Would you give electric shocks to your child?<\/p>\n
I’m asking because while most of the so-called civilized world would react in horror at the mere suggestion of torturing children to alter their behaviour, this is exactly what’s discussed by the State Education Department at the University of New York<\/a>, right now. The issue at hand is whether or not to allow aversion therapy<\/span> to alter or hinder unwanted behaviour in children, especially in disabled children. Sounds abstract? Uncivilized? Let me give you an example.<\/p>\n Autistic individuals sometimes display seemingly involuntary body movement such as arm flapping, rocking, or tics of various kinds. They call this stimming<\/span> and while such behaviour can certainly appear bizarre to “normal” people, it is actually a sensory coping mechanism and allows autistics to deal with outside stimuli and reduce overall stress. The fact that stimming works is well documented in autism research.<\/p>\n Adults with autism and Asperger Syndrome can often avoid stimming noticeably in public, knowing fully well that NTs<\/span> (Neurologically Typical, in other words normal people; a term coined by autistics on the Internet) have difficulty accepting such deviant behaviour. Autistic children, however, often don’t realize this and happily stim whenever they need to.<\/p>\n But, as I said, many “normal” people consider stimming deviant behaviour; some even think it should be forbidden.<\/p>\n