Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the efficacy of ABA in managing autism spectrum disorders among children. The study seeks to answer the research question, how effective is ABA therapy for autism spectrum disorders? The goal is to analyze the effects of ABA therapy, and determine where it is effective and where it has shortcomings.

Literature Synthesis: Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder and Other Developmental Conditions

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Autism

Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition, characterized by repetitive and limiting behavioral patterns, interests and activities. In fact, it is a spectrum disorder ranging from mild to severe. It is recognized by distinctive characteristics that include high prevalence of behavioral abnormalities, wide spectrum of language alterations, and impaired intellectual functioning. Persons diagnosed with autism experience difficulty in social interaction and communication (Zhou et al., 2019). While autism has always been a concern with efforts made to manage the condition showing that it cannot be cured but can be managed to improve outcomes (Medavarapu et al., 2019), it has become of greater concern in the face of globalization. That is because globalization has increased cultural and linguistic diversity that highlight the shortcomings that persons with autism face (Liao, Dillenburger & Buchanan, 2018) Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder .

ABA therapy

ABA therapy is described as a non-biological therapy for managing autism spectrum disorder to improve outcomes. An intensive behavioral intervention that teaches the appropriate behavior breaking down tasks into small discrete steps, ABA therapy trains the client in a systematic and precise way. It is characterized by stimuli being presented discretely with responses, immediate feedback, intense reinforcement, data collection, and systematic trials of instruction (Medavarapu et al., 2019). It focuses on generalizing behaviors to new environments and situations, teaching new skills, increasing and reinforcing desirable adaptive behaviors, and reducing any interfering maladaptive behavior. ABA therapy is based on the theory that while normal children learn well through listening and imitation, children with autism spectrum disorders perform poorly in such learning environments. Instead, children with autism spectrum disorders perform well in learning environments that apply routine and directness (Medavarapu et al., 2019) Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder .

Criticizing ABA therapy

The use of ABA therapy in managing autism is not a new concept with many research studies on this subject. In fact, ABA therapy is widely used as an effective intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders. Still, there are questions about the degree of effectiveness of ABA therapy. The results of a meta-analysis that included 29 studies revealed that ABA therapy is effective in improving intellectual abilities, communication skills, expressive language skills, receptive language skills, IQ, adaptive behavior, socialization, and daily living skills (Makrygianni et al., 2018).

Portnova et al. (2020) explores the use of ABA therapy among children with low-functioning autism, showing that it is effective in managing the autism as it keeps their electroencephalography (EEG) microstates within the ranges reported for typically developing children. This shows that the therapy is effective in managing low-functioning autism.

ABA therapy is a well-established intervention for autism spectrum disorders with research studies reporting that it improves adaptive behavior, IQ, and expressive language skills. However, there are concerns that ABA does not improve autism symptoms severity, and problem behaviors (Reichow et al., 2018). Dixon et al. (2021) concurs with these findings, reporting that ABA therapy improves skills acquisition and IQ scores Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder .

Tiura et al. (2017) criticizes ABA therapy, explaining that while it may be effective in managing autism, its effectiveness can be improved by personalizing it for the individual patients. This understanding concedes that there is heterogeneity of autism spectrum disorders, and that heterogeneity can act as predictor of treatment outcomes.

Wang et al. (2019) reveals that while ABA therapy has been effective in managing autism through encouraging behavior that are helpful and discouraging behaviors that are not helpful, globalization has highlighted the shortcomings of ABA therapy. Based on a secondary research approach that evaluated available literature, the study revealed that cultural and linguistic diversity inherent in globalization may be a shortcoming for ABA therapy effectiveness.

Criticism of ABA therapy for effects on intensity and duration on outcomes shows strong effects on academic and language domains that report strong responses for both therapy intensity and duration. This suggests that some of the skills may require higher treatment intensity to be learned while other skills may require higher treatment duration to be learned. This shows that regardless of therapy intensity, some skills are best acquired through long-term treatment. Still, the study is unclear about the effect of high intensity treatment regardless of duration (Linstead et al., 2017) Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder .

Kupferstein (2018) also criticizes ABA therapy, noting that children with autism spectrum disorders exposed to ABA therapy are likely to report high prevalence of posttraumatic stress symptoms and lower satisfaction with the therapy later on as older children and adults.

Area of further study

The strength of evidence in this literature synthesis is limited because it mostly comes from small studies that are not of optimum design. The synthesis has included non-randomized studies that increase the risk of bias. This shows that additional research is necessary to estimate the effect of ABA therapy in managing autism spectrum disorders. In addition, the current evidence reveals that ABA therapy may not be suited for the realities of globalization, and that changes are necessary in the application of the therapy with a focus on personalization for each client’s needs. Therefore, further research is required to apply primary research approaches in exploring the efficacy of ABA therapy in managing autism spectrum disorders among children Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder .

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References

Dixon, M.R., Paliliunas, D., Barron, B.F., Schmick, A.M., & Stanley, C.R. (2019). Randomized controlled trial evaluation of ABA content on IQ gains in children with autism. Journal of Behavioral Education, 30, 455-477. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-019-09344-7 

Kupferstein, H. (2018). Evidence of increased PTSD symptoms in autistics exposed to applied behavior analysis. Advances in Autism, 4(1), 19-29. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-08-2017-0016

Liao, Y., Dillenburger, K., & Buchanan, I. (2017). Does culture matter in ABA-based autism interventions? Parent and professional experiences in the UK and China. European Journal of Behavior Analysis, 19(1), 11–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/15021149.2017.1399657

Linstead, E., Dixon, D. R., Hong, E., Burns, C. O., French, R., Novack, M. N., & Granpeesheh, D. (2017). An evaluation of the effects of intensity and duration on outcomes across treatment domains for children with autism spectrum disorder. Translational psychiatry, 7(9), e1234. https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2017.207.

Makrygianni, M. K., Gena, A., Katoudi, S., & Galanis, P. (2018). The effectiveness of applied behavior analytic interventions for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A meta-analytic study. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 51, 18-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2018.03.006

Medavarapu, S., Marella, L. L., Sangem, A., & Kairam, R. (2019). Where is the Evidence? A Narrative Literature Review of the Treatment Modalities for Autism Spectrum Disorders. Cureus, 11(1), e3901. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.3901.

Portnova, G.V., Ivanova, O., & Proskurnina, E.V. (2020). Effects of EEG examination and ABA-therapy on resting-state EEG in children with low-functioning autism. AIMS Neuroscience, 7(2), 153-167. https://doi.org/10.3934/Neuroscience.2020011

Reichow, B., Hume, K., Barton, E. E., & Boyd, B. A. (2018). Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The Cochrane database of systematic reviews, 2018(5), CD009260. https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009260.pub3 Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Tiura, M., Kim, J., Detmers, D., & Baldi, H. (2017). Predictors of longitudinal ABA treatment outcomes for children with autism: A growth curve analysis. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 70, 185–197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2017.09.008 

Wang, Y., Kang, S., Ramirez, J., & Tarbox, J. (2019). Multilingual Diversity in the Field of Applied Behavior Analysis and Autism: A Brief Review and Discussion of Future Directions. Behavior Analysis in Practice, 12(4), 795-804. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40617-019-00382-1

Zhou, Y., Yin, H., Wang, M., & Wang, J. (2019). The effect of family-focused psychoeducational therapy for autism spectrum disorder children’s parents on parenting self-efficacy and emotion. Archives of psychiatric nursing, 33(1), 17-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apnu.2018.08.002

Synthesis of Literature Assignment Instructions

Overview

Utilize the articles addressed in the literature matrix to write a synthesis of the research. You will only have 10 – 15 articles, but you should be able to draw some conclusions and form opinions about how the research could be used to make a practice change. It is important that students are able to not only analyze individual research studies, but to then see how the evidence on a topic “fits together”. This is beyond a simple literature review; it is looking at research as a whole and drawing conclusions.

Review the articles you’ve gathered and address the following:

  1. What are the overall strengths and weaknesses of the research studies?
  2. Where there any obvious gaps in the research (something that wasn’t addressed that really needed addressing)?
  3. Which studies had similar conclusions? How did these studies differ in terms of strength of design, level of evidence (using Melnyk classification system), number of subjects, usefulness for practice, and other pertinent aspects of research?
  4. Were there studies that had very different or contradictory results? Why do you think this is the case?
  5. What is your overall conclusion about what the research is concluding and using the evidence for a practice change?
  6. Anything else you found pertinent or noteworthy about the research studies you reviewed Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder .

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Keep in mind that this is a synthesis, so you don’t want to discuss research using a “shotgun” approach where you talk about research A, then research B, then research C, etc. This doesn’t demonstrate an understanding of the research as a whole. An example of an approach for synthesis might be research A & B reached similar conclusions while research C reached a different conclusion with a smaller sample size. You would then add your own conclusions/opinion, based on the whole of what the studies are telling you.

Instructions

  • This is a formal paper and should be written in narrative format, utilizing APA format per LU graduate level paper guidelines.
  • Please include a title page, abstract, and reference page.
  • Use headings to separate sections of your paper.
  • Clearly cite information from the research studies themselves and other sources used in evaluating them. Note that you may have several citations in one paragraph as you discuss different research studies.
  • A minimum of 5 pages is required, not including title, abstract, and reference pages.

Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool

Applied Behavioral Analysis Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder