There was a point when ABA took over our week. Fifteen, sometimes twenty hours of sessions filled our calendar. Everyone said it was necessary. “The more hours, the better,” they told us.
But what I saw was a different story. My kids weren’t happier or more confident. They were tired. They were losing interest in play. They were doing what they were told, but not because they understood, because they were trained to.
That’s when it hit me. ABA wasn’t helping them be themselves. It was teaching them to hide themselves.
Real progress shouldn’t come from exhaustion or fear of getting it wrong. It should come from connection, curiosity, and trust.
I started to realize that therapy shouldn’t make a child smaller just to make the world more comfortable.
Sometimes, less ABA is not “giving up.” It’s making space for the kind of growth that actually matters.
