Autism and Social Education

[hugh tierney]

Scientist are finding more and more support for taking an relationship-
based approach to autism treatment. The following section explains
why. Included are easy techniques you can begin immediately to
encourage the social development of your child with autism.
The Science
Earlier theories saw autism as a behavior disorder and so attempted to
treat it through behavior modification, i.e. attempting to reinforce
non-autistic behaviors and punish autistic behaviors to stamp-out the
symptoms of autism. This view grew in the 1950s (soon after autism and
Asperger's syndrome were first outlined) when the trend in psychology
was for behaviorism; a philosophy stating that only any organisms
behavior was worth studying and science should spend no time
investigating thoughts, feeling or conscious experience to understand
human beings. Much work in the behaviorist camp was done with animal
training. It is from this scientific backdrop that behaviorist
treatments for autism arouse (e.g. ABA and various forms of the
original therapy proposed by Ivan Lovaas)....

http://groups.google.com/group/autismnvc