Challenging Behaviour
Director Fran Robertson
Countries United Kingdom
Duration 62 min
Synopsis
Jack, 3 and Jeremiah, 4 have been diagnosed with autism and are about to start at a school which uses ABA, a controversial and intensive intervention used to treat autism. Their parents have high hopes of this ‘tough love’ approach, but critics argue that it is dehumanizing and abusive to try to eliminate autistic behaviour. Through the interweaving of their stories, of the charismatic ABA consultant Gunnar Frederickson and of critics of ABA, we are confronted by a complex world which asks fundamental questions about how we bring up children and how society should respond to people with autism.
Jack, 3 and Jeremiah, 4 have been diagnosed with autism and are about to start at a school which uses ABA, a controversial and intensive intervention used to treat autism. Their parents have high hopes of this ‘tough love’ approach, but critics argue that it is dehumanizing and abusive to try to eliminate autistic behaviour. Through the interweaving of their stories, of the charismatic ABA consultant Gunnar Frederickson and of critics of ABA, we are confronted by a complex world which asks fundamental questions about how we bring up children and how society should respond to people with autism.