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| Early and Intensive Behavioral Interventions for Autism |
| Sunday, May 30, 2004 |
| 7:00 PM–9:00 PM |
| Back Bay A |
| Area: PRA; Domain: Applied Research |
| CE Instructor: O. Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D. |
| O. IVAR LOVAAS (University of California, Los Angeles) |
| Description: Autism represents the most severe impairment of all psychiatric diagnostic categories. It is almost always chronic: 95% of children diagnosed with autism remain autistic as adults and in need of institutional and/or protective care. To optimize treatment outcome behavioral intervention should start before the age of 5 years, address all the childs behavioral excesses and delays, be administered 40 hours or more per week, and be conducted in the childs home and community with the parents participation. Follow-up data assessment of the UCLA 1987 study conducted by independent blind examiners at the childrens mean age of 12 years shows that 47% of the children passed regular, age-appropriate classes in the public school system, scored within the normal range on IQ tests and standardized tests of adaptive behavior and personality, as well as ratings by clinical psychologists. Replication of the 1987 study across sites is being conducted by persons who have completed coursework in Learning & Behavior and Applied Behavior Analysis as well as passed a full-time 9-month internship at UCLA. Replication data will be published in 2004. |
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| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Basic |