Ole Ivar Løvaas (8 May 1927 – 2 August 2010)^[1][2] was a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is most well-known for his research on behavior modification in children, particularly with the use of strong aversives such as electric shocks. Lovaas would shout at, beat, and apply electric shocks to autistic children (sometimes with a cattle prod) to punish then for displaying autistic behavior. He encouraged the children's families to do the same at home. Lovaas used the same techniques in attempt modify behavior in homosexuals and gender variant children. His experiments in the use of aversives to modify the behavior of a feminine male child may have caused the child's later suicide. Lovaas presided over several gay conversion camps, some of which are still in use today. He once lamented that he was not allowed to beat the autistic children harder, and only gave up the use of corporal punishment when pressed to do so by the authorities.

Lovaas' claimed that his methods could make 47% of autistic children "indistinguishable from their peers". However, later research challenged this claim and found serious flaws in the study's methodology. Lovaas also claimed that his methods could make many homosexuals "indistinguishable from their peers", but this claim was later disproved. Lovaas' research has been adapted to produce a variety of applied behavioral analysis (ABA) interventions for autistic children which call themselves the "Lovaas method", or "Early Intensive Behavior Intervention" (EIBI). While promoters of EIBI programs argue that they are highly effective in helping autistic children, much of the research used to justify these practices has been found to be flawed. One study recommended that all programs labeled as EIBI be regarded with skepticism.^[3]

Lovaas' techniques were not effective in modifying the behavior of gay and gender variant children, but were effective in modifying the behavior of some autistic children. He is considered a pioneer of applied behavior analysis due to his development of discrete trial training (DTT).^[4] Despite their efficacy in reducing autistic behaviors, the ethics of his methods have been questioned. Neurodiversity advocates have argued that the goal of reducing autistic behavior is misguided, and that it amounts to forcing autistic people to repress their true personalities on behalf of a narrow conception of normality. While the use of aversives to modify behavior is highly controversial, a number of facilities continue to use them. As of 2019^[update], the Judge Rotenberg Center is the last remaining facility to use electric shocks to modify behavior in people with disabilities.

Lovaas received widespread acclaim for his work during his lifetime. In 2001, he was given the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Distinguished Career Award.^[5] He received the Edgar Doll Award from the 33rd Division of the American Psychological Association, the Lifetime Research Achievement Award from the 55th Division of the American Psychological Association, and the Award for Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media by the Association for Behavior Analysis International. He was also awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and the California Senate Award, which is an honorary doctorate. He was named a Fellow by Division 7 of the American Psychological Association and was given the Champion of Mental Health Award by Psychology Today. Lovaas also co-founded the Autism Society of America. His work influenced how autism is treated.

Personal life

Lovaas was born in Lier, Norway on May 8, 1927 to Hildur and Ernst Albert Lovaas.^[6] He had 2 siblings: an older sister named Nora and a younger brother named Hans Erik.^[7] He was a farm worker during the 1940s Nazi occupation of Norway. Lovaas often said that the nazis had sparked his interest in human behavior.^[8] After graduating high school, he served in the Norwegian Air force for 18 months. After the war, Lovaas moved to the United States for college and entered the field of psychology. Lovaas married Beryl Scoles in 1955, and together they had four children. He later divorced his wife and remarried.^[9][10]

Education

Lovaas attended Hegg Elementary School in Lier from 1934 to 1941. He attended junior high school at Drammen Realskole until 1944, and then moved on to Drammen Latin School for high school, graduating in 1947.^[7] Lovaas attended Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, graduating in 1951 after just one year with his BA in sociology. He received his Masters of Science in clinical psychology from the University of Washington in 1955, and his Ph.D. in learning and clinical psychology from the same school 3 years later.^[7]

Career

Early in his career, Lovaas worked at the Pinel foundation, which focused on Freudian psychoanalysis.^[7] After earning his PhD, Lovaas worked at the University of Washington’s Child Development Institute, where he first learned of behavior analysis. He began teaching at UCLA in 1961 in the Department of Psychology, where he performed research on children with autism spectrum disorder at the school’s Neuropsychiatric Institute.^[6] He started an early intervention clinic at UCLA called the UCLA Young Autism Project, which performed experimental interventions inside the children's homes. He was named Professor Emeritus in 1994. Lovaas also established the Lovaas Institute for Early Intervention (LIFE), which performs interventions based on his research.^[7] Lovaas is considered a pioneer in the field of applied behavioral analysis for autism.

Lovaas taught now prominent behaviorists, such as Robert Koegel, Laura Schreibman, Tristram Smith, John McEachin, Ron Leaf, Doreen Granpeesheh, Jacquie Wynn, and thousands of UCLA students who took his "Behavior Modification" course during his 50 years of teaching. He also co-founded what is today the Autism Society of America (ASA). Lovaas published hundreds of research articles and several books, and received many accolades for his research. He forced a number of school districts to adopt his programs. His work influenced how autism is treated.^[11][12][13]

Research

In the late 1950s, Lovaas began his research on the use of aversives to deter behaviors that he considered undesirable.^[14] Lovass argued that autistic people should be exempt from the usual ethical considerations in regard to brutal forms of punishment.^[15] He would shout at, hit, and apply electric shocks to autistic children as punishment for autistic behaviors such as stimming, and encouraged their families to do the same. The electric shocks were often applied with cattle prods. Lovaas used a similar system of punishment and reward in attempt to cure homosexuality, as one of the early researchers of the now discredited gay conversion therapy.^[16][17][15] The use of strong aversives is now controversial in the field, but is still in practice.^[18]

Lovaas stated on multiple occasions that he did not see autistic people as fully human.^[16]

"You see, you start pretty much from scratch when you work with an autistic child. You have a person in the physical sense—they have hair, a nose and a mouth—but they are not people in the psychological sense. One way to look at the job of helping autistic kids is to see it as a matter of constructing a person. You have the raw materials, but you have to build the person."

Lovaas lamented that he was not allowed to beat the children harder, and only gave up the use of corporal punishment when pressed to do so by the authorities.^[16]

Lovaas' claimed that his methods could make 47% of autistic children "indistinguishable from their peers". However, later research challenged this figure and found serious flaws in his methodology. In particular, Lovaas did not randomize his trials, producing a quasi-experiment in which he was able to control the assignment of children to treatment groups. The true efficacy of his method is difficult to determine since his studies cannot be replicated for ethical reasons.^[3] Lovaas also claimed that his methods could make many homosexuals "indistinguishable from their peers", but this claim was later disproved.^[16]

Lovaas' research has been adapted to produce a variety of applied behavioral analysis interventions for autistic children which call themselves the "Lovaas method", or "Early Intensive Behavior Intervention" (EIBI). The use of aversives varies considerably between such programs. While promoters of EIBI programs argue that they are highly effective in helping autistic children, one study noted severe methodological flaws in the research used to justify these practices. The study also noted that defenders of EIBI typically refuse to acknowledge any methodological flaws in the research, and recommended that EIBI programs be regarded with skepticism.^[3]

The value of eliminating autistic behaviors is disputed by proponents of neurodiversity^[19] (such as Michelle Dawson and Ari Ne'eman) who claim that it forces autistics to repress their true personalities on behalf of a narrow conception of normality. Some advocates have compared the practice of trying to normalize autistic behavior to gay conversion therapy.^[20][21] Edward K. Morris of the University of Kansas has argued that this position grossly misrepresents the actual goals of applied behavior analysis interventions and the standard practices of behavior analysts.^[22] However, more recent research has suggested a link between ABA and PTSD in autistic people.^[23][24]

Experiments on gender-variant children

In addition to his extensive work with autistic children, Lovaas co-authored four papers with George Rekers, a psychology professor at the same university, on children with atypical gender behaviors.^{[25][26][27][28]} The subject of the first of these studies, a 'feminine' young boy who was homosexual of 4 and half years old at the inception of treatment, committed suicide as an adult; his family attribute the suicide to this treatment. Following his suicide in 2010, the man's sister told the news that she read his journal which described how he feared disclosing his sexual orientation because when receiving the behavior modification treatment as a young boy, his father would give him spankings as punishment for feminine-like behavior such as playing with dolls.^{[25][29][30][31]}

Lovaas presided over a number of gay conversion therapy clinics, some of which are still in use today. When homosexuality was removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Lovaas objected and proposed that it be returned there.^[16]

Support for his work

Lovaas received widespread acclaim for his work during his lifetime. In 2001, he was given the Society of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology Distinguished Career Award.^[32] He received the Edgar Doll Award from the 33rd Division of the American Psychological Association, the Lifetime Research Achievement Award from the 55th Division of the American Psychological Association, and the Award for Effective Presentation of Behavior Analysis in the Mass Media by the Association for Behavior Analysis International. He was also awarded a Guggenheim fellowship and the California Senate Award, which is an honorary doctorate. He was named a Fellow by Division 7 of the American Psychological Association and was given the Champion of Mental Health Award by Psychology Today.^[33]

See also

• Antipsychiatry
• Autism rights movement
• Behaviorism
• Neurotribes

Bibliography

• Teaching Developmentally Disabled Children: The Me Book, 1981
• Teaching Individuals With Developmental Delays: Basic Intervention Techniques, 2003

References

Further reading

• "Screams, Slaps & Love: A surprising, shocking treatment helps far-gone mental cripples". Life magazine, 1965. -- An editorial that promotes Lovaas' physical abuse of autistic children as ground-breaking and highly effective therapy.

External links

• Lovaas Institute for Early Intervention