Pilot study of a Parent training program for young children with autism The PLAY Project Home Consultation program by Richard Solomon, Jonathan Nechels, Courtney Ferch & David Bruckman Autism © 2007 SAGE Publications and The National Autistic Society Vol 11(3) 205–224

Sixty-eight children completed the 8–12 month program. Parents were encouraged to deliver 15 hours per week of 1:1 interaction. Pre/post ratings of videotapes by blindraters using the Functional Emotional Assessment Scale (FEAS) showed significant increases (p ≤ 0.0001) in child subscale scores. Translated clinically, 45.5 percent of children made good to very good functional developmental progress. There were no significant differences between parents in the FEAS subscale scores at either preor post intervention and all parents scored at levels suggesting they would be effective in working with their children. Overall satisfaction with PPHC was 90 percent. Average cost of intervention was $2500/year. Despite important limitations, this pilot study of The PLAY Project Home Consulting model suggests that the model has potential to be a cost-effective intervention for young children with autism.

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National Academy of Sciences Repor Excerpts from Engaging Autism Using the Floortime Approach to Help Children Relate, Communicate, and Think Stanley I. Greenspan, M.D., Serena Wieder, Ph.D. A Merloyd Lawrence Book Da Capo Lifelong Books A Member of the Perseus Books Group

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS), in its report“ Educating Children with Autism” (National Academy of Sciences, Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism, NRC, 2001), states that there is research support for a number of approaches, including DIR/Floortime and behavioral interventions, but that there are no proven “relationships between any particular intervention and children’s progress” (page 5) and “no adequate comparisons of different comprehensive treatments” (page 8). The report concludes that effective interventions vary depending on an individual child’s and family’s needs. The NAS analysis further indicates that behavioral interventions are moving toward naturalistic, spontaneous types of learning situations that follow the child’s interests, and note that “studies have reported that naturalistic approaches are more effective than traditional discrete trial at leading to generalization of language gains to natural contexts” (Koegel, Camarata, Valdez Menchaca, and Koegel, 1998; McGee, Krantz, and McClannahan, 1985).

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