Shocking??????

I was sent this article by a fellow school therapist. School of Shock It details about this center in New York that uses aversive shock treatments to teach. The principles are sound. I personally think a lot of what Skinner and Behaviorism says is valid--coming down to: 1. If we do something and it hurts us, we will stop. 2. If we do something and it brings us pleasure, we will do it again. I agree with using this in the most extreme cases, like the two children that were mentioned--Matthew was apparently bashing his head into the corner of tables and Sarah hit herself in the head so hard that she detached her own retinas. Here's the thing, Skinner himself saw through his experiments that positive reinforcement was more effective than punishment (aversive stimulus).

As I read through this article, my initial reaction was repulsion. Then I began to see the necessity of some of the shocks. Then repulsion began to creep back in as I read more of the non-life threatening behaviors that this was used to stop. I'm not talking about the precursors to an attack, but rather behaviors that are keeping the student from learning. Not to mention that the people delivering the shocks are techs with a high school degree and only two weeks of training. Is this enough?

I know this blog is not my usual funny anecdote.