(page 3 of 4) A key ingredient in her cocktail was the
educational approach Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), at the
time the center of a firestorm in the autism community thanks to
a groundbreaking book, Let Me Hear Your Voice, by Catherine
Maurice. Maurice claimed to have cured two of her children of
autism by hiring a teacher to utilize this behavior modification
approach, researched and deemed effective in some well-known
studies by UCLA’s Ivor Lovaas. ABA draws on principles of
classical conditioning to help autistic children learn essential
social skills, while unlearning negative, obstructive behaviors.
“It’s a good technique to try first, because it does work in a
lot of cases,” Reed says, adding, tongue-firmly-in-cheek, “If
you’ve ever trained a puppy, you know it works.” Here’s an
example of how it can be applied: Say a therapist wanted to
teach a child to make eye contact when he heard someone say his
name. In ABA technique, she would start by saying the name while
waving the child’s favorite toy