In a recent About: Autism Spectrum Disorders posting, the top 10 treatment approaches for autism were listed along with helpful links for each of these approaches. The top 10 were determined by popularity, research, and most effective overall.
The top 10 listed were:
1) Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA)
2) Speech Therapy
3) Occupational Therapy
4) Social Skills Therapy
5) Physical Therapy
6) Play Therapy
7) Behavior Therapy/Positive Behavior Support
8) Developmental Therapies
9) Visually-based Therapies
10) Biomedical Therapies
I would like to see a similar list, in order, of those that are the most research-based and have evidence of effectiveness with the largest number of children with autism. Organizations such as the National Autism Center are dedicated to coming up with good ways to make these kinds of lists and to develop rankings for treatment approaches which will be based on research and effectiveness for ASD. This project is called the National Standards Project and the expert panel and conceptual reviewers include a prestigious group of autism researchers including several of our TeachTown science advisory board members including Dr. Ilene Schwartz, Dr. William Frea, and Dr. Aubyn Stahmer.
I would also like to see more studies on technology and which programs are effective and which ones are not. It won’t be long before Computer-Assisted Instruction is added to the list above, I just hope that developers, and perhaps more importantly, university researchers continue to conduct the necessary research to keep improving these programs.
**Please see comments from the author of the ABOUT blog, she makes some excellent comments and I completely agree with her!**
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May 1st, 2007 at 10:58 am
Interesting! I wonder how I missed that? I’m surprised that RDI / Floortime isn’t in there somewhere, or do you think that’s included in number 6?
Best wishes
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:30 am
Hi, Dr. Chris! Thanks for linking to my blog!
Actually, the list was compiled based more on “what’s most likely to be offered and/or available” in terms of treatments — not “what’s most effective.” In fact, there’s really no good way to know in advance what’s likely to most useful or effective for any given person with autism.
Also, so far as I can see, only ABA and risperdal have gone through the full gamut of double blind placebo-based testing… others have been tested in various ways, but not in the most rigorous manner. Even so, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend either ABA or risperdal for everyone!!
Re RDI and Floortime: they are, indeed, included as “developmental treatments,” as is Sonrise, Play Project, etc. I happen to be a floortimer myself, so wouldn’t neglect it! (On my site, the original article has links to long articles on each type of therapy!)
All the best,
Lisa Rudy (About.com Guide to Autism)
May 2nd, 2007 at 6:57 am
http://www.alertfocus.com/relieve/autism/index.php
This site has some research summaries documenting that brain-based biofeedback is a highly effective treatment for autism. There is replicated and controlled research, some published in peer-review journals, or about to be.
Please see www.PABiofeedback.org for info on the upcoming Autism and Biofeedback professional conference featuring these leading researchers.
Gary Ames
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:14 am
RDI/Floortime are included in #8 and if you click on the posting on ABOUT, there are details of each of the treatment approaches listed on her site.
May 2nd, 2007 at 9:15 am
Thanks for the link on biofeedback Gary!
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:02 am
Hello, I was surprised Son Rise Programme was not mentioned on the list. Or did you think it includes elements from the list.
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:39 am
I think Son Rise would be under #6 or #8.
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:44 am
For more information on treatment approaches, you can also check out the posting I did on December 5, 2006.
August 6th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
I think that putting RDI under play therapy is not accurate. While the original conception of RDI used to look more like play, it has changed into lifestyle activities. My daughter is 20 years old and this week we worked on our objectives through activities like shopping, delivering meals on wheels, throwing away trash, putting away laundry, cleaning up the broken chiminea, etc. The activities, however, are not the focus. The real focus is developing dynamic intelligence through a guided participation model of parenting . . .