Research: A Comparison of Intensive Behavior Analytic and Eclectic Treatments for Young Children with Autism

Authored by Howard, JS, Sparkman CR, and Cohen HG in Res Dev Disabil., Volume 26, Issue 4, p. 359-383, (2005).

Article summary (posted Oct 21, 2006):

This research article demonstrates that children with autism who received intensive applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment (25-40 hours per week) improved significantly more than those who received intensive eclectic treatment (25-30 hours per week) or non-intensive treatment (15 hours per week).

The authors review the research on the effectiveness of ABA, and discuss an earlier paper also showing the same results. On average, the 29 children receiving intensive ABA treatment for 14 months performed better than the 36 children in the other two groups on tests of cognition, language, and adaptive skills (for example, getting dressed by themselves), but not on motor skills. The authors indicate that the learning rates of the children in the intensive ABA group were significantly higher than those of the children in the other two groups. On all measures, the children in the other two groups did not differ from one another. The authors conclude that early, intensive ABA treatment for children with autism is more effective than either intensive eclectic treatment or non-intensive programs.

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adaptive behavior, applied behavior analysis (ABA), autism, cognition, eclectic treatment, effectiveness, intensive, language, motor, motor skills, review article, treatment
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