If you check with the district, you may find that there are health regulations and/or licensing requirements that the folks at the teaching level do not realize restrict their ability to give candy. An advocate for all children of the district may need to be you.

Edibles such as Candy can be used in ABA therapy but they should only be made part of a token system whereby after the tokens have been earned (reasonable number) then it can be offered. I ended up making 3 small bins numbered 1-3 and after the tokens were earned my son would be able to pick which one he wanted. Inside I had 3 items. 2 fidgit or simple toys (ie. A tangle or blocks) and one candy. He rarely ever chose the candy. The bins were switched up each session to provide for the surprise element of "what's inside' and that is what we believe was the real motivator.

In ABA, it is believed that one of the most favourable rewards is 'play'. All children, autistic or not, seek to play with adults (the silly kind that make us laugh) and it is sad to see how few interventionist provide their 'time' as a reward. If they are using candy to get tokens then they have not found a strong enough reward for the child to be motivated to get the reward from earning the tokens and they need to go back to the drawing board. Candy is not an effective reward. An effective reward is one that unkowing to the child still teaches - such as blocks (imaginitive play), colouring (fine motor/language) and is fun for the child. Candy does not do that.

We didn't use any edibles as reinforcers in our ABA program (our BCBA was against it from the start). However, our son could be easily motivated by many non-edible things - so it really depends on the child as well as the task and ultimately, need to phase out reinforcers / rewards.

However, I do sometimes use edibles to get our son to drink yucky stuff (medicine or some supplements) but that is the highest reinforcer and I want to keep it that way.

My daughter's ABA uses the "token" system and then I have a system that she can cash in her "tokens" and get specific Ipad games, a certain TV show on netflix and a piece of Dove chocolate, it is her choice (she is 6) and generally she chooses the NetFlix TV show. I do limit the amount of Dove chocolate she can "buy" but never had to enforce it

My daughter's ABA uses the "token" system and we then I have a system that she can cash in her "tokens" and get specific Ipad games, a certain TV show on netflix and a piece of Dove chocolate, it is her choice (she is 6) and generally she chooses the NetFlix TV show. I do limit the amount of Dove chocolate she can "buy" but never had to enforce it

The one in the school system here does. After a while they switch to rewards like extra play time and small toys/trinkets. My youngest got addicted to sweets through that and it is still a struggle for us. He is obese and now it is 100% my 'fault' and I am trying to correct the issue on my own. Frustrating because almost every new doctor we go to gets the candy train rolling again. Easier for them.