Note that Lovaas did NOT advocate the use of painful stimuli for all autistic children (even according to the MUCH more limited definition used then), nor was the primary purpose suppressing unwanted behaviors. It was used with a small subset of completely nonresponsive children to get them to respond to verbal stimuli (adding behavior, not removing it). A collateral effect was the reduction in stereotypical behaviors such as rocking. Rekers was not a major contributer to this research (the only other papers that I found by him and Lovaas were a couple of related presentations). The paper cited was primarily concerned with sex role behavior change, not autism per se (which was Lovaas' main interest).
I agree that if Rekers was involved in even a pseudopsychological group that there is a psychological link. On May 7, 2010, at 10:08 AM, Beth Benoit wrote: > I think there's a lot of psychology stuff here. > > Lovaas - coauthor of the first article Stephen posted - stirred up > controversy for years because he advocated the use of electric > shock to eradicate behavioral problems in autistic children. > > The fundamentalists have been on the hot seat for a long time > (think of the inimitable James Dobson) for advocating putting hot > sauce on children's tongues and paddling them for misbehavior. > http://www.religioustolerance.org/spankin9c.htm > > Finally, the whole concept of treating homosexuality as a "mental > illness" has been out (so to speak!) since 1973. But "Rekers is > also involved with the National Association for Research and > Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH), an anti-gay “professional, > scientific organization that offers hope to those who struggle with > unwanted homosexuality.” > > I'm bringing this little tidbit into my class on Human Sexuality. > > Beth Benoit > Granite State College > Plymouth State University > New Hampshire > > > > On Fri, May 7, 2010 at 10:34 AM, Paul Brandon > <[email protected]> wrote: > And this has what to do with his position as a psychologist? > > > On May 7, 2010, at 7:56 AM, <[email protected]> > <[email protected]> wrote: > > And who wishes he wasn't. > > It's the lead author of this early controversial work with the > eminent behavior modifier Ivor Lovaas: > > Rekers GA, Lovaas OI (1974). Behavioral treatment of deviant > sex-role behaviors in a male child. Journal of Applied Behavioral > Analysis, 7, 173-90. > > http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1311956/ > > Nowadays, such work would be considered to have grave > ethical problems. But that was then, and we've come a long > way. (Wikipedia has an interesting short paragraph on the issue > under "Professional practice of behaviour analysis"; see > "Historical controversies: homosexuality). > > And here's why Dr. Rekers is now in the news: > > http://www.beyondchron.org/news/index.php?itemid=8093 > > ...which has attracted the attention of news commentator > Stephen Colbert (See video at > http://tinyurl.com/Rekers-Colbert-USA ) > > In Canada: http://tinyurl.com/Rekers-Colbert-Canada > > Stephen Paul Brandon Emeritus Professor of Psychology Minnesota State University, Mankato [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=2513 or send a blank email to leave-2513-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
