Research: Internet Survey of Treatments Used by Parents of Children with Autism

Authored by Green, VA, Pituch KA, Itchon J., Choi A., OReilly M., and Sigafoo J. in Research in Developmental Disabilities, Volume 27, Issue 1, p. 70-84, (2006).

Article summary (posted Nov 20, 2006):

This Internet survey found that parents use a large number of therapies for their children and many of the commonly used therapies do not have scientific support.

The authors included 111 treatments in their survey of 552 parents and found that 108 of these were used by at least 1 parent. Speech therapy was the most commonly used treatment (70% of parents currently use). Other treatments that emphasize skill development (such as Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) were also commonly used. In addition, approximately 52% of parents surveyed indicated that they were giving their children some sort of medication. The authors note that common use of a therapy does not necessarily mean that the parent prefers the therapy.

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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).
applied behavior analysis (ABA), autism, developmental disabilities, medication, parent, speech therapy, therapy, treatment
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