ABSTRACT
One of the largest and most complex human services systems in history has evolved to address the needs of people with autism and intellectual disabilities, yet important questions remain for many professionals, administrators, and parents. What approaches to early intervention, education, treatment, therapy, and remediation really help those with autism and other intellectual disabilities improve their functioning and adaptation? Alternatively, what approaches represent wastes of time, effort, and resources?
Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities, 2nd Edition brings together leading behavioral scientists and practitioners to shed much-needed light on the major controversies surrounding these questions. Expert authors review the origins, perpetuation, and resistance to scrutiny of questionable practices, and offer a clear rationale for appraising the quality of various services.
The second edition of Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities has been fully revised and updated and includes entirely new chapters on psychology fads, why applied behavioral analysis is not a fad, rapid prompting, relationship therapies, the gluten-free, casein-free diet, evidence based practices, state government regulation of behavioral treatment, teaching ethics, and a parents’ primer for autism treatments.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|42 pages
General Issues
part II|78 pages
Historical, Cultural, and Psychological Issues
chapter Chapter 4|26 pages
History of Fad, Pseudoscientific, and Dubious Treatments in Intellectual Disabilities
part III|46 pages
Field-Specific Issues
part IV|78 pages
Disorder- and Symptom-Specific Issues
chapter Chapter 12|13 pages
Helping Parents Separate the Wheat From the Chaff
chapter Chapter 13|14 pages
A Map Through the Minefield
chapter Chapter 14|22 pages
The Perpetuation of the Myth of the Nonaversive Treatment of Severe Behavior
part V|188 pages
Intervention-Specific Issues
chapter Chapter 23|38 pages
Old Horses in New Stables
chapter Chapter 25|11 pages
Why ABA Is Not a Fad, a Pseudoscience, a Dubious or Controversial Treatment, or Politically Correct
part VI|96 pages
Ethical, Legal, and Political Concerns