25750
Preschool Early Intervention Outcomes in Different Community Based Settings
Objectives: To examine the main effects of receiving preschool early intervention in one of four educational settings that vary in their level of restrictiveness (Home, ASD-only, Mixed disability, or Inclusion).
Methods: Participants are 115 children with ASD (Mean age = 45.5 months, 80.9% Male, 46.1% Black/African American) that receive intervention services through a public preschool early intervention system. Participants are assessed at study enrollment and 9 months later with a standardized developmental assessment of cognitive and language skills (the Mullen Scales of Early Learning). Parents and teachers also completed questionnaires assessing the child’s adaptive behavior and social skills (Adaptive Behavior Assessment System- 2nd Edition; Social Skills Improvement System). Data collection and analysis are ongoing. Preliminary results based on 60 participants are presented below, using repeated measures ANCOVA to assess for changes over time by setting, controlling for baseline differences.
Results: Based on adjusted analyses, groups did not differ in their improvement over time in their cognitive, expressive or receptive language, adaptive behavior, or social skills (all ps ³ .3, ηp2s £ .08).
Conclusions: These results suggest preschoolers with ASD on average may make equivalent gains across different types of early intervention settings. These findings provide substance to the argument that inclusive settings are well suited for children with ASD, suggested that children can do as well in inclusive settings as segregated settings. Moderator analyses are planned to assess whether there are child characteristics associated with increased benefit from attending a particular type of setting.
See more of: Interventions - Non-pharmacologic - Preschool