Science and pseudoscience in developmental disabilities: guidelines for social workers.
Individuals with a developmental disability can now be provided a variety of empirically supported treatments that have been shown to be useful in promoting educational attainments, social and vocational skills, and self-care, and in reducing behavioral problems. Unfortunately, a large number of pseudoscientific or bogus therapies continue to be offered to this population and their families. We review the characteristics of pseudoscientific and bogus treatments and provide several examples of unsupported or harmful interventions offered by contemporary social workers and other human service professionals, to the detriment of people with disabilities. We encourage social workers to identify pseudoscientific interventions and avoid providing these, in favor of using empirically supported treatments.
Thyer
Bruce A
BA
College of Social Work, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida 32306, USA. bthyer@fsu.edu
Pignotti
Monica
M
D000300:Adoption; D000818:Animals; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D003142:Communication; D000529:Complementary Therapies / Q000379:methods; D002658:Developmental Disabilities / Q000628:therapy*; D004565:Electroconvulsive Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D058765:Neurofeedback / Q000379:methods; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012947:Social Work