Preschool children with autism and their normally developing peers were compared on the Stanford-Binet IV and Preschool Language Scale before and after 1 school year. Both measures showed that although the children with autism functioned at a lower level than their normally developing peers, the children with autism had narrowed this gap after treatment, making a nearly 19-point increase in IQ and an 8-point gain in language quotient. The IQ measure remained stable for the normally developing peers while their language showed a 7.73-point increase. The data support the notion that young children with autism can make very significant developmental gains.
Five young children with autism enrolled in a segregated class, five other children with autism in an integrated class, and four normally developing peer children in the integrated class were compared for developmental changes in language ability as measured by the Preschool Language Scale before and after training. The results, based on Mann-Whitney U tests, showed that (a) all of the children as a group made better than normative progress in rate of language development, (b) the scores of the autistic children were significantly lower than the peers before and after treatment, and (c) there were no significant differences in changes in language ability between the autistic children in the segregated and integrated classes.
In this paper, the work being conducted at the Douglass Developmental Disabilities Center of Rutgers University is described. Specifically, the recent results of research supporting the value of group-focused instruction for some young children with autism is reported. These findings just begin to address some of the questions about that small group of students who comprise the spectrum of autism. Further research and experience should continue to facilitate current efforts to design and implement the most comprehensive continuum of services.
The educational progress of four normal peers integrated for one year into a preschool class with five children with autism was examined with the Learning Accomplishment Profile and the Preschool Language Scale. Both measures showed that the peers, who had functioned at or above age level at the time of admission, made substantial progress in their developmental rate during the 11 months they were enrolled in the integrated classroom. These data support the value to normal children of being in an integrated classroom. The importance of a well-planned curriculum and educationally sophisticated teaching staff is stressed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.