A two-year prospective follow-up study of community-based early intensive behavioural intervention and specialist nursery provision for children with autism spectrum disorders.
BACKGROUND
This prospective study compared outcome for pre-school children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) receiving autism-specific nursery provision or home-based Early Intensive Behavioural Interventions (EIBI) in a community setting.


METHODS
Forty-four 23- to 53-month-old children with ASD participated (28 in EIBI home-based programmes; 16 in autism-specific nurseries). Cognitive, language, play, adaptive behaviour skills and severity of autism were assessed at intake and 2 years later.


RESULTS
Both groups showed improvements in age equivalent scores but standard scores changed little over time. At follow-up, there were no significant group differences in cognitive ability, language, play or severity of autism. The only difference approaching significance (p = .06), in favour of the EIBI group, was for Vineland Daily Living Skills standard scores. However, there were large individual differences in progress, with intake IQ and language level best predicting overall progress.


CONCLUSIONS
Home-based EIBI, as implemented in the community, and autism-specific nursery provision produced comparable outcomes after two years of intervention.
Institute of Psychiatry, King's College London, UK. Iliana.Magiati@islingtonpct.nhs.uk
Iliana
I
Magiati
Tony
T
Charman
Patricia
P
Howlin
D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000191:economics / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003071:Cognition; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D018479:Early Intervention, Educational / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012578:Schools, Nursery / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012919:Social Behavior; D012951:Socialization; D006113:United Kingdom