I've been asked multiple times now what I recommend as an alternative to ABA.

I'm going to write a thread so I can just point to it instead of having to answer this question over and over again.

The TL;DR, though, is "nothing".

Parents of newly diagnosed Autistic kids are often encouraged to get them into "treatment" ASAP.

This "treatment" (or so-called therapy) often takes the form of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).

The thing is, ABA's goal, from the outset is "change behavior of social significance".

This is BEFORE understanding why the behavior exists or considering whether it's actually beneficial to the Autistic child to change the behavior.

Often Autistic people behave in ways that others, especially non-Autistic people, think are weird.

IME, it's not super usual for them to put in a lot of work to try to understand why we act that way before they decide the behavior has to stop.

That's the basis of ABA.

And this is why, if you want to know what I suggest as an alternative "treatment" for Autistic kids, I will say "I don't."

Because Autisticness itself isn't a thing that needs to be treated.

Yeah, Autistic people need support, but that's way different from "treatment".

Some Autistic people need treatment for co-morbid conditions. This is not treatment for Autisticness. It's treatment for those other things.

I'm not saying don't provide appropriate psychological care to Autistic children. I'm saying "Autisticness does not need to be treated."

The main thing Autistic kids really need is adults who will put in the time to patiently understand what each individual child needs WITHOUT the goal of controlling or changing them.

Autistic kids also need to have their self-reported sensory experiences believed.

We KNOW Autistic people have sensory differences that non-Autistic people often dismiss.

For anyone who wants to say, "But that's not all that ABA is!"

I strongly dismiss the idea that ABA is the appropriate framework in which to teach life skills and academics to Autistic people.

That is not an empowering environment for any Autistic person to learn anything.