Monthly Archive for April, 2011

CCBD 2011 conference call for papers

Published on 29 April 2011 in News, Professsional development and The press. 0 Comments Tags: , .

The Council for Children with Behavior Disorders of the Council for Exceptional Children has issued a call for proposals for its pending conference scheduled for the fall of 2011. The meeting is slated for 22-24 September in New Orleans (LA, US). Here’s is the announcement.

Facing the Future – Building on the Past: Celebrating CCBD’s 50th Anniversary
September 22-24, 2011 New Orleans, LA
Join us this in New Orleans this Fall for a professional conference highlighting effective practices for continuing to improve outcomes for challenging students. The conference has been developed for professionals, students and parents who have an interest in education, mental health, juvenile justice or related fields.

For conference information including the call for proposals, registration, hotel reservations and marketing opportunities:

Call for proposals open now on line until June 1.

Featured topics will include:
· Assessment
· Autism Spectrum Disorders
· Bullying, Aggression & Safe Schools
· Classroom Management
· Collaboration & Co-teaching
· Dropout Prevention & Preparing for Adult Life (Transition)
· Early Intervention
· Ethical Issues in the Schools
· Juvenile Justice
· Law & Legal Issues
· Leadership – Making a Difference in Schools
· Professional Development
· Research – Current & Future Directions
· School-based Mental Health
· Social Emotional Learning
· Special Education in Alternative/Special Schools
· Teaching Core Academics

Additional information about the conference will be posted later at this site.

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New review of early intervention in Autism from Pediatrics

Published on 20 April 2011 in Autism, News, Research, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Zachary Warren and colleagues from Vanderbilt University published a review of 34 studies of early intervention efforts with children who have Autism in Pediatrics in April of 2011. The authors interpret their results as providing tempered supported for the the early intervention methods often described as “UCLA,” “Lovaas–based,” “EIBI,” or the “Early Start Denver Model.” Here is the abstract.

A Systematic Review of Early Intensive Intervention for Autism Spectrum Disorders
by
Zachary Warren, Melissa L. McPheeters, Nila Sathe, Jennifer H. Foss-Feig, Allison Glasser and Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

CONTEXT: Early intensive behavioral and developmental interventions for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) may enhance developmental outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review evidence regarding such interventions for children aged 12 and younger with ASDs.

METHODS: We searched Medline, PsycINFO, and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) from 2000 to May 2010. Two reviewers independently assessed studies against predetermined inclusion/ exclusion criteria. Two reviewers independently extracted data regarding participant and intervention characteristics, assessment techniques, and outcomes and assigned overall quality and strength-of evidence ratings using predetermined criteria.

RESULTS: Thirty-four unique studies met inclusion criteria. Seventeen studies were case series; 2 were randomized controlled trials. We rated 1 study as good quality, 10 as fair quality, and 23 as poor quality. The strength of the evidence overall ranged from insufficient to low. Studies of University of California Los Angeles/Lovaas–based interventions and variants reported clinically significant gains in language and cognitive skills in some children, as did 1 randomized controlled trial of an early intensive developmental intervention approach (the Early Start Denver Model). Specific parent-training approaches yielded gains in short-term language function and some challenging behaviors. Data suggest that subgroups of children displayed more prominent gains across studies, but participant characteristics associated with greater gains are not well understood.

CONCLUSIONS: Studies of Lovaas-based approaches and early intensive behavioral intervention variants and the Early Start Denver Model resulted in some improvements in cognitive performance, language skills, and adaptive behavior skills in some young children with ASDs, although the literature is limited by methodologic concerns.

Warren, Z., McPheeters, M. L., Sathe, N., Foss-Feig, J. H., Glasser, A., & Veenstra-VaderWeele, J. (2011). A systematic review of early intensive intervention for autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 127, e1303–e1311. Published online Apr 4, 2011; DOI: 10.1542/peds.2011-0426

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Secretin still does not help

Published on 19 April 2011 in Autism, News, Research, The press and Treatment. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Shanthi Krishnaswami and colleagues examined the research about the effects of using secretin as a theraputic agent for the treatment of Autism. They found that there were none of the seven randomized controlled trials showed beneficial effects and, therefore, concluded that secretin does not merit consideration as a therapy. Their finding, which employs rigorous methods, is consistent with earlier analyses that examined more preliminary research and which I have reported previously (as far back as the 1990s).

A Systematic Review of Secretin for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
by
Shanthi Krishnaswami, Melissa L. McPheeters and Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

CONTEXT: As many as 1 in every 110 children in the United States has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Secretin is 1 of many medical treatments studied for treating the symptoms of ASDs, but there is currently no consensus regarding which interventions are most effective.

OBJECTIVE: To systematically review evidence regarding the use of secretin in children with ASDs who are aged 12 years and younger.

METHODS: We searched the Medline, PsycINFO, and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) databases from 2000 to May 2010 and reference lists of included articles. Two reviewers independently assessed each study against predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Two reviewers independently extracted data regarding participant and intervention characteristics, assessment techniques, and outcomes and assigned overall quality and strength-of-evidence ratings on the basis of predetermined criteria.

RESULTS: Evidence from 7 randomized controlled trials supports a lack of effectiveness of secretin for the treatment of ASD symptoms including language and communication impairment, symptom severity, and cognitive and social skill deficits. No studies have resulted in significantly greater improvements in measures of language, cognition, or autistic symptoms when compared with placebo; study authors who reported improvement over time did so equally for both the intervention and placebo groups.

CONCLUSIONS: Secretin has been studied extensively in multiple randomized controlled trials, and there is clear evidence that it lacks benefit. The studies of secretin included in this review uniformly point to a lack of significant impact of secretin in the treatment of ASD symptoms. Given the high strength of evidence for a lack of effectiveness, secretin as a treatment approach for ASDs warrants no further study.

Krishnaswami, S., McPHeeters, M. L., & Veenstra-VanderWeele, J. (2011). A systematic review of secretin for children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics, 127, 1322-1325. DOI 10.1542/peds.2011-0428

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Autism awareness

Published on 2 April 2011 in Autism, News and Treatment. 1 Comment Tags: , , .

World Autism Awareness Day is upon us. Check on it!

While you’re thinking about the topic, learn a lot by watching Fred Volkmar’s presentation about interventions for Autism: “Treatments for Autism: Overview of Model Programs.”


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