Objectives: This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of the early support program in Japan for 2-year-old children with ASD.
Methods: The participants were thirty-four children, who were identified throughout routine health checkups and were diagnosed with ASD when they were between 20 and 31 months of age (mean = 24.6 months). They were provided the community-based early support program for 1 year, which was conducted for 2 hours per 1–2 weeks and characterized by its eclectic nature and which required parents’ participation. Children underwent evaluations pre-intervention and after 1 year of intervention.These evaluations included the assessment of developmental functioning (the Kyoto Scale of Psychological Development (Kyoto Scale) and the Enjoji Analytic Developmental Scale (Enjoji)) and ASD symptoms (ADI-R and ADOS).
Results: The outcomes exhibited a significant improvement in both developmental functioning and autistic symptoms.Significant progress was noted in the developmental quotient of language and the social domain of the Kyoto Scale after 1 year of intervention. Further, the social interaction domain scores of both ADI-R and ADOS showed significantly improvement. In addition, communication domain scores and severity scores of ADOS demonstrated significant progress. Moreover, children with repetitive behavior at 2 years of age showed significant reduction in some items of the repetitive domain in ADOS and ADI-R.
Conclusions: These findings emphasize the importance of early detection and early intervention for children with ASD.
See more of: Treatments: A: Social Skills; School, Teachers
See more of: Prevalence, Risk factors & Intervention