Saturday, November 13, 2010

CARD Study Is Latest Proving ABA Is the Gold Standard for Autism Treatment



Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, executive director and founder of CARD, celebrates 
the study results  with Megan Howell, one of the participants who recovered

Study results released by the Center for Autism and Related Disorders prove, once again, that ABA is the gold standard for autism treatment.   CARD, one of the best known, experienced and credible centers for autism intervention in the world states in its press release that the study:

"evaluated the effects of behavioral intervention for 14 young children with autism using a version of Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) that blends structured teaching with play-based behavioral intervention. Today, 43 percent of the study's participants no longer display clinical symptoms of autism and most of the participants demonstrate significant improvements in functioning. 

In accordance with previous research, CARD found that many of the children made substantial gains in cognitive and adaptive functioning, as well as language skills. Most of the children also demonstrated significant improvements in executive functioning. After treatment, the average T-score for the group on the BRIEF, a measure of overall executive functioning, was 61, well below the cut-off for clinically significant impairment. In addition, 8 out of 14 children were functioning in the average range on the Vineland ABC, a measure of overall adaptive functioning, whereas only 2 of 14 were in the average range before treatment began.

CARD officials are not trying to overstate the results. They do not claim that the children are cured nor that they all can be said to be "indistinguishable from their peers":

Daniel Openden, the center's vice president and clinical services director, said the CARD results are the latest to prove ABA-based therapy is the gold standard for autism treatment. He sees autistic children make amazing progress, but he doesn't say they are cured or recovered.

"Recovery can mean different things to different people, so the key is to understand how recovery is defined," he said. "We see a range of outcomes in response to effective treatment, up to and including children who appear indistinguishable from their peers. But we're not comfortable saying that these children no longer have autism."

This study will have no persuasive effect on those who are ideologically opposed to ABA but for parents and others seeking help for their autistic children it is more evidence that they should give strong consideration to ABA as a treatment to help their children.

3 comments:

  1. farmwifetwo9:04 am

    ABA with PLAY BASED learning...

    Is not Lovaas' ABA. It is another "mash" of step by step teaching followed by Floortime.

    Everyone learns step by step.... Which is what ABA is... break a task into steps and teach it. What did they do for speech and language teaching?? Sensory issues?? Did they use Hanen or make children repeat after repeat after repeat use the correct PEC or word to label something??

    ABA ranges from that 35hr/wk horror we had to Ont's PPM 140...

    What was this one?????????? I have never seen a study where ABA is actually described in full, where one program is put up against another, these "ABA's" are as different as the practitioner beside them. CARD's program is getting good results. What was the level of Autism in these children before it started??? What was their level of speech and language difficulty??

    We use "ABA" (step by step) every day. We use PPM 140 at school. We use "play based" therapy every day. We use "Hanen" every day. We've even applied to the ACS program and hope to atleast make the waitlist - a year. We have words... we have joint attention and we even have.. forgot the word but when he goes to one and then the other if he doesn't get... it's in Engaging Autism (Floortime).. But even in NT children it doesn't get mastered until 8 and we've just started and we're nearly 9... so only a small delay...

    Would probably be the same "program" CARD uses... Think?? And yes, our growth in learning and speech is amazing.

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  2. Thank you FW2. The CARD spokespersons refer to ABA in their public comments and press release.

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  3. I wish that CARD would provide at least a reference to the research that they are talking about when they have these press releases.

    I know first hand that ABA can be a very effective treatment for autism but it would nice to see the details of what they are talking about instead of just press releases.

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