Individualized Treatment Reaches Autistic Children

British researchers report success with new program

FRIDAY, Sept. 20, 2002 (HealthDayNews) -- Treating autism effectively has always been a challenge, but British researchers have developed a program they say can help reach autistic children.

In fact, in the initial phase of the study, the researchers report that 94 percent of the children with autistic spectrum disorder were able to attend mainstream schools after completing their program.

"The South West Autism Project (SWAP) treatment is tailored to the needs of families, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach," says lead researcher Alec Webster, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Bristol in England. "Our work uses contingent problem-solving, which tries to understand the reasons for challenging behavior, rather than eliminating it."

At least one or two of every 1,000 American children has autistic spectrum disorder, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. It is a brain disorder that affects the ability to communicate, form relationships and to properly respond to the surrounding environment. It is significantly more common in boys, but girls with the disorder often have more severe symptoms. Autism costs about $3 billion annually in this country.

Children enrolled in SWAP were first given a baseline test to assess the severity of their autism, which researchers defined numerically using what is known as a developmental quotient. Developmental quotient is a child's developmental age divided by their chronological age and multiplied by 100. So, a child who is exactly on target for their age would have a developmental quotient of 100. Children from 26 families were included in the project, and their developmental quotients ranged from 24 to 100.

The researchers then worked with the parents to develop an individual education plan for these preschool children. Parents were able to select the number of hours they wanted their children to participate each week, ranging from 2.5 hours to 25 hours per week. According to Webster, the average was 10 hours weekly.

The project's goal was to improve the children's communication skills, flexible thinking and their ability to interact socially. Each treatment plan included small learning steps with a lot of structure and repetition.

Kids who had trouble with changes in routine would be shown a certain card before change occurred, so they knew something different was about to happen. Youngsters with poor social skills were taught turn-taking and asking politely for what they want through a bubble-blowing game. For children who were afraid of specific places, such as the bathroom, the researchers would place pictures of favorite objects in those areas to help the children make a positive association.

After 18 months of treatment, one third of the children showed developmental quotient gains of more than 45 points. Half of the children made gains of at least 20 points, and one child jumped 60 points in a year and a half. Sixteen of the seventeen youngsters who have completed the program have gone on to mainstream schools. Webster says in most cases the children are doing very well, and the school staff is "delighted" with their progress.

"I think what they're doing is adding a few wrinkles to time-tested intervention strategies," says Dr. Richard Perry, a child psychiatrist from New York University Medical Center who specializes in treatment children with autistic spectrum disorder.

Perry cautions parents of autistic children not to get overly excited by these findings. He says individualized treatments and early intervention programs are effective and should be used, but they are not new.

What To Do

For more information on autism, visit the Center for the Study of Autism or the National Institute of Mental Health.

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