Thursday 26 February 2015

[Today] Behavioural treatment better for younger autistic children

Many parents think that if their child does not start speaking normally at an appropriate age, it means that child has a problem expressing himself and requires help with his speaking skills.

However, if he has autism, this is merely a syndrome of a deeper, underlying problem: He may not understand the concept of communicating and has no desire to communicate with people.

Just as training a newborn to run would be premature, training an autistic child in verbal communication techniques when he has not understood the purpose of communicating is counterproductive.

He needs special guidance to overcome his foundational difficulties in social interaction, flexibility of thinking, communication and motivation as early as possible. This is where Applied Behaviour Analysis-Verbal Behaviour (ABA-VB) shines.

ABA-VB sessions include behavioural treatment to decrease problem behaviours and increase functional alternative behaviours, as well as joint attention intervention to teach the child to respond to the social requests of others. The child would also learn schedule training to help him follow a task list to complete a series of activities, and self-management training to regulate his behaviour.

Although speech therapy overlaps some functions of ABA-VB, it has a narrower focus. It targets verbal communication skills such as articulation, syntax and the correct use of language, and not issues such as motivation, temper tantrums or other behavioural problems. Some parents think it best to combine speech therapy with ABA-VB. This can be helpful, but will be costly, with limited benefits.

For the price of occasional speech therapy sessions conducted by a qualified professional, a child can receive intensive intervention from therapists using programmes developed by qualified professionals. Intensive intervention is more likely to create lasting change compared with occasional sessions. It is wiser to use speech therapy for refining verbal communication skills, after early intervention has provided a firm foundation for the child.