Follow-Up Study of Youth Who Received EIBI as Young Children

Abstract

Although early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has been clearly shown to be evidence-based, there is very little information available regarding long-term outcomes, especially from community effectiveness studies. We present data on cognitive, adaptive, and autism severity measures from four time points (pre- and post-EIBI and two follow-up points) for a sample of 21 youth, currently aged 16 years on average (range = 13-20) who received EIBI as young children and who have been out of EIBI for a mean of 10 years (range = 8.5-14). Results show heterogeneous outcomes and a general pattern of stability since the end of EIBI, suggesting gains made in EIBI are maintained.

Sustainability of Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder in a Community Setting

“…Areas to improve the research strategy in future investigations include larger samples to provide more precise estimates of ESs, measures of social validity to assess family perspectives, assessment of maintenance over time (Perry et al, 2017), and comparisons of EIBI to well-specified alternative interventions (Smith, Jordan, & Tiede, 2016). Comparisons of home- and center-based EIBI may be of particular interest, given that home-based services are often recommended (Lovaas, 1987) but center-based services impose fewer requirements on families to be present during intervention.…”

“…Two of these studies were randomized control trials (Sallows & Graupner, 2005; Smith et al, 2000), addressing some of the concerns raised about Lovaas’ original study. Meanwhile, many researchers independent of Lovaas and colleagues extended the evidence base to other EIBI models (e.g., Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, & Stanislaw, 2005; MacDonald, Parry-Cruwys, Dupere, & Ahearn, 2014; Perry, Koudys, Prichard, & Ho, 2017; Remington et al, 2007).…”

Cognitive, language and behavioral outcomes in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders exposed to early comprehensive treatment models: A meta-analysis and meta-regression

“…We identi ed 8,725 potentially relevant citations, and 174 full citations were retrieved. Overall, 18 unique citations were deemed eligible for the systematic review and meta-analysis [12,19,[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47].…”

Follow-Up of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder 1 Year After Early Behavioral Intervention

“…In a more recent study, Perry et al (2017) followed up on 21 adolescents with ASD aged between 13 to 20 years who had previously received publicly funded community-based EIBI in Ontario, Canada. This intervention had, on average, ended 10 years prior to this most recent follow-up.…”

“…Very few long-term follow-up studies have been conducted after termination of treatment to determine whether the gains observed in studies employing traditional pre–post designs are maintained once the child enrolls in school (Starr, Popovic, & McCall, 2016). At present, there is insufficient empirical evidence regarding how skills acquired in EIBI are maintained as children progress through primary school, or the level of support that these children might still require after receiving EIBI (Matson & Konst, 2013; Perry, Koudys, Prichard, & Ho, 2017). The present study sought to address some of these gaps by reporting on the progress of children 1 year after the termination of a public low to moderate EIBI program (10 to 20 hr of intervention per week), that is, at the end of their first year in primary school.…”