Latest Research

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Supervisor Support as a Predictor of Burnout and Therapeutic Self-Efficacy in Therapists Working in ABA Schools
J Autism Dev Disord, by Gibson, JA, Grey IM, and Hastings RP, published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

Regular and high quality supervision of applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapists may improve the success of ABA intervention.

The focus of this study was on how ABA therapists feel about their work. The survey, of 81 therapists working in ABA schools, found that the therapists who were the most happy had the most support from their bosses. The therapists who received the most support from their bosses also felt that they were doing the best job with the students. The best bosses were those who showed empathy for the therapists and who had a style that rewarded the good choices of the therapists. The study was performed in Ireland, but the authors note that it did not include all ABA therapists in Ireland.


Efficacy of Methylcobalamin and Folinic Acid Treatment on Glutathione Redox Status in Children with Autism
Am J Clin Nutr, by James, SJ, Melnyk S., Fuchs G., Reid T., Jernigan S., Pavliv O., Hubanks A., and Gaylor DW, published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

Vitamin B12 and folic acid may help to normalize the metabolism of children with autism.

Around 74% of parents use complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) to treat their children with autism. The goal of this study was to show whether or not vitamin B12 and folic acid could improve markers in the blood of children with autism. The authors measured SAM:SAH and GSH:GSSG in the blood of 40 children aged 2 to 7 years who had autism. The children were given 75 µg/kg of vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) 2 times/week and 400 µg folinic acid 2 times/day for 3 months. The vitamins improved the blood results in the children, but did not bring the blood results to normal levels.


Defining Spoken Language Benchmarks and Selecting Measures of Expressive Language Development for Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, by Tager-Flusberg, H., Rogers S., Cooper J., Landa, Lord C., Paul R., Rice M., and Stoel-Gammon C., published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

This article describes a new framework that can be used to define a child’s level of spoken language and to measure if therapy may be effective for children with autism.

The aim of this article is to offer measures that can be used to see whether interventions are useful in teaching language skills. The report describes the effort of a working group from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders that spent 18 months setting benchmarks to describe a child’s language level. The working group suggests that therapists move away from the term functional speech and instead use a developmental framework for language. They note that it is hard to measure the early stages of language: first words and use of communication. Their framework must still be worked on so that it includes these first types of communication.


Naturalistic Observations of Elicited Expressive Communications of Children with Autism: An Analysis of Teacher Instructions
Autism, by Chiang, H. - M., published in 2009, summarized Aug 2010

Verbal prompt and modeling may be useful in eliciting communication in low verbal and nonverbal students.

The purpose of this study was to collect data on how children with severe autism communicate in the classroom. The author found that even though the 32 students were non-verbal or had few words, they did communicate in the classroom. They did this rarely (about once every six minutes). The children with the most severe autism spoke the fewest words. Almost all of the teachers were able to prompt communication from the students.


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