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Objectives: To examine changes in measures of child cognitive, language and behavioural functioning following 12 months of intervention in the NS EIBI model.
Methods: Fifty-six children with ASD below 6 years of age received up to 15 hours/week of 1-to-1 intervention for one year; parents also received training in PRT. Treatment fidelity was monitored. Independent research assessments were conducted at intervention start, and after 6 and 12 months; measures included both direct child assessment and parent report.
Results: Data are available for 53 children (mean age = 4.3 yrs; mean IQ estimate = 53.0, SD= 20.0), 43 of whom (40 males) have completed 12-month assessments. Significant mean gains were observed on estimated IQ (15.4 points), and on receptive and expressive language mental ages (14.4 and 13.3 months, respectively). Concurrently, significant decreases were seen in autism symptoms (Social Responsiveness Scale Total, 8.1 points), and other problem behaviours (CBCL Total, 8.4 points). Consistent with the focus of treatment, Vineland Communication domain standard scores increased significantly (7.9 points), whereas gains in other domains (except Motor) were significant but more modest. Magnitudes of gains were highly (and significantly) dependent on initial IQ for cognitive and language, but not for behavioural measures.
Conclusions: Children who received up to 15 hours/week of 1:1 PRT and whose parents were trained demonstrated substantial gains after one year of intervention. Results suggest that this less intensive ABA-based model enhances specific social-communication skills, as well as producing generalized change captured by IQ and behavioural measures.