Research summaries for autism therapy: preschool

definition of preschool: School for children before kindergarten. In the United States preschool typically refers to children between the ages of three and five.
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Effects of the Use of Visual Strategies in Play Groups for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and their Peers, Summarized Aug 1, 2008

Visual cue cards may be able to help children with autism learn play skills in a play therapy setting.

This study was designed to see if visual cues would help preschool children with autism learn play skills. The use of visual cues did result in increased play. The children in the study used the script phrases that were shown on the visual cue cards. The children had a very small increase in the use of unscripted phrases. The authors suggest that such visual cue cards may be quite helpful in play therapy sessions. Read more...

Current Status of Intensive Behavioral Interventions for Young Children with Autism and PDD-NOS, Summarized Apr 21, 2008

Applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy is the best bet for helping preschool children with autism.

This paper reviews scientific studies on whether or not early intensive behavioral interventions (EIBI) such as ABA therapy are helpful for children with autism. The authors believe that therapies such as ABA therapy are the only therapies proven to help children with autism. There are few long term studies, however, that look to see if gains from early ABA therapy last throughout life. The authors also note that while many studies show that ABA therapy works, it is hard to compare between studies since all of the studies are so different. They call for studies to answer the question: how young should a child be to start ABA therapy. Read more...

Teaching the Imitation and Spontaneous Use of Descriptive Gestures in Young Children with Autism Using Naturalistic Behavioral Intervention, Summarized Jan 29, 2008

Children with autism can be taught to use gestures when communicating.

While some children with autism can copy a gesture if told to do so, they don't often copy gestures in normal settings. This study looked at whether reciprocal imitation training (RIT) could be used to teach preschool-aged children with autism to make gestures. All five young children in the study increased their use of gestures after RIT. The children who were able to copy gestures at the start of the study were the ones who made the most progress at the end of the study. At the end of the study many of the children were able to use some gestures on their own in normal settings (generalize). Read more...

Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Summarized Nov 9, 2007

Social Stories(TM) can be used as therapy to help some preschool-aged children to work better in the classroom.

This study was designed to see if Social Stories(TM) help children with autism be a better part of the preschool setting. They found that Social Stories(TM) do help children with autism. There were three children in the study and two of them were helped more by their Social Stories(TM) than the third one. The authors of the study believe that this was because the third child did not want to play with the other children and that is why he did not respond as well to the Social Stories(TM). The authors note that it takes time to read the Social Stories(TM) in the classroom and there needs to be a way to wean the child off of the Social Stories(TM). Read more...

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Synonyms for preschool include: pre-K, pre-kindergarten, pre-school
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