Why do autistic behaviours improve with intervention?

[nikos]

Ds has a provisional dx of Aspergers and I've been doing a communication course for children with ASD's. I'm trying to take in a lot of info in a short space of time, but one of the things I find difficult to make sense of is the developmental nature of ASD's.
On the course they say that early intervention is hugely important but what actually does this do? Are we retraining the brain with these techniques, teaching it to fire in new ways? Or is an adult with autism inherently the same as the child but just with the techniques to make life work? Can we actually remodel the brain with the early intervention?
Hope this isn't too clumsy, does anyone know what I mean?

I think there is pretty strong evidence (from MRI studies etc.) that behavioural interventions can alter brain architecture and function in autistic individuals, especially when started early.

I just read an article by Eric Courchesne where he says:

"In autism, then, excess local, but disordered, maps may win out over global representational maps, thereby skewing the kind of information most readily attended to, processed, and acted upon. Evidence and this model nonetheless indicate that largescale socio-emotional and language networks can be engaged in many autistic individuals, albeit with greater than normal difficulty. Though strongly skewed away from being spontaneously prepared to attend, process, and react to social information, the diminished functional coherence in such networks may not preclude effective activation, particularly in individuals with less excess of neurons. The challenge then is to identify at-risk infants and toddlers and start them on treatment protocols that maximally engage and reinforce the functioning of these critical large-scale networks. Neurobiological studies of autism in the first years of life offer great hope for making progress in understanding how early neural patterning abnormalities at the local and global level of organization arise and what biological as well as behavioral interventions may improve developmental outcome."

I think the other issue is that many autistic children cannot learn without being actively taught. DS1 didn't learn to imitate until he was 7 (which he was taught by intervention- it didn't just develop). Without an ability to imitate you can't learn anything from watching your environment. So for example we had to teach him to drink out of a cup hand over hand. We had to teach everything actively. So some sort of intervention was essential to allow him to develop at all.

DS2 and ds3 have learned so much by watching and copying and just interacting with their environment. They've effectively 'absorbed' loads of stuff that ds1 needed to be actively taught.

I think also behaviourally, if you get to them early enough, I believe you can change or retrain their habitual responses - eg we stopped our DS hitting through ABA therapy, plus we stopped some of his stims. A paed told me (not sure whether true or not) that the brain is literally "plastic" up until around 7, eg it can remoulded and new connections formed up till that stage.

Yurt - I read on another thread that you retrained into doing autism research. Have I got that right? I already have a research science degree (think you did too) can I ask what pathway you took and how difficult was it to get a job?

ancient - how did ABA stop the hitting, we have a real problem with this at the moment when ds is in a group environment.
The brain is truely amazing isn't it. Feel very lucky that no matter how traumatic dx is, we have a plan of action for ds when he is only 3.5.

Hi nikos - yes, although it's been rather long winded. I did a 2 year part time MSc in Psychological Research Methods, then looked for funding. I decided the easiest way would be to do a second PhD- so I've started that. The stipend is OK for a 2nd income and it;s very flexible.

There are other ways. The MSc's in ABA for example. If I'd clocked that I may have done that rather than the PRM one. I'm taking an online Floortime course next month as well.

Oh I drew up the project for the PhD and then we were going to submit for PhD funding and also funding where I would have been employed as a research assistant. the PhD came up (and I think was a better option for me).

I think its the same as with many disabilities the earlier the intervention & therapies the bigger the impact on the symptoms & the original severity dictate the effectiveness of any therapy
DS2 also has mild CP & therapy from birth helped him walk, the CP is mild so we have seen huge effects improving the flexibility & making the best of what we have.. the brain damage hasn't changed but the ability to use his legs was helped with therapy.

With his ASD,he has had to be taught, play, communication, choice, sensation & that change is OK, without this therapy the effects of his ASD would impact us all much more, not sure if it changes the structure of the brain, i'd always assumed the damage remains constant but he has to be taught (with varying success) the missing bits.

Not based on any research just my naive understanding, so this thread is interesting reading

Yes mymate, it's not easy to interpret from what I've read whether the brain actually reprogrammes with intervention or something else. Just find it interesting- after all there are a great many conditions where the brain is injured and retrains itself to make up for the damaged bits.

Yurt - there is an MA in Autism near where we live so I thought about that. Are there any other courses you know of? I love studying me . Would be a student for the rest of my life if I could.

I think that's what I'm aiming for.....

There's the Birmingham one - but I suspect that's the one you might mean. Sheffield do something interesting in Human Communication as well. I looked at that one before deciding on PRM. I think it is good to do one close by if possible.

Nikos, hi, I'm doing the MSc in ABA at Bangor and it is enormously rewarding (I am a SALT in this field)

It is p/t and we have students from as far away as Worcester who drive up for once weekly lectures. Quite a few are parents of Autisitc children who have seen their children really come on through using ABA.Some have even set up theri own companies.

We also have weekly video links to distance learning sites in Yorkshire,Belfast (quite a few people drive up from the Republic for that) and Jersey.

Sorry 'enormously rewarding' sounds so naff doesn't it?

I mean that it is bloody hard work but God,I have learnt a tonne of new stuff and get to try it out in my work as a SALT.

IT WORKS!!!!!!

Can anyone sum up for me what ABA is?

Moondog - would have loved to be a SALT but I'm too old now to train.

Here you are Nikos

ABA

How old are you?

Moondog - too much info for me to make sense of at the moment. Really would like to know how it works in practice though. Say you wanted to stop a behaviour like autistic shouting out, how would ABA work?
I'm in my mid forties

Hi PipinJo, do you mean the one by Harris/Delmolino? Sounded very interesting but I didn't manage to get hold of it unfortunately. As it turned out, nobody at the tribunal was remotely interested in research anyway...
ancient - I've also read that up to the age of 7 the brain is more malleable. The article I cited mentions the age of 2-4 as a critical period though, as apparently that is when the long-distance connections between brain regions that are so impaired in autism are formed. We started ABA at 3.4, so hopefully that was still early enough to steer DS's brain into the right direction...

Homsa, yes we started at around the same age so I think that was good - he has definitely made way way more progress than if we had just left him in the (so-called) autism specific nursery recommended by every paed I ever met! Nikos, for me ABA (or actually we use Verbal Behaviour, VB, a sub-set of ABA) is summed up as using the kid's own motivation to get him to talk/behave better, plus breaking everything down into tiny steps to teach him things. They also use aversive therapy, which is how we got rid of hitting. The first thing they taught him to do was to imitate - "do this [clap hands] and then he claps hands. Gradually he learned that "do this" means "copy what I do". That was one of the ways they got him to copy sounds too - "do this - baby" and then he copies and says "baby". Motivation example: they got me to lock up all DS's toys in a locked cupboard, then taught him to say something sounding like "open" before he could play with a toy. You'd do this again and again to improve clarity. On aversion, every time he hit we would wash his hair (my idea, they would prefer naughty step or time out, but I knew that he hated hairwash so much that it was the only thing strong enough to effect changes in his habitual behaviour). He has now (pretty much) stopped being aggressive as he has learned that it gets him a bad result. I felt very strongly about the need to eradicate this one, as it's the one thing which would have ruled him out of mainstream school, not to mention the fact that when he's 6 ft 5 and 20 years old, aggression could get him into real trouble in the outside world.

It really shows that there is no need to be afraid of dx, but that the earlier the better so that the most improvements can be made.

Just read an article by Eric C which said that 70% of children showing autistic traits between 2-3 years were showing no signs at 5-7 years. That's a really startling statistic. Could that be down to early intervention? Some of it will be down to overdiagnosis of ASD's but not that much.

That sounds like an interesting article - where is it published? I think it is true that the right educational approach as well as natural development can significantly benefit some ASD children. Natural development can be a factor for some children which is the basis for the false autism cure stories - 'My DS was 'cured' of autism by walnut leaf extract' etc when all that has really happened is that a higher functioning ASD child has developed over time.

So how do I start ABA - can I do it on my own or do I get someone to do it. Also ds is able to interact very well with family, he really only has problems in group settings- bad behaviour and aggression. Is ABA still suitable?

nikos my dd (4.5) is being assessed at the moment with possible Aspergers. She interacts pretty well with family but has problems in group settings ie at preschool is ok if one or two children with her but any more and she starts pushing andhitting.

DD has a very good vocabulary and expressive language, is an astounding reader and quite good at maths and numbers. She gets stressed at certain noises andputs her hand over her ears and gets aggressive and is extremely oppositional. This behaviour tends to be worse when she's been at preschool (behaviour more prevalent whislt at preschool) if shes been home for the hlidays her behaviour does improve as shes generally in a one to one situation.

Would ABA be suitable for her at all?