Abstract
Autism is a Neuro-developmental disability characterized by severe social, communicative and cognitive deficits, resulting in significant lifelong disability. Autism requires long-term treatment, yet, despite the severity of this disorder, some children achieve remarkable long lasting gains. Over the years, many studies have been published on comprehensive treatment approaches that seek to reduce the general level of impairment in autism. An increasing body of empirical research suggests that early, intensive, structured intervention, based on the principles of applied behavior analysis, is effective in remediating the intellectual, linguistic, and adaptive deficits associated with autism. Early intervention programs are indeed beneficial for children with autism, often improving developmental functioning and decreasing maladaptive behaviors and symptom severity at the level of group analysis. To study the efficacy of early intensive behavioral intervention, 40 children were selected and two groups were formed. Written consent was taken from parents. Therapy was provided at the centre for autism spectrum disorder, Sweekaar Academy of Rehabilitation. Individual intervention and pre-post design was used for the study. Each group consisting 20 children diagnosed with autism between age group of 3 to 6 years. Group-I received intensive behavioral intervention 4 hours 6 days a week for 1year and Group-II received regular treatment for the same period. Pre-post assessment was done by VSMS, DST, GDT, and ISSA. Result indicates significant improvement in the domain of Social Relationship and Reciprocity (SRR), Emotional Responsiveness (ER), Speech Language and Communication (L&C), Behavior Patterns (BP), Cognitive Components (CC) Sensory Aspects (SA) and intellectual ability.
Highlights
Autism is a Neuro-developmental disability characterized by severe social, communicative and cognitive deficits, resulting in significant lifelong disability
In each field goals were set according to the child’s abilities, and each goal was divided into units, which were taught as separate tasks
The current study emphasizes the importance of the type of intervention used
Summary
DST was developed by Dr Bharath Raj in the year 1977 and was revised in 1983. The test assesses developmental skills across the child’s developmental milestones which involve motor skills, language skills, mental development, self-help skills, social and emotional development from birth to 15 years of age. The test items are generally administered and scored based on the information obtained from the child’s parents (essentially mother) and partly through observing the child during the clinical interview. It is an objective assessment tool for person with autism which uses observation, clinical evaluation of behaviour, testing by interaction with the subject and information supplemented by parents or caretakers in order to diagnose autism. Permission was taken from relative departments as well as management authority Those willing to participate in the study were screened, purpose and objectives of the study was explained to all parents in a group meeting and inform consent was taken. For group II, home based management was provided by the researchers, consisting 1hour training for three days in which target was on communication skills and they were provided the knowledge regarding how to manage their autistic children at home. Discriminative Stimulus (DS): The therapist presented a clear and small instruction such as get this, where is it, what is it etc
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