Controversial Therapies for Developmental Disabilities : Fads, Fashion, and Science in Professional Practice

by Jacobson, John W.; Foxx, Richard M.; Mulick, James A.; Roland, Constance E.

• ISBN13: 9780805841916
• ISBN10: 0805841911
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-12-07
• Publisher: Lawrence Erlbau

Summary

One of the largest and most complex human services systems in Western nations has evolved to address the needs of people with developmental disabilities. In the U.S., for example, school budgets are stretched thin by legally mandated special education, and billions of Medicaid dollars annually are consumed by residential and professional services to this population. The temptation of a quick fix is strong. Many parents desperately seek the latest ideas and place pressure on program administrators, who often are not trained to think critically about the evidence base for intervention efforts. The problems of people with developmental disabilities have historically been targeted by a wide range of professionals who rely on clinical experience and intuition and do not submit their claims to the tests of scientific research. Professional entrepreneurs have energetically promoted their treatments to a public perhaps too trustful of those with credentials. Thus, families and their children are buffeted by reforms founded on belief and ideologically driven management. Services fluctuate with the currents of social movements and rapidly shifting philosophies of care as policymakers and providers strive for increased responsiveness and individualization. These forces affect not only where and how, but how well people are served. Too often, services are less effective than they could be, or worse, damaging to personal growth and quality of life. Many treatments are based on poorly understood or even disproven approaches. What approaches to early intervention, education, therapy, and remediation really help those with mental retardation and developmental disabilities improve their functioning and adaptation? And what approaches represent wastes of time, effort, and resources? This book brings together leading behavioral scientists and practitioners to focus light on the major controversies surrounding these questions. The authors review the origins, perpetuation, and resistance to scrutiny of questionable practices, and offer a clear rationale for appraising the quality of services. In an era of increasing accountability, no one with a professional stake in services to individuals with mental retardation and developmental disabilities can afford not to read this book.

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
List of Contributors	xix
Part I General Issues
1 Where Do Fads Come From?	3	(16)
Stuart Vyse
2 Sifting Sound Practice From Snake Oil	19	(12)
Judith E. Favell
3 The Nature and Value of Empirically Validated Interventions	31	(14)
Crighton Newsom and Christine A. Hovanitz
4 The Appeal of Unvalidated Treatments	45	(16)
Tristram Smith
Part II Historical, Cultural, and Psychological Issues
5 Historical Approaches to Developmental Disabilities	61	(24)
John W. Jacobson, James A. Mulick, and Richard M. Foxx
6 Classification Versus Labeling	85	(16)
Susan Vig
7 The Self-Esteem Fallacy	101	(12)
Richard M. Foxx and Constance E. Roland
8 The Delusion of Full Inclusion	113	(16)
Devery R. Mock and James M. Kauffman
9 Credulity and Gullibility Among Service Providers: An Attempt to Understand Why Snake Oil Sells	129	(10)
Stephen Greenspan
10 Developmental Disabilities and the Paranormal	139	(20)
John W. Jacobson and James A. Mulick
Part III Field-Specific Issues
11 Fads in General Education: Fad, Fraud, and Folly	159	(16)
Martin A. Kozloff
12 Fads in Special Education: An Overview	175	(18)
Thomas Zane
13 The Neutralization of Special Education	193	(22)
William L. Heward and Susan M. Silvestri
14 Fads in Speech-Language Pathology	215	(22)
Mareile Koenig and Cheryl Gunter
Part IV Disorder- and Symptom-Specific Issues
15 Autism: A Late 20th Century Fad Magnet	237	(28)
Bernard Metz, James A. Mulick, and Eric M. Butter
16 Helping Parents Separate the Wheat From the Chaff: Putting Autism Treatments to the Test	265	(14)
Shannon Kay and Stuart Vyse
17 Severe Aggressive and Self-Destructive Behavior: Mentalistic Attribution	279	(16)
Steve Holburn
18 Severe Aggressive and Self-Destructive Behavior: The Myth of the Nonaversive Treatment of Severe Behavior	295	(18)
Richard M. Foxx
Part V Intervention-Specific Issues
19 Person-Centered Planning: A Faux Fixe in the Service of Humanism?	313	(28)
J. Grayson Osborne
20 Sensory Integrative Therapy	341	(10)
Tristram Smith, Daniel W. Mruzek, and Dennis Mozingo
21 Auditory Integration Training: A Critical Review	351	(12)
Oliver C. Mudford and Chris Cullen
22 Facilitated Communication: The Ultimate Fad Treatment	363	(22)
John W. Jacobson, Richard M. Foxx, and James A. Mulick
23 Positive Behavior Support: A Paternalistic Utopian Delusion	385	(20)
James A. Mulick and Eric M. Butter
24 Nonaversive Treatment	405	(18)
Crighton Newsom and Kimberly A. Kroeger
25 Gentle Teaching	423	(12)
Chris Cullen and Oliver C. Mudford
Part VI Ethical, Legal and Political Concerns
26 Ethical Dilemmas and the Most Effective Therapies	435	(16)
Peter Sturmey
27 Judicial Remedies for Fads and Fraudulent Treatment Practices	451	(10)
Edmond Tiryak
28 The National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on the Treatment of Destructive Behaviors: A Study in Professional Politics	461	(16)
Richard M. Foxx
Afterword	477	(6)
James M. Johnston
Author Index	483