Association for Behavior Analysis International

Despite rapid expansion of ABA services in Korea, treatment outcome studies are still very limited. In this presentation, few pilot studies are introduced to test effectiveness of diverse treatment programs provided at clinical settings in Korea. The first 2 presentations were re-testing the effectiveness of evidence-based interventions (e.g., EIBI and Behavioral Parent Training for challenging behaviors) in Korean setting. The last 2 presentations were establishing effectiveness of new treatment methods (e.g., ESDM for parents and computer based social skills training), whose effectiveness has not been demonstrated yet. Results from these studies are positive, though more efforts should be made to establish the effectiveness. Practical issues and clinical implications are discussed.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is an evidence-based treatment for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, studies on effectiveness of EIBI as well as its services for ASDs are rare in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of EIBI in Korea and to examine whether the effectiveness varies depending on intervention lengths. A total of 13 children with ASDs were divided into two groups, 6-month group (n=5) and 1-year group (n=8), based on EIBI duration. EIBI program was administered for 15 hours per week, and at 6-month intervals, changes of developmental level were measured using Psychoeducational Profile-Revised (PEP-R). Results revealed that developmental level significantly improved after EIBI. However, there were no significant differences in improvement level depending on EIBI lengths; developmental levels in both groups significantly increased. These findings emphasized the necessity of EIBI services for enhancing developmental level in young children with ASDs in Korea, irrespective of its lengths. Future studies with larger participant populations are recommended to generalize the result of this study.

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is an evidence-based treatment for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, studies on effectiveness of EIBI as well as its services for ASDs are rare in Korea. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of EIBI in Korea and to examine whether the effectiveness varies depending on intervention lengths. A total of 13 children with ASDs were divided into two groups, 6-month group (n=5) and 1-year group (n=8), based on EIBI duration. EIBI program was administered for 15 hours per week, and at 6-month intervals, changes of developmental level were measured using Psychoeducational Profile-Revised (PEP-R). Results revealed that developmental level significantly improved after EIBI. However, there were no significant differences in improvement level depending on EIBI lengths; developmental levels in both groups significantly increased. These findings emphasized the necessity of EIBI services for enhancing developmental level in young children with ASDs in Korea, irrespective of its lengths. Future studies with larger participant populations are recommended to generalize the result of this study.

Social cognition and face perception are the two major concepts explaining social deficits in children with ASD. Social skills training based on the social cognition studies is the most widely used treatment, yet it use has been rather limited due it its high cost and lack of experts. Thanks to recent technical advances, computer-aided intervention methods are introduced. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a computer-aided social skills program which was developed based on findings from both social cognition and facial perception studies. 'FaceA', a computer-based social skills training program for children with autism was developed, especially for improving eye contact and facial recognition. Nineteen children with autism participated in this program and their pre and post test scores of the four-computerized tasks which measure the attention to face and ability of facial recognition were administered. After the training, participants showed significant improvement on 2 recognition tasks measuring face identity, but no improvement was found in 2 tasks measuring attention to faces. These results indicate that the 'FaceA' is an effective training program to improve attending and identifying human face. The practical difficulties and concerns are further discussed.

The Early Start Denver Model (ESDM) is an early intervention program which uses behavioral approaches, focusing on cognitive and social development of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Previous studies reported that ESDM is effective for children with ASD, however effectiveness of ESDM delivered by parents who have the most interaction with child have not been well established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of ESDM parent training for social reciprocity of children with ASD. Three parents of children with ASD, aged 3 years participated in this study. Parent training was administered for 4 months by an ESDM certified trainer. Parents daily rated children social reciprocity including frequency of eye contact, language expression, and positive response, lasting time of physical play activity and toy play using DBC-M (Developmental Behavior Checklist-Monitoring chart). DBC-M data was summed monthly and the first and last month data was compared. The results showed that positive response increased in all three children and eye contact and toy play increased in two children compared to the first month. However, no improvement found on other behavioral measures. Results of this pilot study suggest that intensive ESDM parent training is potentially effective intervention for increasing social reciprocity of children with ASD. Further implications and limitations are discussed.