EFFECTIVENESS OF VARIOUS AUTISM TREATMENTS

Effectiveness of Various Autism Treatments

Effectiveness of Various Autism Treatments

Introduction

A type of spectrum disorder which explain difficulties in imagination, communication and social interaction. The symptoms of the diseases may be detected after the birth of a child or during the early period of childhood i.e. around third year. In several but rare cases, individuals with autism might demonstrate unusual talents in some areas. For instance, arithmetic, music, drawing or others; however majority will face difficulties during learning. The cause that leads to the development of the diseases is still unknown, but it is believed that it entails a huge amount of genetic and environmental factors. These factors influence or in other words affect the brain development process of child. Special education however might be able to bring some improvements. This paper in connection to the autism, will discuss the pros of effectiveness of autism treatment therapies.

Discussion and Analysis

As identified above, autistic people may develop considerable intellect, social development and motor if the proper treatment program is enforced in the families or school (Lovaas, 1987; Kozloff, 1998; Adams & Toomey, 1995; Rogers, 1996; Powers, 1992). Rogers (1996) highlighted two particular features of interventions, which have been proven effective in reducing the incapacitating effects of autism and foster the psychosocial development of the children:

Early intervention

Children suffering from autism have demonstrated substantial improvement to develop intellectual characteristics, if a treatment plan is introduced at an early stage i.e. during two to four years age of a child.

Intense intervention

Programs having low ration of child - teacher and at least 15 contact hours per week have produced more successful results.

Behaviorally-Oriented Programs

Various elements of early interventions have been identified by Dawson and Osterling (1997) which are cited as effective treatment:

There is a need that curriculum content should stress on five basic skills which are a) to follow and attend commands of teaching; b) to replicate the actions of others; c) to use language and comprehend; d) to play in an appropriate manner and finally e) to increase the engagement in social interactions (Dawson & Osterling, 1997).

There is a need for the development of systematic and structured learning environment, which stresses on the simplification of skills mastered to other tasks, individuals, locations and materials in an environment of a child.

The learning environment should be designed in a manner to address the need for children's for assurance of predictability and routine. This and earlier stated point stressed that autistic children are usually more reliant on structures, which increases the importance of format of learning environment. Children appear to obtain more benefits from predictability or stability in their learning environment which allow them adequately to encourage learning through actions and their generalizations.

For the modification of the problem behaviors, a functional approach is employed. Functional approach consists of a) identification of the environmental factors—such as prompts, reinforcement contingencies and antecedent events—which are keeping unwanted behaviors which may be utilized to support desired behavior; b) methods to plan to modify characteristics of the learning ...