Doctors who gather information about language skills in 2-year-old children may be better able to catch autism at an early age.
Researchers compared toddlers with autism (2 years old) with poor language skills to toddlers with autism with better language skills. They tested children's skills again at about 4 years of age. The children with worse language skills at 2 years old also had worse language skills at 4 years old. The children had poor skills in nonverbal and verbal language, receptive language, symbolic play, and response to joint attention. The authors said that it can be hard to diagnose autism in children less than 2 years old. These results show that language problems at 2 years of age may be early symptoms of the language difficulties seen in older children. The authors hope that language therapy at younger ages might help the children very much.
Autism Therapy: symbolic play
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- Autism Research, by Paul, R., Chawarska K., Cicchetti D., and Volkmar F., published in 2008, summarized Sep 24, 2009
- Journal of Integrative Neuroscience, by Barakova, E., Gillessen J., and Feijs L., published in 2009, summarized Jul 30, 2009
Robots and technological toys may help teach social skills to children with autism.
Researchers used special blocks that worked like mini-robots. The blocks changed color depending on which other blocks they were close to. The blocks were used as a therapy tool with twelve children (3-5 years old) with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The children were taught specific rules about the blocks. One simpler game focused on interactions between blocks. The second game was more complex and used blocks for symbolic play. Some blocks were "animals" and some were "food" or "water" that children "gave" to animals by moving that block close to the animal block. Pairs of children worked together to make the "zoo" run smoothly. Children needed to learn to pretend a block was an animal or food. Most of the children learned the rules of the first game. Five out of six pairs of children worked well together in the second game. The authors said that if children with autism can understand how to play with a block as if it is food (metaphor), they may be able to learn more complex social skills.
- Autism, by Herrera, G., Alcantud F., Jordan R., Blanquer A., Labajo G., and DePablo C., published in 2008, summarized May 2, 2008
Virtual reality computer programs may be a good tool for helping children with autism learn how to do pretend play.
Many children with autism have trouble playing and using their imagination. This paper describes a study designed to see if a computer game (three 30 minutes sessions per week) can be used to teach pretend play to children with autism. The virtual reality program helped both children in the study. The authors noted that the children were better at paying attention in the post-test as compared to the pre-test and that may have confused the study results. One of the two children played more at home and in school after the virtual reality play therapy. He also started to like films that had magic in them.
- Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, by Kasari, C., Paparella T., Freeman S., and Jahromi LB, published in 2007, summarized Mar 5, 2008
Young children with autism should receive therapy that teaches them how to pay attention to something that someone else is interested in (joint attention).
This study looked to see if teaching children joint attention and teaching children to do pretend play (symbolic play) would help the children acquire language. All children (ages 3-4) in the study received Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy and either joint attention, play therapy, or neither. Both joint attention and play therapy worked and the children learned those skills. Children who received ABA therapy and joint attention therapy improved the most. Play therapy also helped the children, and the authors think this is because the intervention required the children to do joint attention with the therapist.
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