Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri--Columbia, 2002. / "December 2002." Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 143-155). Also available on the Internet.

While there is considerable evidence that applied behaviour analysis (ABA) is an efficacious treatment for Autistic Disorder (AD) in a controlled research setting, the effectiveness of current applications of ABA in the South African context have not yet been established. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of an intensive ABA programme for a young child with AD. A single case study was conducted using a within-subject, repeated measures, evaluation design. The ABA treatment, an applied verbal behaviour version ofABA (AVB/ABA), was implemented by behaviour consultants and technicians at TRIAD (Therapy and Research in Autistic Disorders): a private centre in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, that specialises in the behavioural treatment of children with AD. The subject was a young boy, who was diagnosed with AD at the age of 21 months, initiated treatment at TRIAD at 22 month of age, and underwent 20 hours of treatment per week over a 22 month period. Cumulative outcome data across all learning domains was obtained using the standard outcome measure at the centre: the Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills (ABLLS). The ABLLS was administered by a senior behaviour consultant on five occasions, namely at baseline (i.e., at 0 months); at various intervals throughout the intervention (at 2,3, and 14 months); and in the final week of the study period (at 22 months). Results were tabulated and converted into linear graph format by the researcher. In addition, the caregiver was asked to rate the child's progress on a five point Likert scale as a means of establishing the social validity of the behaviour change. Visual inspection of the linear graphs revealed that the subject improved considerably across all ABLLS domains over the 22 month period and the child's caregiver rated that his behaviour had "significantly improved" since the onset of the intervention. In addition, at the end of the 22 month treatment period, the subject was enrolled in a mainstream school with the assistance of an aide and was engaging with same-age peers. The present study thus provides support for the effectiveness of the AVBIABA programme at TRIAD, contributes to the existing ABA outcome literature, and provides further evidence for the efficacy of the AVB approach to ABA. Furthermore, results confirm the role of predictor variables, such as age at onset, hours of treatment, skill acquisition rates, and parental involvement. Finally, given the gains made in the present study, it is suggested that the initial cost of intensive treatment may be economical in the long term. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2008.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Göteborg : Göteborgs universitet, 2007. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Tennessee Health Science Center, 2008. / Title from title page screen (viewed on January 29, 2009). Research advisor: J. Carolyn Graff, Ph.D. Document formatted into pages (v,111 p. : ill.). Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 79-97).

Diss. (sammanfattning) Lund : Lunds universitet, 2009.

Objetivo: Classificar crianças e adolescentes autistas segundo os critérios do Functional Communication Profile - Revised (FCP-R) e associar o seu resultado ao Perfil Funcional da Comunicação (PFC). Métodos: Foram selecionadas 50 crianças e adolescentes com idades entre 3 e 14 anos. As terapeutas desses indivíduos foram entrevistadas segundo o FCP-R e o PFC - Checklist e a avaliação do PFC foi realizada. Os sujeitos foram caracterizados e os dados associados a fim de verificar as possíveis interrelações. Resultados: O FCP-R identificou corretamente as dificuldades encontradas para os sujeitos, verificando os principais déficits nas áreas de comportamento, atenção/concentração, linguagem receptiva, linguagem expressiva e pragmática/social. Quando associado ao PFC e ao PFC-Checklist, podemos observar que o desempenho nestas áreas está diretamente associado ao desempenho na funcionalidade comunicativa - principalmente ao que se refere à interatividade e iniciativa comunicativa desses sujeitos. Discussão: Os dados obtidos concordam com os dados encontrados na literatura que evidenciam que os indivíduos autistas apresentam maiores dificuldades em relação ao comportamento, as habilidades de atenção e de concentração, às habilidades de linguagem e as habilidades pragmáticas e sociais, e observam ainda que quanto maior é esse prejuízo, maior é, também, a dificuldade em interagir. Conclusão: O uso de protocolos objetivos associados é de extrema importância para a prática clínica, o delineamento do atendimento terapêutico, a mensuração da evolução e para o desenvolvimento de pesquisas científicas. / Purpose: Classify children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) according to the criteria proposed by the Functional Communication Profile - Revised (FCP-R) and associate the results with the Functional Communicative Profile (FCP). Method: Subjects were 50 children and adolescents with ages varying from 3 to 14 years. The language therapists attending each of the subjects were interviewed to fill the FCP-R and the PFC-checklist (FCP-C) and the FCP was determined based on a video sample. The subjects were assessed and the results were compared in order to determine possible associations. Results: The FCP-R correctly identified the disorders presented by the subjects verifying the main deficits in the areas of behavior, attentiveness, receptive language, expressive language and pragmatic/social. When associated to the FCP and to the FCP-C it was possible to observe that the performance on these areas is directly associated to the communicative functionality especially in what refers to the subjects\' interactivity and communicative initiative. Discussion: Data obtained agree with studies that show evidence that ASD individuals have more communicative impairments than in the areas of behavior, attentiveness, language, and social and pragmatic abilities. It was also observed that more severe disorders are associated greater interaction inabilities. Conclusion: The combined use of different protocols is useful to the clinical practice, to the design of intervention programs, to the assessment of therapeutic results and to the development of scientific research.

Orientador: Adriana Lia Friszman de Laplane / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T18:29:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_MarianaValenteTeixeirada_M.pdf: 938453 bytes, checksum: 2fd62409922feb00e2f9b0e96e4f980a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: O termo "Transtorno do Espectro Autista" reflete diferentes graus de severidade em relação aos sintomas e é utilizado para se referir a pessoas com diagnósticos de Autismo, Síndrome de Asperger, Síndrome de Rett, TDI e TGD sem Outra Especificação. Por consistir em um transtorno que resulta em quadros severos e persistentes, com variações individuais, o TEA causa impacto relevante nas famílias, que precisam adaptar planos e expectativas às condições de desenvolvimento da criança, inclusive aqueles relacionados à escolarização. Devido a essas mesmas características, a inclusão desses indivíduos na escola regular torna-se difícil. O presente estudo tem como objetivo estudar a escolarização dos sujeitos com TEA no município de Campinas. Trata-se de um estudo descritivo que analisou os microdados do Censo Escolar do INEP, de 2009 a 2012, buscando identificar os alunos com TEA matriculados no município, bem como mapear as trajetórias de escolarização dos alunos com Autismo, por consistir no grupo mais numeroso dentre os que compõem o TEA. Também foram entrevistados 18 familiares de sujeitos com TEA que frequentavam uma instituição especializada do município, para conhecer as percepções das famílias em relação à trajetória escolar desses sujeitos. Os resultados apontam um decréscimo de matrículas de alunos com TEA no município nos anos estudados, sendo que a maioria desses alunos está matriculada no Ensino Regular, na etapa Ensino Fundamental, nas redes Estadual e Municipal, refere-se ao sexo masculino e não recebe AEE. Foram identificados diferentes tipos de trajetórias escolares: a mais frequente foi a trajetória parcial, em que as matrículas não aparecem em todos os anos do período analisado, sugerindo alto índice de evasão escolar desses alunos. Os depoimentos dos familiares, de maneira geral, apontam para a contribuição positiva da escola, porém indicam problemas como permissividade da escola para com os alunos com TEA e influência do grau de comprometimento do transtorno / Abstract: The term "Autism Spectrum Disorder" reflects different degrees of severity in symptoms and is used to refer to people with Autism diagnoses, Asperger's Syndrome, Rett Syndrome, TDI and PDD Not Otherwise Specified. ASD consists in a disorder that results in severe and persistent clinical picture with individual variations, causing significant impact on the families, who need to adapt plans and expectations to the child's development conditions, including those related to schooling. Due to such characteristics, the inclusion of these individuals in the regular school becomes difficult. This study aims to investigate the school process of individuals with ASD in Campinas. This is a descriptive study that analyzed the microdata from the INEP School Census, from 2009 to 2012, in order to identify students with ASD enrolled in the city, as well as map the school trajectories of students with Autism, by being the largest group among those included in ASD. 18 relatives of subjects with ASD attending a specialized institution in the city were interviewed to survey the perceptions of families about the school process of these individuals. The results show a decrease of enrolment of students with ASD in the city during the years studied. Most of these students are enrolled in Regular Education, at the elementary school stage in public schools; the male gender is prevalent and the majority of them do not receive specialized educational services. Different types of school careers have been identified: the most frequent was the partial trajectory, where enrolment does not appear in all years of the reporting period, suggesting high waiver rates. Statements of relatives, in general, show the positive contribution of school, however, they indicate problems such as school permissiveness towards students with ASD and influence of the degree of difficulties, due to the disorder / Mestrado / Interdisciplinaridade e Reabilitação / Mestra em Saúde, Interdisciplinaridade e Reabilitação

Orientadores: Maria de Lurdes Zanolli, Ivone Panhoca / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-27T01:24:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Monticelli_GlendaSaccomanoCastro_D.pdf: 866349 bytes, checksum: a79cfb64201f5f254d61636df5dcda16 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Na literatura sobre o autismo, frequentemente as diferenças atribuídas às crianças com este diagnóstico estão relacionadas aos prejuízos nas áreas de interação social, linguagem, comportamento e jogo simbólico, bem como aos graus de severidade do quadro clínico. Ressalta-se nesta pesquisa, a importância de se considerar não somente as dificuldades que tais sujeitos apresentam, mas também as diferenças e as possibilidades no que se refere aos interesses, habilidades, necessidades, desejos e experiências sociais singulares. Não se pretendeu, neste estudo, somente identificar as dificuldades de linguagem (comunicação não-verbal e verbal) e de interação social, bem como as relativas ao brincar, mas, principalmente, evidenciar as possibilidades de desenvolvimento em um ambiente terapêutico incentivador, que considere as peculiaridades de crianças com autismo e proporcione experiências interacionais e comunicativas significativas. Esta pesquisa qualitativa participante, então, teve como objetivo analisar os processos do brincar e de aquisição de linguagem de três crianças com autismo, a partir da mediação da terapeuta, em contexto lúdico. As crianças, duas do sexo feminino e uma do sexo masculino, com idades entre 3 e 4 anos, foram atendidas em grupo, em uma associação especializada no atendimento de pessoas com transtorno do espectro autista. A coleta de dados foi feita com a vídeo-gravação de sessões realizadas semanalmente pela pesquisadora-fonoaudióloga, a partir de uma abordagem nteracionista, com duração de quarenta e cinco minutos cada, durante o período de um ano. Os dados foram transcritos e, posteriormente, analisados de acordo com as premissas da análise microgenética. Foram apresentados em forma de episódios e os resultados mostraram que, a partir da mediação da terapeuta, as crianças passaram a atribuir funções aos brinquedos e a apresentar desenvolvimento de intenção comunicativa. Durante o processo de desenvolvimento do brincar apresentaram indícios de linguagem não-verbal e verbal para solicitar ou mostrar brinquedos, solucionar problemas ou, ainda, demonstrar necessidades e desejos. Observou-se, também, que, juntamente com a intenção comunicativa das crianças em contexto lúdico, foram surgindo indícios de experiências vivenciadas em seus meios sociais e adquiridas durante o processo terapêutico. Assim, pode-se concluir que as situações lúdicas mediadas pela terapeuta possibilitaram a construção de significados neste contexto, ampliando as oportunidades de vivências comunicativas destas crianças. / Abstract: In the literature about autism, the differences attributed to children with this diagnosis are frequently related to losses in the areas of social interaction, language, behavior, and symbolic games, as well as to the degrees of severity of the clinical picture. In this research it's been highlighted the importance of considering not only the difficulties that these subjects show but also the differences and the possibilities regarding their interests, abilities, needs, desires, and singular social experiences. In this study it was intended only to identify the language difficulties (non-verbal and verbal communication) and social interaction, as well as the difficulties related to playing, but mainly to point out the possibilities of development in an encouraging therapeutic environment that takes into account peculiarities of autistic children and provide meaningful communicative and interactive experiences. So, this participative quality research had as objective to analyze the playing and language acquisition processes of three children, under therapeutic mediation, in a ludic context. The children, two girls and a boy, ages between 3 and 4 years old, were received in group in an association specialized in treating people with autistic spectrum disorder. Data collection was done videotaping the sessions done weekly by the speech therapist-researcher, starting with an interactionist approach, each session lasting forty-five minutes, during a year. Data have been transcripted and afterwards they have been analyzed according to the premises of micro genetics analyzis. They have been presented in an episode way and the results showed that from the therapist's mediation the children started to attribute functions to the toys and to present a development in the communicative intention. During the development process of playing they showed evidences of verbal and non-verbal language in order to request or show toys, to solve problems or even demonstrate needs and wants. It has been observed well that, together with the children's communicative intention in a ludic context, there have been arisen evidences of experiences lived in their social environment and acquired during the therapeutic process.Thus, it can be concluded that the ludic situations mediated by the therapist enabled them to build meanings in this context, enlarging the opportunities of communicative experiences of these children. / Doutorado / Saude da Criança e do Adolescente / Doutora em Ciências

Introduction This present research was a cross-sectional study examining the outcome and adjustment of 64 individuals at their early adulthood (18 to 28 years old).They all had normal intelligence but were diagnosed as having autism spectrum disorder (ASD) as children. / Method The participants of this study were recruited from a child psychiatric clinic or from the community. All were Chinese living in Hong Kong. All except five were males, aged from 18 to 28, with mean age at 21.7 years (SD=2.5). All had a full IQ score of 75 or above (mean full IQ was 96.4 (SD=13.1, range 75-129), verbal IQ 96.3 (SD=13.7, range 73-128) and performance IQ 97.3 (SD=14.7, range 72-139). They and/or their parents were administered a range of tests or interviews to assess their current outcome and adjustment at early adulthood. / Results and Discussion The participants of this study were under-achieved both in educational attainment and employment when compared to population age peers. 32% (21 out of 64) were found no longer meeting a diagnosis of autism in adulthood, but only seven participants out of the 32% fell below the clinical range in all three domains of autistic deficits. The majority still had impairment in at least one aspect of the triad of autistic deficits. Their intellectual functioning had been stable with a small increase in mean verbal IQ. The overall outcome in terms of a composite score consisting of work, friendship, independence, autistic-type stereotyped repetitive behaviours, and language use was relatively better than those of past studies in Western countries in that 42% had a 'good' outcome. It was argued however that the relatively positive outcome was attributed in part to the results of supportive and facilitative environmental factors such as a large labour market, a buoyant economy, and technological advances, including the mass availability of computers. The participants of this study also experienced more general psychological disturbances other than autism than the general population. Finally, as in previous Western studies, childhood IQ, especially verbal IQ, proved to be a robust predictor of adult outcome in most areas. Results of the present study confirm the findings of Western studies that despite improvement in some individuals at early adulthood, significant impairment still persisted for the majority, reconfirming that ASD as largely a chronic disorder. The need for services tailored to adult problems of autism was called for. / Poon Mak, Sui Man. / Adviser: Patrick Leung. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 72-11, Section: B, page: . / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 249-258). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Abstract also in Chinese; some appendices in Chinese.

Dificuldades pragmáticas podem ocorrer em diferentes transtornos da comunicação, desde aqueles em que a dificuldade vai além da comunicação social e afeta habilidades para manter relacionamentos e interesses variados, como no Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA), até alterações que afetam a compreensão e expressão linguística sem prejuízo intelectual ou sensorial, como no Distúrbio Específico de Linguagem (DEL). O estudo teve como objetivo investigar a eficácia de questionário sobre habilidades pragmáticas e comunicação social APLSC - na identificação de alterações pragmáticas de crianças com transtornos de comunicação. Foram selecionadas 40 crianças entre 3;0 e 6;11 anos, 10 com TEA, 10 com DEL e 20 com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem DTL (grupo comparativo). Os sujeitos foram seus pais e professores. Foi aplicado o questionário APLS (Assessment of Pragmatic Language and Social Communication: Parent and Professional Report Beta Research Version) sobre comunicação social e linguagem pragmática em pais e professores. Os 80 questionários foram submetidos à análise estatística descritiva, também foi utilizado o teste t paramétrico e os testes não-paramétricos de Kruskal-Wallis e de Mann-Whitney U, além da aplicação do One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test para verificar se os dados obedeciam à distribuição normal. Ainda. Os resultados indicaram pior desempenho das crianças com TEA em relação ao grupo comparativo, com diferença significante tanto na percepção dos pais como dos professores. Não houve diferença significante entre os grupos DEL e DTL, mas o grupo com DEL teve pior desempenho em relação aso seus pares comparativos. As respostas dos pais das crianças com TEA e DEL foram comparadas, havendo diferença significante. Quanto às respostas dos professores, o grupo DEL apresentou maior pontuação em relação ao grupo TEA. A comparação das respostas dos pais e dos professores das crianças com TEA, DEL e DTL não indicou diferença significante. Concluindo, crianças com TEA apresentaram prejuízos mais significativos nas habilidades pragmáticas e sociais em relação às crianças DEL, e tanto as com TEA como as com DEL apresentaram maiores limitações nestas habilidades em relação aquelas com desenvolvimento típico de linguagem. Desta forma, o questionário APLSC mostrou-se sensível à investigação pragmática de acordo com o esperado para cada grupo de sujeitos. Considerando as perguntas feitas para pais e professores do questionário, a percepção de ambos se mostrou semelhante. / Pragmatic language impairments may occur in different communication disorders. They include from those cases as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in which the difficulty extrapolates the social communication and affects skills concerning maintaining relationships and various interests to cases which alterations affect the understanding and linguistic expression without intellectual disability or sensory impairments as Specific Language Impairment (SLI).The study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of questionnaires about pragmatic language and social communication skills, known as APLSC, concerning the identification of pragmatic alterations in children with communication disorders. In this benchmarking research, 40 children between the ages of three to six years and 11 months old were selected comprising 10 cases with ASD, 10 cases with SLI and, 20 cases with Typically Developing Language (TDL) as reference group. There was the application of APLS questionnaire (Assessment of Pragmatic Language and Social Communication: Parent and Professional Report Beta Research Version) to parents and teachers as investigations subjects. The 80 questionnaires were submitted to the analysis based on descriptive statistics. Besides, the parametric t-test, the non-parametric tests developed by Kruskal-Wallis and by Mann-Whitney U and the application of One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test were used to verify whether the data followed the normal distribution. The results indicated that children with ASD presented worse performance in relation to the reference group showing significant difference both in terms of the parents and teachers perception. There was no significant difference between SLI and TDL groups. However, the group with SLI presented worse performance in relation to their pairwise comparison. The answer of parents of children with ASD and those parents of children with SLI were compared and showed significant difference. Concerning the answers from teachers, the SLI group presented higher score compared to the ASD group. There was no significant difference regarding the comparison of answers elaborated by parents and by teachers of children with ASD, SLI and TDL. In conclusion, children with ASD presented disorders more significant in pragmatic and social skills in relation to the children with SLI. Besides, both the ASD and the SLI group presented more limitations concerning these skills than the results presented by the group with Typically Developing Language. Therefore, the APLSC questionnaire proved its responsiveness to the pragmatic investigation according to the results expected to each groups of subjects. Regarding the questions asked to the investigations subjects of this questionnaire, there were similarities of perception between parents and teachers.