Research: Effects and Implications of Self-Management for Students with Autism: A Meta-Analysis

Authored by Lee, S. - H., Simpson RL, and Shogren KA in Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Volume 22, Issue 1, p. 2-13, (2007).

Article summary (posted Jul 3, 2007):

Children who learn to manage themselves have better behavior and better quality of life.

This article reviewed all of the research that has been done on teaching children with autism to learn self-management. The authors were sad to report that there has not been a lot of research on how best to teach children with autism to manage themselves. They did find that children could be taught to better manage themselves using many different types of rewards: toys/food, coins that can be used to buy toys/food, or points recorded on paper. The reward system should be designed to reflect the desires of the child. The authors suggest that any autism treatment program include time spent on learning self-management.

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You can access the original abstract and the complete paper is sometimes available for free via Google Scholar (look for entries that say "PDF" or "HTML" on the right side of the page).
autism, developmental disabilities, focus, meta-analysis, quality of life (QOL), reward, self-management, toy, treatment
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