Research summaries for autism therapy: autism

definition of autism: Neurodevelopmental brain disorder that is characterized by deficits in social interactions and ability to communicate (verbal and nonverbal). People with autism often have atypical patterns of interest or behavior. The term “autism” is commonly used as a general term to include several disorders that fall under the category of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) which are sometimes also called pervasive developmental disorders (PDD).
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The Effects of Age and Treatment Intensity on Behavioral Intervention Outcomes for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Summarized Sep 23, 2010

More applied behavior analysis (ABA) treatment hours may yield better results for children with autism who are between the ages of two and seven.

Most people assume that children who receive more treatment hours will gain more skills. The purpose of this study was to see if the number of treatment hours and age of the child had any effect on the number of monthly mastered skills as taught using an early intensive behavioral intervention program. The study showed that the more treatment hours and the younger the child, the more skills the child mastered. The number of treatment hours seemed to matter greatly to children younger than seven, but not as much to children older than seven. Read more...

Longitudinal Studies of IQ Stability in Children with Childhood Autism – Literature Survey, Summarized Sep 21, 2010

Therapy that is started intensely and early may be able to raise the IQ of children with autism.

This literature reviewed looked to see whether IQ changes or stays the same in children with autism. All of the studies reviewed in this article looked to see the effect of a certain therapy on IQ score. The authors found that most children with autism are first diagnosed with an IQ between borderline intelligence to mild mental retardation. The IQ score that was most often measured was the total IQ (as opposed to an IQ subscore such as verbal IQ). Most studies found that the IQ score stayed the same even after the therapy.

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Variables Related to Sleep Problems in Children with Autism, Summarized Sep 16, 2010

Children with autism often have sleep problems, and therapies such as behavior therapy (applied behavior analysis [ABA]) and melatonin may be helpful in treating these sleep problems.

The goals of this study were to see what types of children with autism also have sleep problems and to see how often parents of children with autism reported sleep problems. More than half of children with autism have parents who reported sleep problems. The study showed that many children with autism have sleep problems and that sleep problems are worse in children with more severe autism. Children who were on drugs (melatonin, clonidine, and diphenhydramine) to treat sleep problems had greater sleep problems than children who did not seek treatment. Read more...

Change in Autism Classification with Early Intervention: Predictors and Outcomes, Summarized Sep 14, 2010

Children with autism who have decent receptive language skills are most likely to improve with early intervention.

This study looked at a wide range of factors that might result in a change in autism diagnosis after intervention. The study focused on groups of children whose autism changed or stayed stable after intervention. They then looked to see what types of children were most likely to change their autism status. They found that the child’s age, level of skills, and parents’ ages were not linked to changes in autism status. The authors found that those children who were improved post-intervention improved in both verbal and visual skills.

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Synonyms for autism include: autistic, autsim
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