Summer Treatment Program Reduces Symptoms in Children with High-Functioning Autism

A popular summer treatment program can be used to improve social performance and clinical symptoms of children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders (HFASDs), a new study says.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disorder that leads to significant social, communication and behavioral challenges. High-functioning autism (HFA) is a less severe form of ASD.  According to experts, people with HFA possess average or above-average intelligence. However, they display other behavioral problems and symptoms similar to ASD.

For the study, researchers Dr. Marcus L. Thomeer and Christopher Lopata from the Canisius College included 35 children, between seven and 12 years old, with HFASDs. Of the total participants, 17 received a five-week program of summerMax and 18 were taken as the control group. The treatment involved 20 minutes of skills instruction and a 50-minute therapeutic activity. A point system was used to strengthen positive social behaviors of the participants and to lower autism symptoms and negative behaviors. Apart from that, parents participated in weekly education programs.

At the end of the study, researchers found the treatment effective in decreasing autism symptoms. They found the program helping children in improving their non-literal language skills and social behaviors.

The findings showed that, "the children in treatment acquired new skills and social-cognitive understanding and translated those into effective social performance outside the treatment setting. This is an important finding as generalization of skills and behaviors beyond the treatment setting are a major obstacle for children with HFASDs," Thomeer said in a news release.

Apart from that, the investigators also noticed that the positive impact of the treatment lasted even months after the completion of the program.

"The follow-up measures allowed us to determine that the positive treatment effects on social performance continued to be present 2-3 months after the treatment ended," said Lopata. "Although not as robust as the social gains, the children in the treatment group also continued to show reduced autism symptoms."

The findings of the study have been published in the journal Psychology in the Schools.