Using Technology to Expand and Enhance Applied Behavioral Analysis Programs for Children with Autism in Military Families.

摘要

Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are disorders that affect as many 1 in 88 children. Without intensive treatment, the long-term outcomes for children with an ASD remain bleak and are associated with a high divorce rate among parents. Interventions based on applied behavior analysis are well documented, but unfortunately these services are often not available to military-dependent children because of the lack of appropriately training individuals. This project will demonstrate how web-based technologies can increase the availability of this effective treatment. The third year of the award involved the continued recruitment of families with a child with an ASD to evaluate the technology-enhanced parent-training (Experiment 1) and technology-enhanced tutor-training (Experiment 2) curricula as well as the technology-enhanced early-intervention services in family s homes (Experiment 3). The preliminary results for the tutor-training curriculum showed robust and statistically significant improvements in performance, and the training was rated as highly socially acceptable. These data were recently published (Fisher, Luczynski, Hood, Lesser, Machado, & Piazza, 2014). Similar outcomes have been obtained for the participants that completed the parent-training curriculum. We have completed four test-control dyads of children for the early-intervention evaluation, and the initial results showed marked increases in acquired skills for children in the technology-enhanced training group compared to the waitlist- control group for two of four dyads. We are continuing to make progress toward recruiting and enrolling families in the parent-training and early-intervention experiments.