Does therapy really help?

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-26-2005
Does therapy really help?
3
Mon, 10-24-2005 - 11:36pm
Hi,
I was just wondering if anyone knows if there are any long term studies that show the benefits of early intervention and specifically which therapy helps most.
TIA,
Teresa
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-03-2004
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 9:15am

Dear Teresa,

Yes, I know there are studies, where I don't know... Our son started early intervention at 3 and he is doing terrific at 8. But each child is going to have different needs specific to their strengths and weaknesses. Our son was in therapeutic daycare, lots of OT, some speech, behavioral therapy. For his particular sensory system, I would say OT is key, lots of deep muscle work. His therapeutic listening (calibrated music 2xs a day on headsets) also helped with receptive language, along with the speech therapy. RDI (Relationship Development Integration) has recently really helped with social anxiety and tolerating suspence.

ABA has a history of working very well for some children. The difficulty comes in the fact that every program will need to tailored for your child. And also, that as they develop, there will be changes in what works and doesn't.

That is what we found so helpful in paying for very thorough evaluations. We really got a handle on our son's needs and strengths, which we play up to, and also got suggestions of what might help or even not help from the experts. But at the end of the day, we as his parents have the reins and have to go by our guts to make decisions. And so far, mostly so good...

Good luck. Maybe others here will know more about where to read up on studies.

yours,

Sara
ilovemalcolm

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-24-2004
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 11:50am

Teresa,

I used to work in EI research and practice. I don't have my resources together anymore, since I haven't written grants in several years, but I can tell you that there are many studies supporting EI in general. I don't recall any studies of autistic kids and EI per se because my research addressed EI in general, not the efficacy of EI for specific populations. Still, I have been told by others in the field that there is ample support in the literature for EI with autistic kids, especially when it comes to those who need to be taught basic things, like language and joint attention. One of the biggest problems for kids with Asperger's Syndrome, in fact, is considered to be the fact that they are NOT identified until much later (usually the early elementary school years, as opposed to toddler years for Autism and PDD-NOS). It is believed that as we continue to identify them earlier, kids with Asperger's Syndrome will show improved social skills in the early years.

Research that supports specific therapies used to work on autism is available for several approaches. In particular, ABA, VBA, floortime, and RDI. ABA has been around the longest, so it has the most research to support it, however, you have to be careful with your interpretations. ABA research defines "adaptation" of autistic kids as good grades in school and good behavior in the classroom, whereas the newer relationship-based approaches strive to teach autistic kids to interact spontaneously with peers and make friends. A kid who has only ABA or VBA will probably not be able to do this, while floortime and RDI seem to do a better job of teaching real relationship skills. Because they seem to teach different things, I favor using multiple approaches and customizing a program of therapy that fits each child and evolves over time with the child's development.

My son, for example, needs lots of OT combined with other approaches because he is very dyspraxic. We do 1.5 hrs per day of floortime at home, 2 hrs of ST per week, 2 hrs of OT per week plus about 5 hrs of OT at home; RDI is done throughout the day at home with one specific project or outing focusing especially on these skills. We use lots of behavior mod for discipline but no ABA or VBA. Our behavior mod program utilizes a token economy and written prompts to help DS understand rules. We also use lots of written schedules and social stories because DS is hyperlexic with excellent comprehension. For a child who is not verbal and cannot read, you would want to use PECS or some other picture system to communicate. My husband puts in a lot of hours each day to help implement our program, and DS also attends a half-day Kindergarten program and sees ST and OT in private practice. In the past, we have used floortime and RDI consultants to help get our program going smoothly. Our program is constantly evolving and very individualized to our son's needs. We have seen huge improvements in all facets of DS's functioning since we began using a combination of in-home and professional treatments.

Suzi

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-25-2003
Tue, 10-25-2005 - 5:23pm

don't know of any long-term studys. Cut I do know this place.

http://www.vclc.org/research/page14.html (crap school, good research if you want the 6 second assessment of this place, BTW)

I do know that the brain is still forming in young children and is still quite plastic up to about age 7. Any therapies which are going to make neurological adjustments; say work on sensory integrations, improve the communication between the right and left side of the brain, or indeed work on language centers etc, needs to start early to be effective and permanent.

Try searching on things like "(agenisus) corpus collosum" (sp) for more info on the brain.

-Paula

-Paula

visit my blog at www.onesickmother.com