Research: A Review of the State of the Science for Pediatric Primary Health Care Clinicians

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Authored by Barbaresi, WJ, Katusic SK, and Voigt RG in Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med, Volume 160, Issue 11, p. 1167-1175, (2006).

Article summary (posted Dec 23, 2006):

Parents need a reliable source of information on autism and autism therapies.

Pediatricians can play an important role in guiding parents to autism therapies that have been scientifically proven to work. This includes telling parents that the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires that children with autism receive special education. Many scientific studies have shown that Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is an educational program that works. Specifically, the first ABA study performed by Lovaas and colleagues found that 47% of young children with autism who received intensive, early ABA (40 hours per week for 2 or more years) lost the diagnosis of autism. Another treatment that has been proven to work is Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication Handicapped Children (TEACCH).

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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, communication, Lovaas method, parent, therapy, treatment, Treatment and Education of Autistic and Related Communication-Handicapped Children (TEACCH)
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