Some people reject ABA therapy on the grounds that it’s nothing more than a system that bribes children to do what they should be doing anyway. We want a child to come sit down, so we call him over and then give him a cookie. We want a child to play with peers in school, so we give him tokens for each peer he asks to play and when he earns 10 tokens, he gets to go to McDonald’s for french fries.

Of course, when one is really asked to define what is meant by bribery, the argument starts to break down. Is it bribery because children in ABA therapy are rewarded for what they do? Well, other children often receive some kind of reward for the same behavior. If a child asks a peer to play, he’s rewarded with attention from the peer. If the class sits down when the teacher asks. She may praise them for sitting down. More than likely, if children don’t sit down, the teacher will reprimand the class. Do those who see ABA therapy as a system of “too many rewards” really think more punishment is needed in ABA therapy?

Perhaps it’s bribery because children in ABA therapy are externally rewarded for what they do. However, again in the above examples, both the attention and praise the teacher gives are external rewards. But no, some will argue, the fact is that most children don’t need the attention and praise to behave. They are internally motivated to ask others to play. They reach a point where they are internally motivated to listen to their teachers. Really? How many children would continue to ask a peer to play if they found the actual external play boring? How many children would continue to ask a peer to play if the peer said “yes” but then spent all the time talking with another buddy? One who thinks children sit down at the beginning of school solely based on internal motivation has not visited an elementary school lately. Children sit down because of the external consequences associated with following the rules or not following the rules. Do those who think ABA therapy has “too many external rewards” really think the difference between teachers with good and bad classroom management is based on luck and the random number of children in their classroom who are intrinsically motivated to follow the rules?

Well then, perhaps it’s bribery because children in ABA therapy are given different rewards or more frequent rewards than other children typically receive for the same behavior. We don’t usually give someone a cookie to sit down. And we don’t praise children for every good thing they do! This is true. (Although, it is interesting to note that much professional advice for parents and teachers points out that we don’t praise children enough for what they do right.) However, we know that children with autism don’t always respond to natural consequences the same way as other children. Does one really want to say that the problem with ABA therapy is that it uses consequences that work for a child with disabilities (i.e., contrived and frequent reinforcers) rather than more natural reinforcers we know don’t work?

There is one definition of bribery I would agree with. Bribery is giving or promising a child a reward AFTER they have begun to behave badly. You ask a child to sit down. He doesn’t sit down, but rather falls to the ground and starts crying. You pull out a cookie and say, “no look, if you sit down, I’ll give you a cookie.” That’s bribery. That shouldn’t occur. On the other hand, a child is sitting on the floor. You place a cookie on the table, and say, “Look, come sit down and eat this cookie.” The child comes over and eats the cookie. That’s not bribery. That’s an incentive. Good ABA therapy starts with incentives and other forms of frequently occurring, contrived reinforcers (spinning a child around, racing through the room in laundry baskets, shouts of praise). As a child progresses, incentives become less frequent, and contrived reinforcers are systematically changed to more natural forms of reinforcement. The child who used to come to the table for a cookie is now praised on occasion when he sits down and on other occasions, simply gets to work. It’s a process….a process that works. ABA therapy isn’t bribery. ABA therapy is good teaching.