Though one in 150 children are diagnosed with autism, most insurance companies don't help provide for those with autism, according to James Sherman, Ph.D., professor of applied behavioral science.
Only in the past 10 to 12 years have states started funding.
"I don't care what end of the autism spectrum you're kid is on - higher functioning or lower functioning - there is a long, tough road ahead of you," Sherman said.
This "long, tough road" of caring for a child with autism costs anywhere from $3.5 million to $5 million dollars in a lifetime, according to the Autism Society of America, but a new program offered on the KU campus may help this "tough road" become a little easier.
The program will join two existing programs in the Early Childhood Autism Program at the Dole Human Development Center and will target children with autism who display severe behavioral disorders.
Claudia Dozier, Ph.D., assistant professor of applied behavioral science, will help to supervise this new program, which will start in the summer of 2009.
James Sherman, Ph.D., talks about early intensive intervention programs.
Undergraduate and graduate students will work with a group of four children for about 30 hours a week to assess and treat them with skill acquisition. This means helping them learn things like functional skills or better communication through either vocal representation, sign language or picture-exchange communication depending on the child.
"Because children with autism don't normally seek interaction between people, their learning might be impeded," Dozier said. "Sometimes people feel like they have to use food or toys as praise instead of social reinforcement."
Dozier, who was hired to the KU faculty for her autism expertise said that often times children with autism displaying severe behavioral disorders can be self-injurious or harmful to other children, an isolating characteristic.
"The goal is not to keep these kids in our classroom forever," she said. "It's getting them to the point to function in a regular or slight modified environment."
Another goal of this program is to eventually develop an assessment tool to see what is best for these children in terms of learning and evolving, Dozier said.
KU students studying applied behavioral science will help with this process.
Undergraduate students are required to take two semesters of practicum. Those who choose to take the autism practicum work with the students under the supervision of the graduate students.
The two existing early intensive intervention programs for children with autism include a one-on-one program and a social skills program.
- Some facts about autism
- One in 150 people in America are diagnosed with autism.
- The annual cost of autism services nationally is $90 billion.
- Adult services are 90 percent of those costs.
- Early diagnosis with intervention can decrease costs of services by two-thirds.
- The estimated national annual cost in 2016 will be $200 to $400 billion.
Source: Autism Society of America
Justin Leaf, Long Beach, Calif. graduate student and co-director of the autism social skills group along with Wes Dotson, Broken Arrow, Okla. Graduate teaching assistant..
Though neither Leaf nor Dotson will be directly working in the new program, Dozier said that she hopes the program would act as a "continuation" into the existing programs.
Traditional applied behavioral analysis, Leaf said, was originally very rigid without an emphasis on what to do if extreme behaviors occurred. Contemporary behavior analysis, which is what is currently used and will be used in the new program,is more flexible and therefore, beneficial.
"With programs different for every kid, we can try to make everything individualized for each student," he said.
Dotson said he believed that the new program would offer the best outcome for children.
He said often times children with autism displaying behavioral problems are looked over for early intensive programs because of their extreme behaviors.
The Early Childhood Autism Program will also be better rounded in the services it offers, he said.
"This is a win-win situation," Dotson said. "Although there is not a lot of funding, we can still offer a program for those that maybe have been looked over."
Early intensive intervention programs, such as what the ECAP offers, have empirical data showing that they actually help children with autism, an important aspect to autism treatments, Sherman said.
"The theory of autism treatment is so full of fads," Sherman said. "If there were empirical evidence that swimming with dolphins could help children with autism, I'd be building a pool."
Most importantly, Dozier said that the new program would offer the Lawrence community a much-needed service.
Dotson said he agrees that the community, along with KU students conducting research, would benefit from the new program as well as the other two.
"I love the applied behavioral science department here at KU," he said. "I love the aspect that this department focuses on spreading the knowledge of training."
Leave a comment