Autism is one of the most severe and disruptive of all childhood disorders - a level of disruption that of course lasts well into adulthood. With both genetic and environmental elements at work, autism (which affects boys at least three times more often than girls and is found in all races and throughout the world) is a communicative disorder that interferes with an individual's ability to form social relationships as well as to communicate with others.
The inability to communicate easily with others is devastating for many children with autism. Being disconnected from other members of the human community is always a difficult condition, but it is especially difficult to the young. An adult who finds himself or herself unable to communicate will already have established connections with other people.
But a child with autism often has the greatest possible difficulties communicating and so establishing those connections to begin with. It is often difficult for the child with autism to have a complete understanding not only of individual human relationships but of human society as a whole.
Behavioral modification models of treating autism, such as those that are discussed in this paper, provide a way of easing the communication barriers between those with autism and other people, thus allowing autistic children to build the kind of initial human connections when they are young that they will be able to build on later in life.
Although we have all heard of autism, we may not be entirely clear what the syndrome consists of, which is not surprising given the range of symptoms that different individuals manifest.
In general, those who suffer from autism exhibit a number of behaviors distinguished by dramatic and sometimes even violent symptoms. These behaviors are often so marked that prevent autistic children cannot be educated in traditional classrooms, which tends to further limit their chances to develop good communication skills. However, they can often be helped with a combination of special education classes and private therapy.
However, while it is true that special-education classrooms are often the best educational arena for autistic children, the autistic individual's behavior may make it difficult for him or her to be educated in any classroom and so to use the chances usually afforded by the classroom to learn communication skills.
Autistic behavior is primarily marked by significant, almost violent withdrawal from the social world and an extreme (again almost violent at times) aversion to entering the what be called the "social spaces" of others - generally that physical distance between people within which it is comfortable to hold a conversation. (This might also be seen as the range of easy human communication.)
Autism is also generally marked by a range of behaviors that may appear bizarre and quite frightening to those who are not familiar with the syndrome. These too limit the chances that an autistic child has to learn appropriate and effective communication skills.
Unfortunately, the communication problems that autistic children themselves have may be exacerbated in the special-education classrooms that they tend to be schooled in and in which other children do not themselves have sufficiently well-developed social skills to recognize the needs of the autistic child.
Paluszny (1979) bluntly summarizes autism as being characterized by "a lack of social relationship, a lack of communication abilities, persistent compulsive rituals, and resistance to change" (p. 1). These same attributes that make a sheltered learning environment necessary for the autistic child also tend to interfere with the practice that autistic children - more than most - need in acquiring and practicing communication.
In general, autistic children will not learn to communicate with others unless they undergo special training and therapy. Behavior modification models are generally considered to be the most effective against autism. This citation summarizes the effectiveness of behavioral modification in helping autistic children to acquire communication skills:
The Lovaas research did not evaluate the effectiveness of his behavior modification therapy against other intervention strategies. The comparison intervention used with the control group was the same type of behavior therapy, but less intensive (10 hours or less per week compared to 40 hours or more). Thus, it is possible that the intensity of the intervention was more important than the specific strategies used or behaviors targeted. In terms of short-term impact, there is some evidence that a "natural language paradigm (NLP)" as implemented by the Koegels and their colleagues may be more effective in enhancing language acquisition and interaction in children with autism than a more traditional behavior modification approach as described by Lovaas (1981). The NLP involves (1) use of functional stimulus...
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