Effects of a two year treatment program for a young autistic child
Abstract
A male and female therapy team applied a modified operant behavior-modification technique along with playroom and milieu therapy in the treatment of a 3-yr-old girl who had shown symptoms of autism from infancy. The reinforcer was food. Gains were made in speech and language during the 1st yr. but attempts to increase eye contact and social interaction met with limited success. During the 2nd treatment yr., the importance of relationship therapy increased although operant techniques were continued. In addition, Santostefano's Training Attention and Concentration program and Bereiter-Englemann's language-teaching techniques were used. S's Merrill-Palmer IQ rose from 69-95 and she tested 83 IQ on the Stanford-Binet at the end of the program. (15 ref.)