Daily Medical Records

Posts Tagged ‘intelligence quotient’

An intensive program of behavioral treatment approach for very young children with autism was more efficient than the usual programs offered in the community, leading to greater improvements to the results of intelligence tests – intelligence quotient (IQ) – and of verbal and social skills, according to a U.S. study published in the journal Pediatrics.

The program, called Early Start Denver Model, involved 15 hours per week on average response of a therapist over a similar period of intervention parents who had received training. The children also participated in training in language (speech therapy) for 5 hours per week.

Sally Rogers and Geraldine Dawson conducted the study with 48 autistic children aged 18-30 months. The children were split into two groups: one receiving this new approach to the house of a minimum of two hours, five days a week and a second participant to the regular programs offered in specialized facilities that included an average of 9 hours individual intervention and nine hours of group intervention. The evaluators did not know what treatment had been children.

After 2 years of intervention, an increase of 18 IQ points was found in the group that received intensive program at home, compared to 7 points in the group receiving usual services in the community. This increase was primarily language skills (speaking and receiving). Nearly 30% of children in this group were diagnosed as having a milder form of autism, compared to 5% in the other group. “This improvement significantly increases the chances of going into a regular classroom and to make friends,” said Dawson.

The program combines a behavioral approach – called applied behavior analysis (applied behavior analysis) – which is to teach children new behaviors and to change harmful behavior through repetition and practice and techniques based on the relationship presented in the context of play .

Early intervention, the authors say, can take advantage of the plasticity of the young brain and to capitalize on the learning potential of children, thus limiting the harmful effects of autism.