Assessing Change in Early Intervention Programs for Children with Autism
Abstract
Assessing the efficacy of any intervention can be a difficult task. In the case of children with autism who require comprehensive and long-lasting interventions, the task becomes even more difficult. In this paper, intervention studies based on comprehensive interventions for young children with autism are reviewed and examined in reference to elements that are essential to a well-designed treatment study, e.g., randomization/matching procedures, and outcome measures. Given the complexity of these comprehensive intervention programs, and the few data available on interventions with clear empirical validation, a plea is made for studies to consider the active ingredients or component parts of an intervention, e.g., number of hours, type of setting, and teaching approach. Suggestions are further made for improving future studies, including more rigorous designs, and measuring change.
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Reward-based interventions are not successful for all children with ASD.
“Even with this scaffolding, however, reward-based interventions are not successful for all children with ASD [579-582]”
From Reward circuitry dysfunction in psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders and genetic syndromes: animal models and clinical findings (2012) · cites this paper as [579]
There is ample evidence that early skills are important to later spoken language outcomes in children with autism and that they should be teaching targets for early intervention programs.
“There is ample evidence that these early skills are important to later spoken language outcomes in children with autism and that they should be teaching targets for early intervention programs.1,15”
From Longitudinal follow-up of children with autism receiving targeted interventions on joint attention and play (2012) · cites this paper as [15]
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- Authors
- Kasari, C.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kasari, Connie
- ORCID
- Kasari, Connie
- Venue
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
- Published
- 2002-10
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 447-461
- ISSN
- 0162-3257 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3432
- OpenAlex
- W1509196853
- Cited by
- 212
- References
- 55
- Citations by year
- 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 15 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 4.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Behavioral and Psychological Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Child Nutrition and Feeding Issues
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, early intervention, intervention efficacy, outcome measures, young children
- MeSH terms
- Autistic Disorder, Child, Child, Preschool, Forecasting, Humans, Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Early Intervention, Educational
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