Teens with High Functioning Autism and School - Problems and Promise

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I have seen a significant trend in my practice, teens with high functioning autism unable to attend school due to intense anxiety.

The problem of children with autism who are unable to cope with school and develop agoraphobic  type symptoms has long been around, but the increased numbers of highly intelligent, often with a "superpower" talented young people who are unable to participate in their educations and life in general is tragic.

Schools are not being flexible and creative in addressing this.  They insist on the old paradigm of highly structured behavioral model programs that simply don't work for these kids any longer.  Many of them reject, sometimes with vehemence, the idea of the stucture of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) being practiced on them any longer.  They "age out" in a way.

But there is hope, in the form of a study of a school in England that developed a program based on empathy, kindness, and most of all, flexibility. (a link to the article is at the bottom of the page)   

The school is proving that the humanization of behavior interventions is still evolving.

The profound positive effect of ABA for serious maladaptive behaviors is clear.  Lives have literally been saved and ABA has provided a path to autonomy for countless children.

However, without significant changes, I do not see evidence in my daily interactions with parents that ABA is working for their kids. 

It's time to look at programs like the one featured in this episode and make similar models available here.

Link to article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37860824/

In the transcript section I've included a copy of the outline I wrote for the episode.

Thank you for listening!