Controversial Therapies for Autism and Intellectual Disabilities ─ Fad, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice

One of the largest and most complex human services systems in history has evolved to address the needs of people with developmental disabilities, yet important questions remain for many professionals, administrators, and parents. What approaches to early intervention, education, therapy, and remediation really help those with autism and other developmental disabilities improve their functioning and adaptation? Alternatively, what approaches represent wastes of time, effort, and resources?

Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities, 2^nd 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 Developmental Disabilities has been fully revised and updated and includes entirely new chapters on psychology fads, why applied behavioral analysis isn’t a fad, rapid prompting, FAPE advocacy, BCBA practices and beliefs, and teaching ethics. The book concludes with a brief parents‘ guide to autism treatments.

Richard M. Foxx is a professor of psychology and an adjunct professor of pediatrics in the College of Medicine at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Foxx has published eight books, over 130 scientific publications, made 13 training films, and given over 2000 talks on applied behavior analysis. He is the editor-in-chief of Behavioral Interventions and is on the editorial board of six scientific journals. He was past president of the Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis; the Association for Behavior Analysis; and the Division of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities of the American Psychological Association. His awards included Lifetime Achievement Award (1998) and Significant Contributions to Behavior Analysis Award (2001) from the New York State Association for Behavior Analysis, honorary member of the Norwegian Association for Behavior Analysis (1998), Society for the Advancement of Behavior Analysis Award for Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media (2003), and the inaugural John Jacobson award from Division 33 of the American Psychological Association (2007).

James A. Mulick is a professor of psychology at Ohio State University and a pediatric expert at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.