Applied Behavioural Analysis Research
Research On The Importance of ABA (Applied Behavioural Analysis)
Several studies have shown that children who receive intensive early intervention using the principles of Applied Behavioural Analysis display dramatic improvements in all areas including peer interactions, classroom behaviour, imitation, self care and various language skills.
Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues in the UCLA Young Autism Project, which was first reported by Lovaas in 1987, conducted the most famous of these studies.
All children in the study received a diagnosis of autism from independent qualified professionals. At intake the children had similar measured developmental levels, language and play skills and rates of sterotypic behavious, and all started treament before the age of four years.
One group of 19 children received 40 hours per week of intensive one-on-one behavioural treatment from trained therapists for a period of at least two years. This intensive treatment group was compared with two control groups: the minimal treatment group which received fewer than ten hours per week of one-on-one behavioural treatment from trained therapists, and the other control group of 21 comparable children who were treated in other programmes outside the UCLA project.
The groups were re-evaluated between the ages of six and seven years old. Of the intensive treatment group, nine children (47%) had successfully completed regular first grade and obtained average or above average scores on IQ tests and were also classed as indistinguishable from their peers in the areas of adaptive skills and emotional functioning. This represented an average gain of 37 IQ points over the course of the treatment and an average gain of 31 points more than the minimal treatment group. Eight children (42%) in the intensive treatment group successfully completed first grade in learning disabled or language delayed classes and had average IQ scores in the mild range of mental retardation.
Of the two control groups, only one child achieved an IQ in the average range. Eighteen children (45%) were placed in classes for children with learning disabilities and language delays, and 21 children (53%) were in classes for autistic/mentally retarded children. Their IQ scores remained unchanged.
McEachin, Smith and Lovaas conducted a follow up study six years later in 1993 and found that eight of the children continued to successfully attend regular education classes without support and had maintained the gains made during the initial study.
