Therapies for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Checklist scores decreased by 8.4 for the intervention group and decreased by 1.8 for the control
group (p=0.054).
Fifty-four children were assessed 12 months after intervention ceased, 198 with children who
had received the center and home based treatment maintaining cognitive gains compared with
children receiving center-based intervention only (p=0.007). Behavioral improvements seen in
the center+home based intervention group were not maintained a year later. Children from
families experiencing greater parent-reported stress saw greater improvements in IQ at the 12month
followup than children from lower-stress families.
Case series 191,193 evaluating the effects of a variety of ABA-based methods used within a
teaching context in center-based classrooms were consistent with group design studies,
measuring improvements in social and communication behaviors.
Computer-Based Educational Approaches
Computer-based programs use technology to deliver behaviorally-based teaching in areas
such as language acquisition and reading skills.
Content of the literature. We identified thee papers evaluating computer-based intervention
programs delivered in school settings. 189,190,200 All studies in this section were poor quality.
Summary of the literature. Two randomized controlled trials 189,200 and one prospective case
series 190 of computer-based academic interventions were included in this review. One
randomized controlled trial compared a computer and teacher-led vocabulary acquisition
program using behaviorally based teaching strategies like positive reinforcement, 189 with seven
children ages 3 to 6 years in each group. The computer program paralleled the teacher led
approach with the addition of features such as color, animation and music. Children recalled
more nouns after exposure to the computer, program, (mean=4.43, 74 percent) compared with
teacher presentation (mean= 2.43, 41 percent), (p < .01) and were more attentive to the computer
than to the teacher (mean= 97 percent vs. 67 percent), p