Individual behavioral profiles and predictors of treatment effectiveness for children with autism.
Differential responsiveness to intervention programs suggests the inadequacy of a single treatment approach for all children with autism. One method for reducing outcome variability is to identify participant characteristics associated with different outcomes for a specific intervention. In this investigation, an analysis of archival data yielded 2 distinct behavioral profiles for responders and nonresponders to a widely used behavioral intervention, pivotal response training (PRT). In a prospective study, these profiles were used to select 6 children (3 predicted responders and 3 predicted nonresponders) who received PRT. Children with pretreatment responder profiles evidenced positive changes on a range of outcome variables. Children with pretreatment nonresponder profiles did not exhibit improvements. These results offer promise for the development of individualized treatment protocols for children with autism.
Sherer
Michelle R
MR
Department of Psychology, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0109, USA.
Schreibman
Laura
L
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome