Hi! I just want to say that I worked as a ABA technician for 2 years and wanted to share my perspective. My advice to parents is to do it, but with skepticism and be highly engaged in the process. I had 3 clients in the area and have extremely strong relationships with all the kids and every member of the child’s family. Though I have left the field to pursue other interests, I still regularly babysit for these families and believe I had a very positive influence providing compassionate support, modeling appropriate behaviors, and establishing routines and consistency in these kids lives. I think a lot depends on whether the individual working with your kid is a “good fit” and has complimentary qualifications. Parents can advocate for what they need and have more control in this area than they often realize! You can actively work with the BCBAs to find that right fit and get a different one if it’s not working out. I would think of it as similar to finding the right therapist :)

I would also advice going to smaller practices, as they handle fewer cases and are able to provide each client more individualized attention from BCBAs, who are often over stretched at large centers.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best!! 😊

Hi there.. I have a close friend who is one of the top autism needs professionals in the state. She's not a redditor so I ran your post by her and here was her answer:

"I recommend Auburn, which is next to Worcester. They have an integrated and specialized special needs program within the school, as well as through their after school and extra curricular activities. I recommend then pursuing a family advocate to assist with this process and also to get in touch with the local department of developmental services, as there are family support programs there. Another good resource is the Autism Alliance" (which is an affiliate of the very large autism support program she runs).

She also says that if you'd like to reach out to her directly, she'd be happy to discuss your options with you. Send me a DM and I can give you her email address.

Good luck!

I second Bocado

Also home schooling would be absolutely the worst. Immersion into the community is paramount... For the person with ASD and their peers.

Had they included students with disabilities while I were in school I would be 10000 times better prepared to be a parent of a child with ASD and likely would have also lived a more enlightened and fulfilling life knowing people with disabilities are not a personal problem... It's a societal problem.

Awareness, acceptance and accountability on both sides (ND/NT) is needed and inclusion is the only way.

Home school.... Sweet lord.... Please do not do that to your child.

Was really hoping for an answer, seeing the stickers while walking the dog-- I had the same question!

Are we supposed to go clap for them?

Westborough has a good program for students with severe disabilities, but in my experience don't believe "smart kids" would ever need accommodations.

Going in with a diagnosis may help, the stuff I struggled with was a bit more nebulous. My mom had to fight them on every front for testing, and even with my results they didn't accommodate me until my senior year. I was making "adequate progress". They made her find the exact legal wording that forced them to test me in high school, and told me if I disputed any of the subjective "observations" they wouldn't have time to put my 504 through before college applications (when at that point I just wanted to show that I did all I had while struggling with a disability they refused to accommodate).

I can't say whether they'd work for your kid, but they didn't do well with me. Kids who are the "right" type of smart can flourish there, and most of the other students meander down the path to graduation without major issues. Bullying happens, but for every terrible teacher there was a great one, they have a lot of opportunities for kids to explore their interests, parents have a lot of opportunity to help out in the elementary schools should they so choose, and it's well funded. I'm not saying steer clear by any means, it's overall pretty good. They have their failings, and this was one of them. Take this anecdote and make your own decision.

Please don’t listen to this person, ABA is strongly researched and validated to be the best treatment for behavioral excesses and deficits. This person likely had a bad experience or worse “did their own research” and validated their own bias.

But look into the Shrewsbury school system, they have a very strong aba/autism program.

I would also say that you are obviously on the mild side of the spectrum for autism. You may not have needed ABA and it’s unfair when all students with autism are shoved into one classroom. I do things differently. It’s also apparent that, if your lives were horrible, then ABA was not used correctly. The focus is positive reinforcement. Many teachers are so used to using negative reinforcement that the switch is hard. But again, ABA used in the way it’s supposed to be is immensely helpful.

SK Mansion in Gardner. Lots of death, lots of ghosts.

We all have bad teachers, I get it. That doesn’t mean we need to get rid of something that helps the majority.

Yea, why use language to show the degrees of a spectrum?

Monster jam monster truck show

Boynton to eat, has good atmosphere

Blackstone valley plaza shopping and movie theater

I think that is likely going to be part of most families' solutions fit healthy autistic kids.

Even if you do find a good school program for them among the alternative schools in the area (which keep changing, so i don't have any specific recommendations this time), you and your kids will need to take charge of their education much more directly, and homecoming resources can really help.

Scouting, college programs from young people (MIT's SPLASH used to be a core for many kids, not sure about now), martial arts programs, museum programs, maker programs can all be used to collect a custom education for the specific needs of your kids without involving the traditional school system and its problems.

Teachers, sometimes, can be the worst bullies.

I can guarantee that you're the kind of special education teacher that made my life and many of my autistic friends' lives horrible.

For homeschooling resources, are you saying you think we should homeschool our children if possible? We have connected with a few autistic communities (none of them Worcester based though), all of them advising strongly against ABA.

Not a fan of labeling. Autistic is autistic. My son is doing just fine without any ABA since he left public schools in first grade. The school he transferred to did not use it.

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I can guarantee you’ve never taught special education. If we want students to fail in the real world that IN NO WAY will magically change to know “how to function with autistic differences,” then we can do it your way. We can’t even see people of color as equals in this society. Cmon now, be realistic.

I'm trying not to get mad at you, but it's not going well.

I understand that you are a product of the system and are having trouble seeing past the paradigm you're used to. But you need to read my previous comment again, and take some time to think about it.

Username checks out...

In theory, that’s awesome and I agree. In practice, in the classroom, ABA is integral to learning for those with moderate to severe autism.

Okay, so students with autism should only get social skills and coping skills during school? Because if we want them to get academics, we need ABA or something to replace it.

There is no replacement because it's an unnecessary goal altogether, aside from the trauma that ABA practices can cause in the process of achieving that goal.

While it's true that autistic people often need help understanding allistic behaviors, practicing social skills overall, and other kinds of coping skills to survive in a world that doesn't understand them/us... The biggest problem is actually in society.

OTHER PEOPLE need to learn how to function with autistic differences, rather than trying to force autistic people to behave like allistic people merely for their comfort.