A recent scientific study finds Applied Behaviour Analysis is the best way to help autistic children, writes Adrienne Murphy

A new British scientific study which will be presented here this week says that an intervention known as Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the most-effective treatment for autism.

The research, conducted by Prof Bob Remington of the department of psychology at the University of Southampton, compares two methods of treatment for young children with autism: ABA intervention versus an eclectic treatment. The results, due to be published later this year, extend the findings of earlier, mainly American studies. They show clearly that children receiving ABA intervention do significantly better than children receiving eclectic treatment.

Prof Remington will speak publicly about his study for the first time in Ireland on Thursday at a conference in Trinity College, Dublin. In showing that ABA intervention is much more effective than eclectic treatment (which is the Irish Government's preferred option), Prof Remington's findings are likely to further fuel debate here about the effectiveness of Government policy in helping autism sufferers.

According to Prof Remington: "We had two groups of children with autism, aged between two-and-a-half and three-and-a-half years, who were treated for two years. One group of 23 children received early intensive ABA, while the comparative group of 21 received eclectic treatment.

"Before treatment, we measured intelligence, 'adaptive fuctioning' [ daily living skills, such as dressing and eating], language development, and early social-communication skills, such as eye contact, pointing and shared attention. At baseline the two groups didn't differ. After two years of treatment we found significant differences between them.

"The ABA intervention produced a significant difference in IQ. The group who received ABA had on average IQs that were higher than the other group by just under 15 points, a big leap when we consider that the average normal IQ is 100. There was a similar difference in daily living skills. Essentially, the children in the ABA group got smarter and became more well-adjusted in terms of daily living than the children in the eclectic group.

"There was also substantially more language development in the group that received ABA," adds Remington.

Other studies have shown that many children who receive intensive early ABA intervention are able to join mainstream schooling by the age of six or younger.

The challenging behaviours associated with autism, such as biting, punching, destructiveness, aggression, head-banging and other forms of self-injury, are the most distressing symptoms of autism for sufferers and their families. ABA, especially early intervention, is an empirically proven, highly effective treatment for these behaviours.

"These behaviours often have some communicative purpose that people just don't understand," says Prof Remington. "So people typically respond to challenging behaviour without understanding why it's occurring, which can make the behaviour worse over time and harder to eliminate.

"What you really need to do to eliminate challenging behaviour is to understand what function it is serving. Is the child trying to attract attention or escape from demands, or is the behaviour some kind of self-stimulation? That's where the science of behaviour is really important, because it's all about understanding behaviour before you try to change it.

"ABA is very effective for these sort of challenges, but its main focus is as a way of teaching a range of behaviours that allow the child to be more effective in terms of understanding the world and other people. It's based on individualised assessment, so each child's programme is tailored to their particular strengths and needs as those change over time.

"Raising IQ by 15 points," says Remington, "eliminating destructive or self-injurious behaviours, teaching independent living skills - that's all going to make a very substantial difference to the life of a child and their family.

"It's an expensive treatment, but the money invested early in the child's life is saved throughout their life as an adult, and there are studies to support this. The spending is all in education, but the savings are in social services and long-term care.

"People need to do some joined-up thinking to see the financial savings to be made in the long-term," adds Prof Remington.

Dr Geraldine Leader, chairwoman of the Psychological Society of Ireland's division of behaviour analysis and a lecturer in the department of psychology at NUI, Galway, will be addressing the subject of Government policy on autism treatment at the upcoming Trinity conference.

"There is a huge demand in Ireland for ABA intervention for children with autism," says Dr Leader. "The Government's policy is to open eclectic units around the country. Yet it's a fact that there is little or no scientific evidence supporting the eclectic model.

"There are hundreds of children with autism in Ireland who urgently need ABA intervention. What I think as a scientist is that if the Department is choosing to avoid ABA in favour of an eclectic approach for the treatment of autism, they're ignoring both parents' views and the empirical findings of international scientific research."

The first annual conference of the Psychological Society of Ireland's division of behaviour analysis is on Thursday at Trinity College, Dublin. For information, e-mail: geraldine.leader@nuigalway.ie