Autistic toddlers and how much intervention

Post Reply New Topic

A multisite study led by UC Davis Health found that two prominent early intervention models for autism had a similar impact. The researchers compared developmental and symptom improvements in toddlers with autism who received one year of one-on-one intervention sessions using either the Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) or Early Start Denver Model (ESDM). They found that the effect did not differ significantly whether delivered at 15-hours or 25-hours per week.

Their study, published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found that neither the type of intervention nor the intensity of delivery led to significant differences in the children's rate of progress.

The two interventions vary considerably in their delivery style and underlying theories. EIBI is based on applied behavior analysis and uses simple, structured instructions to teach the children. ESDM is naturalistic and based on developmental and behavioral sciences with an interactive style embedded in everyday activities, both play and typical routines.

Researchers enrolled 87 toddlers with autism (between the ages of 12 and 30 months) from three university sites. Based on their age and development level, the children were randomly assigned to one of four intervention groups: 15 or 25 hours of ESDM; 15 or 25 hours of EIBI.

The researchers found that neither style nor intensity of intervention had a differing effect overall on the study's four outcome measures: children's progress in receptive language, expressive communication, nonverbal ability and autism symptom change.

The current findings apply only to the toddler-aged children who were studied. They need to be validated through replication. The study approach also needs to be applied to older children to understand their responses to these differing treatments and intensities.