Fortunately we have learned a great deal about Autism (including PDD NOS and Aspergers) treatment over the last 20 years. While there is a wide variety of ineffective and expensive treatment being practiced around the world to include hundreds of interventions. We now know enough to be prescriptive and even know which children are most likely to benefit from which treatment. This information is especially crucial now as policy makers are determining where to expend limited funds and resources. One intervention which; while currently considered an “emerging practice” has shown significant positive results for some children and costs less than $3000.00 per year on average.
Can Chidlren with Autism Recover? If So, How? Neurophysiology Review (2008) Volume 18: Number 4, 339-336
Evidence-Based Practice and Autism in the Schools: A Guide To Providing Appropriate Interventions To Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders National Autism Center 2009
Pilot study of a parent training program for young children with autism: The PLAY Project Home Consultation program
SAGE Publications and The National Autistic Society Vol 11(3) 205–224
Can one hour per week of therapy lead to lasting changes in young children with autism?
Autism January 2009 vol. 13 no. 1 93-115
While not all children are likely to make the gains in skills exhibited in some best practice models such as evidenced in a recent study of the Early Start Denver Model, most children with autism, as well as other behavioral concerns, can make significant behavioral progress if the right intervention is provided under the right conditions.
Randomized, Controlled Trial of an Intervention for Toddlers With Autism: The Early Start Denver Model
PEDIATRICS Vol. 125 No. 1 January 2010, pp. e17-e23
Most of the best practice and less expensive interventions have some common threads which are essential to success.
1. They are specific to the age, diagnoses, and functioning level of the child.
2. They contain goals and objectives which are clearly and well written contextually mediated to the natural routines of both the child and family.
3. They include extensive parental, and at times other caregiver involvement which, occurs during the natural routines of the child and parent. (This does not mean that a parent must drastically change their schedule and devote all of their excess time to providing direct intervention for their child. It does mean that they way they interact with and support their child during both the parents and child’s natural routines in adjusted for therapeutic value for the child.
4. They often incorporate more natural (logical) reinforcers and fewer (artificial) contrived reinforcers.
5. The service provider is expert in both the model of delivery and in effectively working with families according to the basic values and norms of the family.
Working with Families of Young Children with Special Needs (What Works for Special-Needs Learners) R. A. McWilliam PhD (Editor)
The Entry Into Natural Communities of Reinforcement Control of Human Behavior (Vol.2, pp. 319-324)
Contextualized Behavioral Support in Early Intervention for Children with Autism and Their Families Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume 32, Number 6, 519-533
Coaching Families and Colleagues in Early Childhood Brookes Publishing
No comments:
Post a Comment