EPSE 436 Zoom Discussion

purpose of the study

looked at the long term effects of the ESDM intervention and whether the effects gained after the intervention maintained after 2 years

original study (3)

• randomly assigned children with ASD to either ESDM intervention or treatment as usual

• ESDM group received 2 hr intervention sessions twice per day, 5 days per week for 2 years

• revealed positive impact of ESDM on child development

present study

collected intellectual ability using tests, adaptive behaviour using parent interview, autism symptoms using interaction and observation tool, restrictive behaviour using a parent questionnaire, challenging behaviour using a checklist and peer relationship using a semi structured interview with parents

changes/ flaws i would make (2)

• make look at other forms of intellectual ability

• include teacher reports to get another form of data of child’s behaviour as they spend alot of time at school

results (5)

• continued improvements in IQ and adaptive functioning

• ESDM group had lower scores on restricted and repetitive behaviours

• no significant differences in diagnostic outcomes, challenging outcomes and peer relationship between two groups

• but 2 children from the ESDM group no longer received the diagnosis for ASD

• significant improvement in IQ, language and social ability made at the end of the original study were not just maintained but generalised to new areas of functioning

limitations (4)

• generalisability issue, sample from a geographically constrained area

• confounds over the years, those who were randomly assigned to the control group might have made more effort to obtain intervention when they were not assigned to the intervention group in the original study

• the need to replicate the study in culturally diverse population, less educated families and lower resource communities

• unable to create a single metric to compare community delivered intervention

educational implications (4)

• demonstrates importance of early identification and intensive early ASD specific intervention

• need to extend work to lower resourced communities to improve outcomes

• perhaps governmental programs to support educators to provide intervention

• programs to educate parents on the importance and the need of early intervention

future research (2)

• whether these same effect are still seen today with a different group of children as this study was done in 2015

• maybe comparing the effects of different intervention and which one is the most effective in terms of sustaining long term outcomes