Latest Research

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Use of Peer-mediated Interventions in the Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Systematic Review
Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, by Chan, JM, R Lang, Rispoli M., O’Reilly M., Sigafoos J., and Cole H., published in 2009, summarized Sep 2010

Peer-mediated intervention (PMI) may be very helpful for children with autism, and a strong research base supports use of PMI.

This review article was designed to describe all research in which therapy for children with autism was performed by the child’s peers. The review covered 42 studies that used PMI in the treatment of people with autism. Many of the studies did not measure whether or not the studied treatment plan was followed by the peers. Some studies did ask the questions: Did the treatment occur for at least 10 minutes? Are there at least 1 or 2 peers in the treatment? Was an adult there to watch the session? The authors note that future studies should focus on what level of PMI can be performed by children at each age.


Challenges of Service-Dog Ownership for Families with Autistic Children: Lessons for Veterinary Practitioners
JVME, by Burrows, KE, and Adams CL, published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

Service dogs may be a friend to a child with autism and help keep the child safe, but the family with the dog needs the support of a good veterinarian.

The purpose of this study was to learn from families what it is like to have a service dog to support a child with autism. Each family must find its own way to bring a service dog into the family. The authors found that the troubles with service dogs may offset the good of having a service dog. The authors suggest that veterinarians look at the results of this study so that they can better help the owners of service dogs. Veterinary schools can teach veterinarians how to learn what needs to be known about families who want service dogs.


Designing Affective Video Games to Support the Social-Emotional Development of Teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Annual Review of Cybertherapy and Telemedicine, by Khandaker, M., published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

Social computer games may someday be a good intervention for adolescents with autism.

Play therapy is often used to treat children with autism, but many adolescents feel themselves to be too old for play therapy. This short paper describes the use of certain types of video games as an intervention for people with autism. The author describes the field of social physics as a way of having computers see the emotions of the player. The author suggests that such video game structures could mimic the real social world.


QEEG Studies in the Assessment and Treatment of Childhood Disorders
Clinical EEG and Neuroscience, by Cantor, DS, and Chabot R., published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

Quantitative electroencephalographs (QEEG) may someday be able to measure the brain waves in people with autism and show how the brain waves improve in response to therapy.

This paper reviewed QEEG studies to see if this way of taking pictures of the brain could be used to measure a child’s progress in therapy. While people have tried to use QEEG to study the brains of people with autism, these studies have had problems because it has been hard to define autism. Some research has shown that the area of the brain called the temporal region is slower in people with autism.


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