title: The use of BRIAC for evaluating therapeutic effectiveness.
abstract: Forty-six children in eight different psychotherapeutic settings were evaluated at the beginning and at the end of a 12-month period by means of the Behavior Rating Instrument for Autistic Children (BRIAC). The younger children (3 to 6 years of age) were initially more severely disturbed and improved significantly more than the older children (7 to 9 years of age). The large, bleak, custodial residential center produced significantly less improvement in the children than did the other settings. However, among good programs--i.e., those which were sensitive to the behaviors and needs of the children and which were skillfully implemented by a dedicated and attentive staff--there was little evidence of differences in therapeutic effectiveness regardless of whether the therapy was behavior modification, education, psychoanalytically oriented relationship therapy, or activity therapy.
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D001307:Auditory Perception; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003142:Communication; D003631:Day Care, Medical; D004519:Education, Special; D005069:Evaluation Studies as Topic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009068:Movement; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011575:Psychoanalytic Therapy; D011606:Psychosexual Development; D011613:Psychotherapy; D012114:Residential Treatment; D012919:Social Behavior; D014705:Verbal Behavior