Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention: Outcomes for Children with Autism (Autism Spectrum Disorder)

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.