English Research paper draft

Layne, C. M. (2007). Early Identification of Autism: Impications for Counselors. Journal of Counseling and Development , 110-114.

Layne discusses screening tools and diagnostic assessments used to identify autism in children around the age of 2. Layne also discusses the impact this diagnosis can have on families as well as counselors. She states autism “impairs language, social interactions, and play skills, as well as cognitive and adaptive functioning.” She proposes that 1 out of 166 children will be diagnosed with autism. She proposes and commends the diligence in early diagnosis stating it is more than likely due to the diligence of parents, clinicians, and teachers. Public awareness has helped as well and the fact that either autism is increasing, or clinicians are more apt to diagnose children with autism rather than another developmental disability.

Pulse International. (2012, Aug 14). Early Intervention has considerable impact on reducing symptoms and increasing child's ability to learn new skills.

An article by Pulse International quotes Prof. Mohamed Chetouani at a press conference on Monday, 23 July 2012. The article speaks of warning signs of autism characterized by social symptoms, communications deficits, and repetitive behaviors. The child should then be evaluated by specialized professionals so appropriate treatment can be initialized. The articles states, “Early intervention has considerable impact on reducing symptoms and increasing a child’s ability to learn new skills.” It was proposed that there are items in place to diagnose children with autism after the age of two, but “information on autism in the first two years of life is still scarce.” “Thus, credence should be given to parents’ intuition as they recognize, long before diagnosis, the pathological process through the interactive pattern with their child.”

Smith, T., & Eikeseth, S. (2011, Mar). O. Ivar Lovaas: Pioneer of applied behavior and intervention for children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders , 375.

T. Smith et al. speaks of O. Ivar Lovaas, a psychiatrist who “pioneered applied behavioral analytic (ABA) to decrease severe challenging behaviors and establish communicative language.” Lovaas researched and found that by teaching language to children who had communication delays and by doing so, found that language could help with other behavior such as social interactions. It was found that this concept helped children who had been diagnosed with autism. An experiment was performed with a girl named “Beth”, who had been diagnosed with autism. It was set that Lovaas would work with Beth 6 hours per day, 5 days a week. It was concluded by doing so, Lovaas could score these behaviors in real time and could develop a more thorough system. Positive reinforcement was necessary for success due to these children being sensitive to disappointment and consequences. It was challenged by other that this therapy did not make the children ”normal.” It was argued that by doing the therapy, children could develop normal abilities with isolated skills.

Petursdottir, A. I., & Carr, J. E. (2011). A Review of Recommendations for Sequencing Receptive and Expressive Language Instruction. Journal of Applied Bavavior Analysis , 859-76.

Petursdottir et al. argues that early intervention is key to helping children with autism succeed. It is noted that a “receptive-before expressive” sequence is key to early ABA therapies however, “ although a large body of research exists on teaching receptive and expressive language skills to individuals who have been diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities, few studies have attempted to compare directly the receptive-before-expressive sequence with other alternatives.” Nine studies were performed and found that it was just the reverse and that expressive appeared to be more efficient. It was argued that depending on a child’s age, expressive might work better than receptive. However, the other way may work depending on the child’s language ability.