procedures.

I was just surprised, to see a link to an obviously misinformed, confused group of people who treat ABA like a conspiracy theory.

I have tried to post there in order to debate some of their views. I was met with crude comments and accusations of harming the children that I have devoted my life to working with.

8:57 AM  
Blogger Interverbal said...

Hi Keith,

Thanks for visiting and for your thoughts. I would like to take a minute and account for myself.

Autism Diva knows I disagree with her about many aspects of ABA.

However, Autism Diva does some of the very best work on the internet debunking quackery in other areas of autism. In this regard she is an outstanding source of information.

Autism Diva and I, despite our disagreements, are both members of the skeptical community, and we both work to debunk autism quackery.

Autism Diva and I, before we had blogs, spent a fair bit of time focusing on our disagreements. We now choose to focus on what we agree on.

As to my blog, you are always welcome to comment here Keith. Whether you wish to debate or agree.

9:59 AM  
Blogger KeithABA said...

"However, Autism Diva does some of the very best work on the internet debunking quackery in other areas of autism. In this regard she is an outstanding source of information."

I guess I can agree with that. I just wish she would focus on the science part when she critiques ABA instead of leading the charge that ALL ABA practitioners are like Lovaas in the late 60's early 70's.

I'd be curious to see your take in a post about the science behind ABA. Particularly on the history of within subject design. It really seems that critics of ABA think behavior analysts designed within subject research designs, and that only behavior analysts can interpret them.

I also see a large lack of appreciation for EAB and it's contribution to the development of behavior analytic procedures. I still commonly come in contact with phrases such as "The Theory of Positive Reinforcement."

Enjoying the blog, particularly your posts about Punishment. Murray Sidman would be very angry with you!!! :) No wait.... he wouldn't....would he??? :)

9:22 AM  

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