Therapy, Education & Advocacy Blog | Therapist Neurodiversity Collective

IEPs, Ableist Goals and Parents’ Rights

A neurodiversity-affirming parent’s anonymous post to Therapist Neurodiversity Collective requested information that might help them advocate for their special education student in the IEP meeting. From the information contained in the post, it appeared that the school, although possibly unintentionally, was not aware of IDEA and Supreme Court decisions, and therefore violated parental rights to meaningfully participate in and contribute to the IEP meeting. Additionally, it is clear that our public school system is lagging in knowledge and application of contemporary research evidence about autism, and as a result, the kids are paying the consequences with poor mental health outcomes.

SLPs directly contribute to autistic outcomes of trauma and suicidality through social skills training

My hope is this article, if nothing else, ignites some #SLP self-reflection as well as deeper dives into contemporary autism research, especially #TheDoubleEmpathyProblem, #ActuallyAutistic perspectives, and how, despite altruistic intentions, our clinical practices continue to impact trauma on our autistic students and clients.

Toxic Social Skills Training Goals, “Be yourself, but not like that.”

The vast majority of new-to-me students come with IEPs that have, probably well-meaning, but in actuality, toxic social skills goals. Here are some alternatives.

Picture of young student with brown hair, head in hands, sitting at desk.

Not allowed to say “I can’t”

“The kids in my class aren’t allowed to say I can’t.” I’m in an IEP meeting for young neurodivergent student who’s struggling in class. The committee is talking about all the reasons why this student should not be struggling because their standardized cognitive and language scores show they have the ability to learn and do the work.

Neurodiversity-Affirming Therapy: Positions, Therapy Goals, and Best Practices

Neurodiversity-affirming therapy: Dozens of neurodiversity-affirming therapy goals and best practice resources for ally SLPs and OTs.

Influencer Therapists: Dubious Ethics & Poor Quality Services

“And, at the end of the day, that’s what a lot of therapy “influencers” are after: exploiting vulnerable families to benefit their own bottom line and their online image. And it’s time that professionals and parents begin talking about it and pushing back.”

Ableism in Speech Pathology

1/24/2022, by Nicole Lobsey, Certified Practicing Speech Pathologist Like most health and education fields, Speech Pathology is a heavily ableist field. Speech Pathology practices are based on: Assessment against neurotypical

Case Study in Neurodiversity-Affirming Care: A Toddler with Childhood Apraxia of Speech

At the beginning of the evaluation, Adam appeared to enjoy playing with zoo animals with mom and the therapist. He laughed and smiled readily and paired gleeful, albeit, infrequent, babbling with gestures like pointing and guiding his mom’s hands to the toys he wanted her to play with. However, after a few misunderstandings in which neither mom nor the therapist could figure out what Adam was gesturing for them to do, Adam became highly frustrated and emotionally dysregulated. He threw himself to the floor and, in between sobs, began to bang his forehead on the floor repeatedly. His mother was worried that this self-injurious behavior had started happening more and more frequently in recent weeks.

A Parent’s Guide to Respectful Feeding Therapy: Part 2

ABA providers will tell you to break your child, to reward your child for eating food, to re-present food your child has spit out or vomited, to restrain your child in a chair and do not let them leave the chair. There are better ways.

A Parent’s Guide to Respectful Feeding Therapy – Part 1

When children have trouble eating, it can be incredibly stressful for parents. But you’re not alone! There are qualified professionals waiting to help you and your child.

Neurodiversity and Autism Intervention (ABA) can’t be reconciled.

And let’s talk about considerable ethical and financial conflicts of interest with this paper and its authors, shall we?

Reader, every single author of this paper is trained in ABA, (three of them are actually BCBAs), so clearly each author has a vested financial interest in duping people into believing that ABA is “Neurodiversity Approved”.
(It’s always about the $$$.)

They refuse to work. So now what? Just let them become unemployed and play Fortnite and eat Cheetos all day?

ABA Call to Action!

Did you know that there is a Congressional Autism Caucus? This 141-member caucus includes members from both parties in the U.S. House of Representatives and in the U.S.
Now is the time to voice your opposition to ABA!
Contact your State Congressional Members of the Congressional Autism Caucus https://doyle.house.gov/issues/autism-caucus/autism-caucus-membership

Performative Neurodiversity – the appropriation and watering down of a Human Rights Movement for profit

What are some signs that you’ve wasted your money on a neurodiversity-lite product, book, or class?

Confessions of a Previous ABA Technician – 2

Through the pairing procedure, children begin to learn that doing things that feel good to them (e.g. autistic play, stimming, etc.) are less valuable than the things that make the therapist feel good (i.e. neurotypical play, compliance). They learn to ignore their feelings of distress when confronted with a task they find aversive and mask their distress to please their caregivers. They become motivated by the praise they receive when they “do the thing” and become reliant on external reinforcement rather than intrinsic motivation, regardless of how much they are suffering.

“First Do No Harm”: How SLPs Who Ignore Coregulation Reduce Children’s Access to Authentic Communication

Many speech-language pathologists do not think of sensory, emotional, or cognitive regulation as a part of their area of practice. In actuality, though, all communication originates from the need for regulation, and it is impossible to support a child’s communication skills or language development without understanding and supporting their regulation needs.

Confessions of a Previous ABA Technician

Through the guise of play, I often contrived stressful and frustrating situations and placed consistent demands on very small children. For instance, one of my kid’s goals was something like this: The client will engage in 3 turn taking exchanges by relinquishing to their play partner, waiting while their play partner takes a turn, and then requesting a turn with ___ # of prompts.

Medical Neglect – Physician and Court Ordered ABA for Autistic Children

“Hi, I was wondering if I could speak with someone on how to deal with being court-ordered by the family court system to enroll a child in intensive ABA therapy?”

So an SLP was late-diagnosed as Autistic this week…

“… scores on the CAT-Q indicate she engages in a significantly higher level of camouflaging than neurotypical people and elevated camouflaging even when compared to other autistic individuals. It is highly likely that she has camouflaged so much and for so long that she fails to see some of her autistic traits even though they may appear obvious to others.”

Autistic & other Disabled Children’s Rights – Are Therapists in Violation?

“Disregard for the human rights of autistic children, and the belief that they are so fundamentally different from other children that they don’t have the same rights, have become cultural norms within many professional and educational spaces. Often, teachers, therapists, and other professionals working with autistic students don’t even realize the ways in which their treatment of their students is dehumanizing because it is what they have seen from the individuals around them and those who trained them.”

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