Abbie's biggest hurdle is not Autism. She has so many more issues than even the most severe form of autism, she is IDD. Asa will not admit that because he sees himself as the Father of Autism. ABA is not going to help her, she seems to be about on the 18 month to 2 year level and they need to get a grasp on that and how much she is actually able to learn. Since her learning is limited, then not being violent and some manners should be on the top of the list.
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You were not harsh at all. Good discussions and varying opinions are how we all learn and grow!There’s other therapies such as OT to help w/ sensory stuff, as part of the reason autistuc people, including Abbie, act out is because they’re bored. Many people on this forum have rightly pointed out that she doesn’t have much to do to engage herself, and this could be one reason why she is acting out. Also due to ABA being abusive in the first place, some of it could be a result of stress and pushback, such as communication. We also know that she doesn’t really get much of a chance to properly communicate, as when she was younger her parents didn’t seem to have taught her that much, or have taught her very well...
Also meltdowns and sensory overload can play a part in behaviours - even FA has mentioned this despite how much we criticise the family, they still have had *some* good insights every now and again, especially in the early days. Also one more thing, re ABA, it often only takes the parents wishes into mind and many autistic people have said the therapy is “to the child” not “with the child”, and often doesn’t respect autonomy, such as how people always touch Abbie, tickle her (in earlier videos Brandi and other therapists do this) etc
I’m sorry if I was being harsh in my reply to you, but it’s just that many autistic people don’t get listened to and only the “experts” do. I’m also not claiming I know of all therapies and practices, as I’m only a young adult and have thankfully not had any of these therapies. But that was one of the first things that turned me away from FA was seeing Abbie’s discomfort and realising I would hate these things for me. Many other autistic people, in this forum and elsewhere have said the same thing too. Thank you for being so open and willing to learn in your reply, there’s lots of great writings by autistic people and lots of articles analysising (sic) ABA and FA etc, if I find any I can.
TIA
I 100% agree that communication is a huge barrier for Abbie. Its just my opinion but perhaps that is because she went to public school without the proper services she needed until she was 9 or 10. Coupled with IDD, I think that even the Maass' best efforts to teach her were not enough.
As a parent myself I cant imagine the difficult choices that have to be made. But, since I am a parent, I wouldnt necessarily care if my child made eye contact or accepted hugs. I would however want them to be able to go out in the world with proper coping skills. I wouldnt want them hurting herself or others or stealing their food, or have the yelling stim disrupt experiences that other people have the right to enjoy as well. We have seen her progress so it is possible, For example, as little as one year ago she was still biting herself, gagging herself, or attacking others to the point that Asa made a hoodie that had PVC pipes in the sleeves. By wearing it, she could not bend her arms and could not gag or bite herself or hit others. Biting and gagging herself is clearly a sensory issue and harmful, and the hoodie would be considered ABA...modifying that behavior by blocking it. Is that cruel? I mean, I wouldnt want my child harming herself because it "feels good". Its such a fine line, and I appreciate you giving me some research to do!
A
Exactly, this isnt Abbie, this is Asa and Priscilla. She needed help longggg ago and didnt get it. I remember a VLOG shot a her parents home, and they showed a windowsill that Abbie had destroyed by eating it when she was little. Not scratchs...it looked as if an animal bit this wood out. I was floored. The damage was extreme when you realized that a child was using her teeth to do it. Yes, she has PICA, but where was the supervision? This kid literally ATE a windowsill. That is so dangerous.
I have to agree with some people on here, if i was on a boat or in a restaurant and was seated next to Abbie, i would leave or ask to have them leave. That's in no way Abbie's fault but i don't think it's okay for other people to have their dinner or trip ruined because Abbie goes to grab your food or poops all over a boat.
It's seriously the most ridiculous thing ever, Abbie doesn't care where she swims or where she eats so why take her out when she clearly is not ready for that? You can call it ABA or therapy all you want but it's simply them expecting everyone to schedule their lives around theirs. When i take my nephew out (he is around the same mental age as Abbie) i don't take him somewhere i know he won't be comfortable or where he will "ruin" other peoples days. Even the people who are very supportive and nice about it shouldn't have to deal with my nephew singing let it go at full volume (he loves that song but has no understanding of social situations or the concept of "inside voice").
They let out a sigh of relief every time Abbie doesn't steal food, yells or does something disruptive, that alone should tell them she isn't ready. When you get to a point when behaviors are an exception, not the standard you can start taking her to places (preferably places she actually enjoys).
The tardiness at school annoys the crap out of me mostly because it isn't necessary. If they would just leave the damm camera at home they would be able to take her to school on time and i don't know talk to her while she is in the car. But no, the vlog is more important than the start of her school day. I don't mind them being late because Abbie has a rough morning, that happens but more often than not they seem to be late because they don't plan and prioritize their content over her being on time. Once again proving they feel like the world revolves around them.
It's seriously the most ridiculous thing ever, Abbie doesn't care where she swims or where she eats so why take her out when she clearly is not ready for that? You can call it ABA or therapy all you want but it's simply them expecting everyone to schedule their lives around theirs. When i take my nephew out (he is around the same mental age as Abbie) i don't take him somewhere i know he won't be comfortable or where he will "ruin" other peoples days. Even the people who are very supportive and nice about it shouldn't have to deal with my nephew singing let it go at full volume (he loves that song but has no understanding of social situations or the concept of "inside voice").
They let out a sigh of relief every time Abbie doesn't steal food, yells or does something disruptive, that alone should tell them she isn't ready. When you get to a point when behaviors are an exception, not the standard you can start taking her to places (preferably places she actually enjoys).
The tardiness at school annoys the crap out of me mostly because it isn't necessary. If they would just leave the damm camera at home they would be able to take her to school on time and i don't know talk to her while she is in the car. But no, the vlog is more important than the start of her school day. I don't mind them being late because Abbie has a rough morning, that happens but more often than not they seem to be late because they don't plan and prioritize their content over her being on time. Once again proving they feel like the world revolves around them.
Hi everyone, I'm new here and have been reading through this forum for a day or two. So heres my 2 cents on the situation. I do agree with so much of whats being said here, especially concerning the mom, she really does seem to have 'refrigerator mom' syndrome, she clearly finds Abbie a chore. I actually really used to enjoy FA when it was in its youth, I have an autistic child and actually learned a few hints and tips there, but things did seem to change very suddenly, the paid advertising and shilling products and videos with barely a mention of Abbie or autism at all. I guess money will do that to you, but the money was because of the content they gave, I don't get how they are stupid enough to not realise if they keep on this way the money is going to dry up?
I have to admit though, and I suppose its because I have a child very like Abbie in her behaviours, that reading some of the comments about her behaving like an animal and being mean are hard to read, I don't think she has the capacity to even be mean? she's a mentally disabled kid. I ( rather naively now I think ) assumed most people were understanding when my daughter was a bit disruptive, I think I must have been lucky because people on the whole have been really understanding. But I am now far more concerned that some people really do feel that way
I have to admit though, and I suppose its because I have a child very like Abbie in her behaviours, that reading some of the comments about her behaving like an animal and being mean are hard to read, I don't think she has the capacity to even be mean? she's a mentally disabled kid. I ( rather naively now I think ) assumed most people were understanding when my daughter was a bit disruptive, I think I must have been lucky because people on the whole have been really understanding. But I am now far more concerned that some people really do feel that way
Yeah.
That's not feral behavior at all.
It's very typical that small children eat window sills.
Maybe they just sat and watched and laughed at her doing it?
Speaking of feral.
Feral is an adjective.
It is the adjective that for me, best describes her behaviors.
My posts.
My adjectives.
It’s crazy that almost everyday she is late but at least one of the parents have been up since early in the morning ... so wtf. Start getting her backpack and stuff ready instead of vlogging complaining about being up cause of her. bleeping idiots. How many tries does it take to get that tit right?
Thanks for chiming in on the boat and restaurant thing. I totally agree... and they always say that “the people were so understanding.” Most decent people will try and act like they’re ok with it because they’re not gonna be rude and say “yeah you totally ruined our experience.” They really lack social skills. And the whole boat incident ... they only talk about that salt water gives you the shits but do they know that even more dangerous than that is the hallucination and other mental stress it causes? Wow. And they know she drinks salt water but they want to entertain their delusional selves and the world with a tit show.
I was watching this video and when they are on the roller coaster ride the lady doing this video shows Abbie and A. Abbie is clinging onto A for dear life and there is no smiles on her face, just pure terror. Meanwhile he's sitting in the car with his selfystick and camera in hand to get "the shot."
Might I add ... I have no kids but when going out with friends and their kids, we always make it a point to go somewhere that is “kid friendly” and already loud so they are not a nuisance. I personally can’t stand crying babies and kids running around. Imagine a teenage kid coming and stealing my food after yelling all night? I’d be mad af
Do you remember which one this was?? That’s scary as hell
I will look. It was scary.
Most of these kids are miserable. I bet they wonder "why? why are you doing this to me?"
I recently happened across this forum about FA and I have a few (okay, maybe several) things I want to say! I have read all of the threads- I am on maternity leaving awaiting the arrival of my baby so I have a lot of free time! I would like to add that I am a new poster here!
I work in the field of ABA. I have worked in several settings; autism schools, autism classrooms in typical schools, supported children with autism in typical classrooms, ABA clinics, child mental health inpatient units in a hospital, and a summer camp for special needs children and teenagers.
I understand that ABA can sometimes be viewed as abuse (especially in the past, and I will admit that there are some questionable professionals I have come across). My (autistic) clients love coming to sessions with me! We use only positive reinforcement- and we DO NOT attempt to reduce/change stimming behaviour. Our goal is to teach independence and life skills (something I feel that everyone deserves to have), in a positive way catered to how the specific client learns. Even challenging behaviour are seen as ways to communicate and we attempt to understand them and the individual.
I came across the FA vlog about two years ago. After I watched a few videos, I loved it! I loved that they were bringing some representation of more severe (for a lack of a better term) autism to people.
As I continued to watch, I started to become annoyed with the way A&P acted around Abbie. One of the first things that bothered me was how they were discussing her behaviours in front of her as if she wasn’t there. I would like to note before I proceed in my rant, I have NOT watched all of the vlogs. I got too annoyed with “all the things” and “are you so excited” etc.
A few notes about Abbie (from my opinion, that are discussed here sometimes).
- About her food intake: From the small videos we see, it is difficult to determine for sure the full extent of this issue. I have worked with children who will literally eat and eat until they puke and then started eating again right away until they are sick again and just continue this cycle, usually because they food a lot, or feel hungry and then do not understand the feeling of when to stop eating. It is hard to tell if Abbie would do this or not. She does not get a lot of nutrients (from what we see) in the meals that she eats, so she could be feeling hungry all the time, or have a “food addiction” where she does not understand how to limit her own food intake. Perhaps if she was given more nutritious snacks, she would not be so hungry all the time, or perhaps she would still “binge” eat. Hard to say for sure from the videos.
- About the possibility of her having another diagnosis: I do believe she has autism (she meets all of the criteria for behaviour, social and communication deficits). I cannot say for sure about her having something else such as IDD. However, I can see where this speculation comes from. My hesitance comes from the fact that she does not receive ABA at home really, and when it was more featured on the vlog, I believe that the reason she was not gaining the skills they were trying to teach was due to a lack of motivation and proper reinforcement (not necessarily a deficit on Abbie’s part). Also, it was mentioned how she often waited for prompts. In our field, there is evidence that prompt-dependent clients are created by therapists not appropriately fading their prompts throughout teaching- so again, hard to say if this is Abbie’s fault. We also do not know about the progress she makes in what they do at school with her. Another point is that she has “lost” skills she previously had. In our field, we often work on “mastered” tasks with clients often, so they do not become too rusty. Think, even as a neurotypical adult, if you were to do a task (you had mastered), that you had not done in a while, you would be rusty at it.
- A few other notes:
A&P said how she doesn’t care about routine or schedule; however, I remember when she did ABA with Brandi, they used the visual schedule for her, and Abbie would often refer to it.
I am all for bringing her into the community and including her in events because I am big on everyone being included. Although, I wish they had exit strategies, or coping strategies for her while in these situations.
It is hard to say if she truly is uninterested in sensory toys or anything, because we really do not get to see her interacting with them, I feel like if she always had access to them, she would use them.
I remember in earlier vlogs, they often had music on for her at home or in the car, I have not noticed as much of that anymore.
I feel that it is important to represent autism especially more severe autism (as it is often high functioning [lack of a better term, I do not like describing it like that] autism that is portrayed).
However, it has become more about their lives and less about Abbie. Not sure how long they can keep up with filming their daily routine.
That’s it for now! Shout out If you stuck around to read all of my thoughts!
I work in the field of ABA. I have worked in several settings; autism schools, autism classrooms in typical schools, supported children with autism in typical classrooms, ABA clinics, child mental health inpatient units in a hospital, and a summer camp for special needs children and teenagers.
I understand that ABA can sometimes be viewed as abuse (especially in the past, and I will admit that there are some questionable professionals I have come across). My (autistic) clients love coming to sessions with me! We use only positive reinforcement- and we DO NOT attempt to reduce/change stimming behaviour. Our goal is to teach independence and life skills (something I feel that everyone deserves to have), in a positive way catered to how the specific client learns. Even challenging behaviour are seen as ways to communicate and we attempt to understand them and the individual.
I came across the FA vlog about two years ago. After I watched a few videos, I loved it! I loved that they were bringing some representation of more severe (for a lack of a better term) autism to people.
As I continued to watch, I started to become annoyed with the way A&P acted around Abbie. One of the first things that bothered me was how they were discussing her behaviours in front of her as if she wasn’t there. I would like to note before I proceed in my rant, I have NOT watched all of the vlogs. I got too annoyed with “all the things” and “are you so excited” etc.
A few notes about Abbie (from my opinion, that are discussed here sometimes).
- About her food intake: From the small videos we see, it is difficult to determine for sure the full extent of this issue. I have worked with children who will literally eat and eat until they puke and then started eating again right away until they are sick again and just continue this cycle, usually because they food a lot, or feel hungry and then do not understand the feeling of when to stop eating. It is hard to tell if Abbie would do this or not. She does not get a lot of nutrients (from what we see) in the meals that she eats, so she could be feeling hungry all the time, or have a “food addiction” where she does not understand how to limit her own food intake. Perhaps if she was given more nutritious snacks, she would not be so hungry all the time, or perhaps she would still “binge” eat. Hard to say for sure from the videos.
- About the possibility of her having another diagnosis: I do believe she has autism (she meets all of the criteria for behaviour, social and communication deficits). I cannot say for sure about her having something else such as IDD. However, I can see where this speculation comes from. My hesitance comes from the fact that she does not receive ABA at home really, and when it was more featured on the vlog, I believe that the reason she was not gaining the skills they were trying to teach was due to a lack of motivation and proper reinforcement (not necessarily a deficit on Abbie’s part). Also, it was mentioned how she often waited for prompts. In our field, there is evidence that prompt-dependent clients are created by therapists not appropriately fading their prompts throughout teaching- so again, hard to say if this is Abbie’s fault. We also do not know about the progress she makes in what they do at school with her. Another point is that she has “lost” skills she previously had. In our field, we often work on “mastered” tasks with clients often, so they do not become too rusty. Think, even as a neurotypical adult, if you were to do a task (you had mastered), that you had not done in a while, you would be rusty at it.
- A few other notes:
A&P said how she doesn’t care about routine or schedule; however, I remember when she did ABA with Brandi, they used the visual schedule for her, and Abbie would often refer to it.
I am all for bringing her into the community and including her in events because I am big on everyone being included. Although, I wish they had exit strategies, or coping strategies for her while in these situations.
It is hard to say if she truly is uninterested in sensory toys or anything, because we really do not get to see her interacting with them, I feel like if she always had access to them, she would use them.
I remember in earlier vlogs, they often had music on for her at home or in the car, I have not noticed as much of that anymore.
I feel that it is important to represent autism especially more severe autism (as it is often high functioning [lack of a better term, I do not like describing it like that] autism that is portrayed).
However, it has become more about their lives and less about Abbie. Not sure how long they can keep up with filming their daily routine.
That’s it for now! Shout out If you stuck around to read all of my thoughts!
Regarding the chewing the window sill. My daughter went through a long phase when she was 5 of picking up things and putting them in her mouth, Dr said it was. sensory thing, like a toddler would do, because even though she should have been past that stage a long while back ..mentally she wasn't. It resulted in a trip to ER once when she swallowed a metal staple she picked up off the floor ( was ok thank goodness ) but that taught us that she had to be watched like a damn hawk, some of the things she tried to touch and eat were too gross to mention. But with constant telling, reminding and removing she eventually 'got it' She will sometimes try and pick up any food she might have dropped under the dinner table, but its shut down before she can. These kids are hard work, and sorry P&A thats your job, you keep your kid safe, letting her eat a window sill is not dong your job.
Agreed. Its a fine line though, because my daughter is happiest sat at home on her iPad chilling in the sensory room, but you have a need in you to try and push the boundaries, autism is primarily a lack of social communication condition, and by keeping them in a solitary environment 24/7 even if thats what they would prefer only feeds the disorder.
For me though I've learned to take her out only to places she truly wants to go, trains are a huge thing for her so a quick train journey, maybe to pick up a Thomas The Tank Engine toy ( boy shes mental about Thomas ) Or a trip to Nannys house to get spoiled with naughty foods she doesn't have an abundance of at home. She will enjoy all of this. But sad as it is for us Disney would just freak her out, way way too much going on, so I'd not put her through it, it would be a waste of money besides anything else.
Let these kids come on in their own time, stop trying to force your wants for them when they just aren't ready.
It's torture for the kids. I don't know the little boy's name, but he was not enjoying Thunder Mountain at all.
When I was a baby/toddler, my mum told me that she never took me anywhere out to eat. Apparently it wasn't the "done thing" back then (80s) because kids are disruptive.
Also there isn't a vlog up yet, strange goings on in the Maass household today. Maybe they ran out of things to talk about/exploit.
It’s up on Facebook. Maverick is getting lots of attention.....all of a sudden.Also there isn't a vlog up yet, strange goings on in the Maass household today. Maybe they ran out of things to talk about/exploit.
First time I’ve heard of these people, but having watched a couple of vids my heart breaks for Abbie 
my child is ASD, ADHD and a few other things.
Whilst I’m not a pro on anything ASD what they are doing to that poor girl is horrific I’m still learning with my child some days we have amazing days and some not so good
For example he can’t deal with supermarkets too much of a sensory overload so we don’t do them. I feel for her it’s like she fits round their life their wants and needs so sad
my child is ASD, ADHD and a few other things. Whilst I’m not a pro on anything ASD what they are doing to that poor girl is horrific I’m still learning with my child some days we have amazing days and some not so good
For example he can’t deal with supermarkets too much of a sensory overload so we don’t do them. I feel for her it’s like she fits round their life their wants and needs so sad
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Your last bit about harmful stims is true, but often some therapists such as OT or PT can help redirect those stims or understand why they’re happening, eg distress etc
Abbie got sent to her room for yelling - all of a sudden she is being reprimanded for this.
Even more crazy is that P said “gypped” not once but twice. That’s a derogatory term ... much like saying “jewed.” These two having been so vocal about their disdain of the “R word” but have no regard for other derogatory terms that don’t apply to them. Disgusting. They probably freely use the N word too is my educated guess after hearing and seeing that tit show.
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