Summarize the article (2 paragraphs).

This week I read “Treatment Approach, Autism Severity and Intervention Outcomes in Young
Children”, by Zachor and Itzchak (2010) which compared Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) to
an Eclectic approach to treatment. The article focused on early intervention for children with an
autism spectrum diagnosis (ASD). The overall goal was to see if the approaches were effective
for the children and if so which intervention approach produced the greatest change in the social,
emotional, academic and physical domains. Additionally, the article looked at possible changes
in the ways autism is diagnosed and if that had any effect on the intervention approach or results.

The Eclectic Model and ABA had some important similarities and differences. For example, the
Eclectic Model was more parent oriented and included one on one parent meetings with the
professionals whereas ABA was more child focused (Zachor & Itzchak, 2010). ABA also
seemed to be more focused on conditioning responses to change behavior and the eclectic
approach took a developmental stance, working on skill building. There was also a difference in
the ratio when working with the children. The eclectic approach had a larger group and ABA
included more 1-1 work. It’s unclear on why the approaches chose to work with different ratios.

What are the primary points of the manuscript? (1-2 paragraphs)?

The results from the study provided valuable information regarding some of the primary points
of the article. There were major improvements in several domains over the course of treatment.
The children improved in areas like their activities of daily living, motor skills and language
skills. What was noteworthy is that both treatment approaches showed great progress for the
children but neither approach showed a significant improvement gap over the other which went
against previous research (Zachor & Itzchak, 2010). The results of the article lean towards early
intervention being the greatest determinant of positive results as opposed to which intervention
method is chosen. Glicksman (2012) notes that children can reliably be diagnosed with ASD as
young as 12 months old and that the “wait and see” approach that parents have generally taken
can be detrimental due to delayed treatment.

Discuss at least two ways you can apply the information to your practice of applied
behavior analysis with ASD? (1-2 paragraphs)?

The information provided in this article was very useful as I enter the field of therapy for a
couple of reasons. The first reason is that there is still a lot to learn about autism and there are a
lot of misconceptions and stereotypes associated with ASD. One common misconception about
ASD is that it is confined to boys but in reality ASD spans across genders and cultural and ethnic
boundaries (Scutti, 2014). This may seem like an obvious fact but there are still misconceptions
about gender and disorders that delay girls from receiving the proper treatment. This can be seen
in other disorders as well, such as ADHD, because of the difference in ways it is expressed in
boys and girls. As a professional, one of the most important tools we have is knowledge so the
more understanding we gain about a disorder the more effective and helpful we can be for the
family and child. The article also provides an understanding of the models and the way they are
implemented. For example, an article by Silberman (2015) criticizes the use of ABA stating the
approach focuses more on making children with ASD “indistinguishable” from their non ASD
counterparts instead of getting to know them and their needs on a deeper level. This article
highlighted that ABA spent a significant amount of time working with the children to meet their
individual needs.

Reflect on your experience in reviewing the research selected. What was confusing? Could
you understand the results? Did anything need to be clearer? Consider all of your course
resources and the article selected (1-2 paragraphs). Discuss any ethical, legal, or cultural
implications that might be relevant.

The article was difficult to understand at times but I think the overall message was conveyed.
One statement that stood out to me in the article was “the plasticity of the brain at this early age
enables significant response to any intense and focused treatment” (Zachor & Itzchak, 2010). I
was able to grasp the importance of early intervention as a necessity and I learned that both
approaches can be highly effective in a ASD specific community setting. I did have difficulty
understanding the changes in the way ASD could be diagnosed and by the end of the article I
was still unclear on the point they were trying to make regarding that subject. I do not believe
this article was written in a manner that would be easily understood for parents. I believe the
target audience were professionals who would be able to process this information and then apply
it to the intervention process.

References

Glicksman, E. (2012, October). Catching Autism Earlier. Monitor on Psychology.

doi:10.1037/e652132012-015

Scutti, S. (2014, May 09). Do You Know The Reality Behind These 8 Autism Myths? Retrieved
August 29, 2016, from http://www.medicaldaily.com/autism-awareness-8-myths-and-realities-
about-spectrum-disorder-281236

Silberman, S. (2015, October). It's time we dispelled these myths about autism. Retrieved August
29, 2016, from http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20151006-its-time-we-dispelled-these-myths-
about-autism
Zachor, D. A., & Itzchak, E. B. (2010). Treatment approach, autism severity and intervention
outcomes in young children.Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 4(3), 425-432.
doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2009.10.013