Video modeling has been showed to be an effective intervention in teaching individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Video modeling may be implemented by using different strategies, one of them being video self-modeling. This involves the individual themselves being the model on the video. Now Gelbar, Anderson, McCarthy and Buggey have provided å review that summarizes the empirical evidence supporting the use of video self-modeling with individuals with autism spectrum disorders. This article is published in Psycology in the Schools, Vol 49 (2012).
Based on their review of the available empirical evidence video self-modeling should be considered as part of a continuum of strategies for individuals with ASD. The heterogeneity in the ASD group implies that there are great variation in results, but video self-modeling has been used to increase language and communication, increase social skills, modify behavior, and teach functional skills.
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is a commonly used augmentative communication systems for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and other communication deficits. In this issue of Research in Developmental Disabilities Gantz and colleagues have published a meta-analysis of PECs with individuals with ASD.
Their meta-analysis confirm that PECS is a promising intervention for individuals with ASD. Their analysis indicated that functional communication outcomes were most impacted, and that the younger children and those with autism generally vowed the best outcome. They also found indications that those individuals who completed the most phases of the PECS protocol showed the best results.
Understanding the functional relations of problem behavior is necessary to understand the nature of the problem, and to design and implement effective interventions. Experimental functional assessment can be problematic to use in applied settings, and several methods for conducting functional assessment are published and in use. According to a review by Matson, Tureck and Riske (2012) one of the most used in the Questions About Behavioral function (QABF).
Based on their review that conclude that the QABF is, who has the best psychometrics at the current point, are reliable and valid, and with research been replicated by independents research teams, a good starting point for conducting a functional assessment.
Joint attention is by many seemed as one of the core deficits in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and joint attention is assumed to be related to other areas within social interaction and communication. Schietecatte, Roeyers, and Warreyn has published a study where they investigate the relation between joint attention and other ares in children with ASD at 36 months.
In their study involving 23 children they found that joint attention skills, measured by tasks adapted from the Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS) were related to several other areas. Response to joint attention was related to intention understanding measured by an adopted paradigm of Behne et al (2005). The number of joint attention initiations was associated with attention disengagement, and somewhat less stronger with social preference. Attention disengagement was measured with a visual orientation task partially based on the paradigm of Landy and Bryson (2004), and social preference was measured by trails of simultaneous presentation of one social and one nonsocial stimulus and coding duration of orientation.
Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) is an effective interventions for most children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), but there is great variability in the outcome of EIBI for children with ASD. And research has focused on child characteristic, parent involvement and treatment factors. There are good reasons to assume that parent inclusion affects the treatment outcome for s large group go children. Now Strauss, Vicar, Valeri, DÉlia, Armina and Fava has published a study examining the interrelating factor that impact children´s progress, highlighting the influence of parent inclusion in treatment provision captured by parental stress, how faithfully the parents followed the treatment protocols and the intensity of treatment provided at home. This study is published in Research in Developmental disabilities. Read more…
For those individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that don´t develop conventional speech at a level that is functional the use of Augmentative and alternative communications (AAC) systems is widely used. There exists a large number of different systems, some with more research support than others. Now Ganz and colleagues have published a meta-analysis of single case research studies on AAC for individuals with ASD.
Their meta-analysis indicates that AAC interventions have large effects on target behavior for individuals with ASD, but the effect were more limited on other areas of functioning. Their analysis also indicates that the effects of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and speech-generating devices were larger than for other picture-based systems.
This meta-analysis provides useful information for parents and professionals when they are designing ACC interventions. The research based analyzed in this article may be useful in choosing and designing individualized interventions.
The goal of all interventions for preschool children with autism is longitudinal and lasting change and improvement. For some years there has been conducted several studies on improvements in joint attention. Now Lawton and Kasari has published a brief report on longitudinal improvements in the quality of joint attention in preschool children with autism.
Int their study they compared three randomized groups of children; joint attention intervention, symbolic play intervention, and a control group. They found that the two intervention groups showed improved quality of joint attention defined as shared positive affect during joint attention as well as shared positive affect and utterances during joint attention, also at follow-up after 12 months.
The importance of early intervention for toddlers with autism is recognized by alle professionals, even if the debate on what intervention is the best suitable for toddlers continues. Research on interventions for toddlers with autism is still limited, and more studies are needed to learn more about the effects of all the interventions available. Now Wilterlin and colleagues has published the first study on the home TEACCH program for toddlers.
In this program parents receive 1.5 hours with a clinician for 12 weeks. In this meetings parents learn to train their own child based on structured teaching. In this study the researchers used both a randomized group design, combined with a single subject design (multiple baseline). In the group design the study measured child progress with Mullen Scales of Early Learning and Scales of independent behavior-revised. The parent stress was assessed using the parent stress index – 3rd edition. In the single subject design part, parent implementation of intervention and children independence was assessed through video scoring.
The results of the single subject design indicates that child independence and parents ability to structure the environment for learning and effectively prompt their children. 6 families participated in this part of the study. The group design that included 20 families and repeated measures analysis of variance for the Mullen scales of early learning, SIB, and PSI did not show significant differences.
Reference.
Welterlin, A., Turner-Brown, L.M., Harris, S., Meisbov, G., & Delmolino, L. (2011). The home TEACCHing program for toddlers with autism. Journal of Autism and other Developmental Disorders. DOI 10.1007/s10803-011-1419-2
