Aardvark autism services
Other Considerations
Being An Informed Consumer
The best way to check if a therapy is authentic and effective is to examine the research supporting it. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals are one of the best resources to use as these will have been appraised by professionals in the field and would have met the necessary criteria for a solid research study. Good journals to start with are the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorder, the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and the Journal of Autism. Using Google scholar is a good resource tool when searching for articles or books on particular topics. Not all articles will be available in full text at no cost, however, all articles on the website for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis are available free of charge.
When reading books on autism, check to see whether the authors back up their factual statements with references. Check the reference section, there may be articles that interest you and pertain to the therapy that you are considering for your child. The same applies to websites. There are no guidelines for responsible conduct regarding the publication of books or the setting up of websites (or publishing in many journals that are not peer-reviewed).
Read critically and be a sceptic. Let the article, book, or website convince you with scientific evidence that the therapy that you are considering is sound. Look to see if the behaviour/s the authors have targeted are defined precisely and in such a way that they can be measured objectively. Do they rely on accurately obtained data in forming their conclusions? And can the results be verified and replicated by others? Do they demonstrate that the change in behaviour reported is the direct result of the treatment given? i.e. Was the treatment discontinued resulting in a return of the behaviour to similar levels as those before the treatment was started, and then reinstated resulting in the same change in behaviour? Or was the treatment given to more than one child at different times, resulting in similar effects across children?
What To Look For In a Program
The program that is best suited for your child will depend on the specific impairments, the severity of those impairments and the age of your child. You may be looking at different early intervention programs to be conducted in your home, or you may be looking at different schools or centres for your child. There are certain features of a good program that should be considered:
- Ratio of Adults to Children. It is preferable to have a 1:1 ratio, with one adult per child, or as low a ratio as possible. This will ensure that your child gets individualized and undivided attention and the program can be specifically tailored to your child’s needs.
- Intensive Programming. For optimal outcome, early intervention should be +18 hours a week. This has been proven time and again through numerous research studies.
- Variety of Settings. Programs that offer support in more than one setting are highly preferable to those that offer only one setting. Setting changes can be as simple as running a session in the garden, playground or different rooms in the house. Children with ASD have a hard time using learned skills in different settings, or with different people. If different settings and/or people are built into the program, this will help to alleviate this problem.
- Variety of Teaching Strategies. Look for a program that utilizes a variety of ABA strategies to target different skills. Not all strategies are suited to all required skills, and not all children are suited to all strategies. A variety of different intervention strategies will increase the likelihood of an appropriate and effective match being made.
- Treatment Manual. Good programs will have a treatment manual for the staff to use during intervention. The manual will give clear definitions and explanations of what is being targeted, and how to best target the behaviour. This helps to ensure that all staff members are implementing the program in a consistent and appropriate way. This manual may be electronic or it may be a hard copy.
- Data-driven Decisions. Decisions about a child’s treatment plan should be made based on data that is taken regularly and accurately.
- Jargon. As parents/guardians, you have the right to understand exactly what is going on in your child’s program, and the progress your child is making. Do not be afraid to ask for clarification if your provider uses therapy-specific terms with which you are not familiar.
(Jacobson et al., 2005 p. 21)
Things Of Which To Be Wary:
- Treatments that use sophisticated techniques or equipment in unverified ways
- Treatments that rely on subjective evidence (personal reports, anecdotes, testimonials, surveys) for their data
- Treatments that report extraordinarily high or uniform success rates
- Treatments that offer rapid changes
- Treatments that offer a “cure” or use words such as breakthrough, revolution, miracle etc.
- Treatments for which the theory behind them contradicts common sense or well-known fact
- Treatments that are easy to administer – no experience necessary
- Treatments in which the therapist is working outside the area of their expertise
- Treatments that purport that no knowledge or training in ASD is required to conduct the treatment
- Treatments that state that a belief of faith is necessary in order for it to work
- Treatments of which the promoters or supporters are not open to an independent evaluation of the treatment
Research has shown that in combining a number of different interventions, the expected increase in the outcomes is not evidenced. In addition,, by spending time and money on therapies that have no scientific backing, time and money is taken away from those therapies that do. (Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, & Stanislaw, 2005)
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