Evidence-Based Practices for Young Children With Autism

Abstract

The purpose of this article Was to examine the scientific evidence provided by single-subject design studies that supported effective intervention and educational practices for young children With autism. A revieW of the literature from 1990 to 2002 revealed 37 studies that meet the inclusion criteria. Research studies primarily employed multiple-baseline experimental designs and provided strong evidence for effectiveness through multiple replications of treatment effects. Practices supported by this research Were classified into three groups. Practices With Well-established evidence of effectiveness Were adult-directed teaching and differential reinforcement. Emerging and effective practices included peer-mediated interventions, visual supports, self-monitoring, and family member involvement in the intervention. Practices that Were probably efficacious included positive behavior support, videotaped model, and children's choices and/or preferences incorporated in learning tasks. For many of these practices, additional evidence may be provided by group design studies and single-subject design studies in Which older children With autism Were participants.

Evidence Base Update for Autism Spectrum Disorder

“…Subsequently, many new RCTs have evaluated such programs, extending prior research indicating that parents can learn to implement a range of intervention strategies (Odom et al, 2003). Although parent training is often an adaptation of interventions that were originally intended to be delivered directly to the child by specialists, we believe there is value in separately evaluating parent training models.…”

“…Many single-subject studies center on guiding parents to use ABA techniques to help their children learn new skills or reduce challenging behavior such as tantrums (Odom et al, 2003). Although these studies show benefits, the available data and methodology do not support more precise conclusions.…”

Toward Effective and Preferred Programming: A Case for the Objective Measurement of Social Validity with Recipients of Behavior-Change Programs

“…We are confident that EIBI based on the principles and procedures of behavior analysis works. We still have a lot of refining to do with regard to the most efficacious aspects of EIBI, and we still have not identified all of the moderators of the effects of EIBI (Herbert, Sharp, & Gaudiano, 2002;Rogers & Vismara, 2008;Smith et al, 2006), but the intervention improves the developmental trajectories of those who receive it (Campbell, 2003;Cohen, Amerine-Dickens, & Smith, 2006;Eldevik, Eikeseth, Jahr, & Smith, 2006;Helt et al, 2008;Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, & Stanislaw, 2005;Lovaas, 1987;Morris, 2009, National Institute of Mental Health, 2007Odom et al, 2003;Smith, Groen, & Wynn, 2000). We know much less, however, about the acceptability of various components of EIBI to the children experiencing them (e.g., most-to-least or least-to-most prompting, amount and pace of prompting, amount of teacher directedness during instruction, types of error correction procedures, highly structured versus more naturalistic instructional conditions, types of motivational systems).…”

Intervenciones focalizadas basadas en la evidencia dirigidas al alumnado con trastorno del espectro autista

“…Suelen ser los elementos básicos sobre los que se construyen los programas o los modelos para el alumnado con TEA (Wong et al, 2014;NPDC on ASD, 2017;Odom et al, 2003) -por ejemplo, la instrucción e intervención mediada por pares (Sperry, Neitzel y Engelhardt-Wells, 2010) es una característica clave del modelo LEAP (Strain y Bovey, 2011)-y podríamos emparentarla con el concepto de "estrategias instruccionales (educativas) eficaces" de Hoover y Patton (2008), es decir, una de las tres competencias concretas dentro del rol de la práctica basada en la evidencia para el profesorado de apoyo, junto con el conocimiento sobre los aspectos centrales del currículum y el dominio de los procedimientos propios de la investigación-acción.…”

“…Esta reflexión se vislumbra preocupante, ante el aumento de la demanda de servicios de atención y educativos, provocada por la detección exponencial del número de niños con TEA, obligándonos a cuestionarnos cuáles son las prácticas educativas y terapéuticas más adecuadas (Salvadó-Salvadó et al, 2012). La respuesta pasa inexcusablemente por que los modelos y prácticas de intervención presenten una evidencia de su eficacia demostrada mediante el uso de diseños de investigación rigurosos (Salvadó-Salvadó et al, 2012;Odom et al, 2003), a la que debe sumarse la difusión del conocimiento que dicha investigación genera y su incorporación al día a día de los profesionales implicados (Saldaña y Moreno, 2012). Por ello, esta revisión se plantea como objetivo dar a conocer un conjunto de prácticas focalizadas basadas en la evidencia que, gracias a su soporte empírico, pueden conformar el sustrato metodológico a los programas de intervención individuales dirigidos al alumnado con TEA, promoviendo la existencia de mayores probabilidades de éxito e inclusión escolar.…”