Research
When deciding on the best approach for therapy it is scientifically clear that IBI will give your child the greatest chance of success.
There are many types of therapy and procedures being used today. Unfortunately the majority of these have yet to been proven or worse have time and again been disproven to be effective.
ASAT, (The Association of Science in Autism Treatment) has a fantastic overview of all interventions being used for treatment of children with autism. Many Psychological, Educational, and Therapeutic and Biological Interventions are listed.
Comprehensive Programs
The term "comprehensive programs" refers to ASD-specialized, intensive intervention programs (usually for many hours per week), involving a combination of the approaches and strategies described in other sections of this paper. They typically include an educational
or skill development orientation, together with some therapeutic intervention(s) for problem behaviour, often using a multidisciplinary team (including the parents). Multiple systems are usually involved, and intervention likely takes place in various settings (home, school, agency).
The following comprehensive program has strong evidence of effectiveness , though individualized evaluation is a necessary component to ensure the best match of the curriculum to the child's needs:
• Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI)
While the following comprehensive programs share many features of good comprehensive programs, they do not have strong research evidence at this time , and should be evaluated on an individual basis with each child:
• TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and related Communication
Handicapped Children)
• The Denver Model
• The Developmental, Individual Difference, Relationship (DIR) Model aka Floortime
Verbal Behaviour Approach (VB)
The Verbal Behaviour approach is a method within applied behaviour analysis that has its roots in Skinner's (1957) analysis of verbal behaviour. Unlike other language approaches that stress
the "receptive" (understanding) and "expressive" (production) aspects of language, Skinner's approach emphasizes the environmental variables responsible for language, the functional
relationship between language and environment, and the structure of language. In typical development, children fifirst use words to label people and items in their environment, and appear to thrive on the social response to their verbal behaviour. As many children with ASDs are not (at fifirst) motivated by social interaction, Sundberg and Partington (1998) suggest that children with ASDs should fifirst be taught to make requests (mands) using verbal or nonverbal
means (e.g., words or sign language), and consequently receive immediate acknowledgement of those requests through reinforcement. Following the acquisition of several mands, the individual is taught to comment or label objects in the absence of desired objects (pure mands), with an emphasis on the social aspects of interaction. Some of the steps involved in teaching
a child who is non-verbal to produce a verbal request include teaching basic motor imitation and vocal imitation of sounds (echoics) before trying to teach any full words. Behavioural
analytic approaches using a verbal behaviour framework have been most effective in teaching children with severely limited language skills to develop or increase their verbal repertoire. They have also been successfully used to expand the social communication of children with ASDs at higher skill levels.
Evidence to support the use of a Verbal Behaviour approach has been repeatedly documented in single subject and multiple baseline small group designs for individuals with ASDs (e.g., Drash, High, & Tutor, 1999; Sundberg, Endicott, & Eigenheer, 2000). The emphasis on learning in the natural environment and generalization across responses, people, materials, and settings, makes this a good choice to complement educational and treatment programs for individuals with ASDs.
