Long Term Stability of the Effects of Intensive ABA Intervention in Young Children with ASD in Italy

Background: Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) show dramatic improvements thanks to intensive and early Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) intervention (Howlin, 1998). Despite the great deal of knowledge about early intervention programs in Autistic Spectrum Disorders, the longitudinal studies about the long term stabilities of intensive A.B.A. intervention in young children with autism in Italy are still rare. Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the long term stability over 4 yrs of an ABA early intensive intervetion (ABA-int), an ABA non intensive intervention (ABA-non int) and an Eclectic intervention on the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS) scores and on the Leiter-R scores in ASDs in Italy. Methods: 45 participants with ASD (34 M; 11 F; aver.chron.age=7;8 yrs;ds:2;8; aver.IQ=69; DS=24), divided at the beginning of the study in three groups of intervention: ABA-int intervention group (10 hrs of DTT, 5 hrs of speech therapy a week); ABA-non int intervention group (5 hrs of DTT, 2 hrs of speech therapy a week); Eclectic intervention group. The participants were tested with the VABS and with the Leiter four times ones a year (t1 to t4). At the end of the study, all the participants got an ABA non-intensive intervention or an eclectic intervention. Results: The IQ scores increased significantly over the four yrs (F=4,87;df=6;p<0,05) in the ABA-int intervention group (t1= 53.7; t2=79,5; t3=86.7; t4=74.5) and in the ABA-non int intervention group (t1= 55.78; t2=62; t3=67,7; t4=64,4) but not in the eclectic group (t1= 79.50; t2=72.50; t3=69.89; t4=69,33). Also the VABS scores increased significantly (F=2.6;df=3;p<0,05) in the ABA-int intervention group (t1= 1;4; t2=2;6; t3=3; t4=4) and in the ABA-non int intervention group (t1= 3;1; t2=4;5; t3=5;3; t4=4;6) but not in the eclectic intervention group (t1= 5;4; t2=5;11; t3=5;9; t4=4;3). Conclusions: The results highlight a robust long term effects of ABA-int early intervention in ASDs on IQ and on adaptive skills as well as an important effect of ABA-non int intervention on the same domains, supporting the efficacy of evidence based evaluation of these programs in Italy.