Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Behavioral Intervention

  • Autism is treated with behavioral intervention due to its nature as a behavioral disorder.
  • Early and intensive behavioral intervention is effective for individuals diagnosed with autism.
    • Early intervention starts at or before two years of age.
  • Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the scientific approach to behavioral therapy most supported by scientific literature.

Information Sources for Parents

  • Parents often use the internet or social media for information, but these are not always reliable sources.
  • It can be difficult to distinguish between good and bad sources without proper training in evaluating information quality.
  • Treatment should be based on credible information sources.
  • Accessing scientific research can be difficult due to paywalls (articles costing over $30).
  • Evaluating and synthesizing information into a treatment plan is challenging.

National Standards Project

  • The National Autism Center has compiled a comprehensive review of scientific autism treatment literature.
  • The National Standards Project uses a consistent rating system to evaluate research.

Scientific Merit Rating Scale Criteria:

  • Type of experimental design used
  • Number of participants in the study
  • Data collected
  • Accuracy of treatment procedures implementation
  • Confirmation of autism diagnosis in all participants
  • Convincing and lasting treatment effects
  • Generalization of treatment effects outside the experimental setting

Well-Established Treatment Methods

  • Identified by the first two phases of the project.

Examples:

  • Behavioral intervention
  • Cognitive behavioral package
  • Comprehensive behavioral treatment
  • Language training
  • Modeling
  • Natural environment teaching (NET)
  • Parent training
  • Peer training
  • Pivotal Response Training (PRT)
  • Schedules
  • Scripting
  • Self-management
  • Social skills packages
  • Story-based interventions
  • Most established treatments are based on Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA).
  • Cognitive behavioral packages include elements of a behavioral approach.

Interventions with Insufficient Support

  • These interventions may offer domain-specific benefits, but lack sufficient evidence to resolve core characteristics of autism spectrum disorder.

Deficits include:

  • Social communication
  • Social engagement
  • Restricted or repetitive interests or behaviors
  • A detailed review of each therapeutic approach is outside the scope of this training.

Evidence-Based Practice (EBP)

  • Relying on the best available evidence and qualified professionals is ideal.
  • Evidence-based practice often lags behind the cutting edge of science.
  • Studying treatment effectiveness to the degree required to call something evidence based takes significant time, work, and resources.
  • Treatments may not be considered evidence-based until years after initial promising results.
  • Evidence-based practice may lack the allure of new and exciting fads.
  • Practitioners may exploit this by selling quick fixes and making bold claims, appealing to emotion or using testimonials rather than hard evidence.
  • Moving too far ahead of the science can be detrimental, as it doesn't allow researchers to fully evaluate claims.