Biomedical subjects

S Eikeseth

Publications and source records attributed to S Eikeseth.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

Intensive behavioral treatment for preschoolers with severe mental retardation and pervasive developmental disorder.

From archival records, we assessed outcomes achieved by preschoolers with both severe mental retardation and autistic features: (a) an experimental group (n = 11), which received intensive behavioral treatment, and (b) a comparison group (n = 10), which received minimal treatment. At intake (mean CA = 3.08 years), the groups did not differ significantly on any variable. At follow-up children in the experimental group obtained a higher mean IQ and evinced more expressive speech than did those in the comparison group. Behavior problems diminished in both groups. Results indicate that intensively treated children achieved clinically meaningful gains relative to the comparison group but remained quite delayed.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMed1992

The autistic label and its potentially detrimental effect on the child's treatment.

This study asks whether adults teach a child labeled "autistic" differently from a child labeled "normal". Twenty undergraduate college students served as student-teachers. Results showed that the student-teachers gave significantly more praise and reward marbles for incorrect responses, as well as significantly less verbal correction, when the child was labeled "autistic". The inference is that such treatment could make it more difficult for the autistic child to acquire new skills.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1992

Some issues in staff training and improvement.

In 1988, Norway's parliament instituted the systematic deinstitutionalization of the nation's health care system for mentally retarded persons. Professionals have recognized that deinstitutionalization will succeed only if treatment personnel can provide effective treatment for their clients. A study is presented in which 152 hands-on staff members were assigned to 76 clients with moderate to severe mental retardation. The study asked whether staff training in behaviorally oriented treatment and assessment would produce greater improvement in the behavior of clients and staff than would training in treatment alone. Data failed to support this hypothesis, but did provide clear evidence that both clients and staff improved with staff training. The assessment of such programs is seen to be of great importance in view of the fact that deinstitutionalization will leave the majority of mentally retarded clients in Norway in the care of persons who have received such limited forms of training.

Activities of Daily Living↗

PubMed1992

The development of functional and equivalence classes in high-functioning autistic children: the role of naming.

The development of functional and equivalence classes was studied in four high-functioning, preschool-aged autistic children. Initially, all subjects failed to demonstrate match-to-sample relations indicative of stimulus equivalence among two three-member classes of visual stimuli. Then, 2 subjects showed emergence of those relations after they were taught to assign the same name to all members in each class. Next, subjects were taught names for new stimuli outside the match-to-sample format. On subsequent match-to-sample tests, 2 subjects demonstrated untrained conditional relations among the stimuli given a common name. New, unnamed stimuli were then related via match-to-sample training to stimuli from sets of named stimuli. Tests for emergent conditional relations between the new unnamed stimuli and the named stimuli yielded positive results for 1 subject and somewhat mixed results for 3 subjects. Finally, without naming, 2 subjects developed stimulus equivalence among two new three-member classes of visual stimuli. These data suggest that naming may remediate failures to develop untrained conditional relations, some of which are indicative of stimulus equivalence.

Association Learning↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Teaching children with autism to initiate and sustain cooperative play.

This study investigated the acquisition, transfer, and maintenance of cooperative play in six children with autism. Two approaches were compared. In one approach, the participants observed two models engaging in cooperative play, before taking the place of one of the models while the play episode just observed was repeated. The second approach was identical to the first except that the participants were now required to verbally describe the modeled play episode before taking the place of one of the models. During training, modeled play episodes varied across play topics, and the criterion for mastery was first trial learning of novel play episodes. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was applied. The results showed that the participants failed to acquire cooperative play until the verbal description was included in the training procedure. Following training with verbal description, all participants: a) could initiate episodes and sustain episodes initiated by their play partner; b) were able to take turns in episodes that were considerably longer than the episodes practiced during training; c) varied their play within and between play episodes; and, d) transferred those skills across play partners, settings, and time.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Parent-managed behavioral treatment for preschool children with autism: some characteristics of UK programs.

Early intensive behavioral intervention for autism has attracted controversy since Lovaas (1987) reported that 47% of his experimental group attained normal functioning. We summarize child and program data from 75 children receiving EIBI in the UK. The majority of children (57%) started treatment later than in Lovaas (1987), and 16% did not exceed his minimum IQ criterion. Children experienced fewer hours of treatment (mean of 32 hours vs. 40 hours per week), and their programs received relatively infrequent supervision. 21% of programs received supervision from individuals currently accredited as competent to provide Lovaas's treatment. No child started early enough, and received 40 hours per week, and had accredited supervision. Due to these variations from his model, Lovaas (1987) findings are unlikely to be replicated for this sample of children.

Accreditation↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The UCLA reading and writing program: an evaluation of the beginning stages.

Some individuals with developmental disabilities fail to acquire functional speech despite extensive teaching efforts. To help such individuals develop functional communication skills, a "reading and writing" program was developed. This study was designed to evaluate early parts of the program. Acquisition, transfer, and maintenance of "reading and writing" skills was examined and compared with the acquisition, transfer, and maintenance of sign language. Participants were four children with autism, who scored within the mentally retarded range on standardized tests of intellectual, adaptive, and language functioning, and three 3-year-old non-disabled children. A simultaneous-treatment design was employed to compare the rate of acquisition of "reading and writing" skills to the rate at which the participants acquired receptive and expressive signs. For the participants with autism, acquisition of "reading and writing" was more successful than receptive and expressive signing on all variables assessed. All non-disabled participants acquired all of the "reading and writing" and sign language skills, but participants with autism did not. However, "reading" was acquired slightly quicker by the participants with autism than the non-disabled participants, and the participants with autism also showed some evidence of better transfer and maintenance than the non-disabled participants did.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Progress and outcomes for children with autism receiving parent-managed intensive interventions.

Parent-managed behavioral interventions for young children with autism are under-researched. We analyzed data from 66 children served by 25 different early intervention consultants. After a mean of 31.6 months of intervention IQ scores had not changed (N = 22). Vineland adaptive behavior scores had increased significantly by 8.9 points (N = 21). No children aged > 72 months attained normal functioning, i.e., IQ > 85 and unassisted mainstream school placement (N = 42). Progress for 60 children across 12 months was found for mental age (5.4 months), adaptive behavior (9.7 months), and language (5.1 months). The interventions did not reproduce results from clinic-based professionally directed programs. The effectiveness of the parent-managed intervention model as it has developed and the adequacy of professional services in that model are discussed.

Autistic Disorder↗