Improvement of Autism Symptoms After Comprehensive Intensive Early Interventions in Community Settings

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Preschool children with autism in southern Sweden participated in a comprehensive Naturalistic Developmental Behavioral Intervention (NDBI) program. AIMS: To evaluate the ongoing NDBI program by comparing the pre- and postintervention outcomes in terms of improved autism symptom severity. METHOD: The improvement of Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-R) test results between baseline and evaluation among children participating in the NDBI program ( n = 67) was compared with the results among children receiving community treatment as usual ( n = 27) using analysis of covariance. RESULTS: The study showed that children in the NDBI group improved their ADOS-R total scores between baseline and evaluation (−0.8 scores per year; 95% CI [−1.2, −0.4]), whereas no improvement was detected in the comparison group (+0.1 scores per year; 95% CI [−0.7, +0.9]). The change in the NDBI group versus the change in the comparison group was statistically significant after adjusting for possible confounders as well. Children in the NDBI group also significantly improved their ADOS severity scores, but the scores were not significantly different from those of the comparison group. CONCLUSIONS: The results from the current naturalistic study must be interpreted cautiously, but they do support earlier studies reporting on improvement of autism symptoms after early intensive interventions. Results from observational studies are difficult to interpret, but it is nevertheless of uttermost importance to evaluate costly autism intervention programs. The results do indicate that children with autism benefit from participating in early comprehensive intensive programs.

Employing Evidence-Based Practices for Children with Autism in Elementary Schools

“…As such, norm-referenced standardized scores are less relevant in school-based programs than is progress on individualized goals. In contrast, some comprehensive autism programs have explicitly focused on changing the core features of autism (Haglund et al 2020 ), noting that IEP goals are not always aligned with these core features (Anderson et al 2020 ). In such cases, changes in diagnostic (e.g., ADOS) and standardized norm-referenced measures (e.g., SRS, SCQ) could be considered the primary outcome variables of interest.…”

Evidence or no evidence for essential fatty acids in the treatment of autism spectrum disorders?

“…The subsequent screening was based on the titles and abstracts of the remaining articles, with the exclusion of reviews and non-relevant articles such as studies with no comparison or control group or qualitative-only designs. The inclusion criteria for the review were as follows: (1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or pre-post studies involving children with autism or ASD; (2) study participants in the study samples had to be under 18 years of age; (3) studies were included if they were reported on EFA outcomes; (4) if studies were interventions; and (5) articles had to be published in English.…”

“…Despite the growing prevalence of ASDs, effective treatments for the disorder are limited. Traditional therapies, such as behavioral interventions and medications, have shown some efficacy, but they often have significant limitations and may not be suitable for all individuals with ASDs ( 2 ). Therefore, there is a need for novel treatment approaches that can effectively address the core symptoms of ASDs.…”

Treatment of Preschool Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Trial to Evaluate a Learning Style Profile Intervention Program in China

“…That study caused a paradigm shift regarding treatment efficacy due to the significant improvements and even “recovery” for almost half of the children with ASD after receiving excellent treatment with early intervention at a sufficient intensity. Models based on ABA originating from the Lovaas method are collectively referred to as early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) ( 9 ), which involves manual-based intensive programs and targets a comprehensive series of skills for training, practice, and generalization ( 10 ). Improvements afforded by EIBI, which is recognized as a preferred intervention for children with ASD, have been demonstrated in the areas of adaptive behavior, IQ, communication, socialization, and daily living skills ( 11 – 13 ).…”