EARLY INTERVENTION PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a life-long neurodevelopmental disorder characterised by impairments in social interaction, verbal and non-verbal communication, and a restricted repertoire of activities and interests. Participants were parents of 25 children two-to-six years with a DSM-V- diagnosis of Autistic Disorder, made by a psychiatrist, who were attending an Autism Specific Early Learning and Care Centre in Tirana, Albania. Exclusion criteria applied were known neurodevelopmental (e.g., Fragile X Syndrome) or neurological (e.g., epilepsy) disorders, and significant vision, hearing, motor or physical problems. The mean age of children at the time of study commencement was 60.2 months (SD 5.9, range: 24-to-110 months) and 21 (84%) were male. The mean age of the participating children’s mothers was 37.4 years (SD 6.3, range: 26-to-53 years). Our data provide evidence that the inclusion of parents in the treatment provision leads to lasting child behavior changes, and the implementation of intensive and continuous parent training and supervision reliably achieves parent treatment fidelity which, in turn, facilitates the children’s progress. There was a substantial improvement of DASS IFS and challenging beahaviour of parents after ABA treatment. Such results provide important scientific and clinical information on parental and treatment factors likely to affect a child’s response to treatment.