Effects of early intervention on ABLA-R scores in children with autism spectrum disorder

Abstract

The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities, revised (ABLA-R; Kerr et al., 1977) tests fundamental visual and audio/visual discrimination skills. There is little research on the progression of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) through the ABLA-R levels and even less data on the effects of Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention (EIBI) on ABLA-R progress. The present study compares groups of children with ASD, aged 2-5 years, to examine the effects of EIBI and age on ABLA-R outcomes. I evaluated retrospective ABLA-R scores at two time points in children who participated in two different EIBI programs offered by St.Amant. There was no significant difference in pre- or post-intervention scores between groups. A separate analysis of age progression through the ABLA-R showed no statistically significant difference between ages. Results of this study demonstrate that more intensive interventions do not necessarily lead to better ABLA-R scores, a finding that carries clinical significance.