A follow-up study of early intensive behavioral intervention program for children with Autism in Syria

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 70 - 9
• Main Authors: Mounzer, Wissam, Stenhoff, Donald M., Alkhateeb, Jamal M., Al Khatib, Amal J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02-01-2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/181; 631/477/2811; Access to information; Autism; Autism Spectrum Disorder - diagnosis; Autism Spectrum Disorder - therapy; Autistic children; Autistic Disorder - therapy; Behavior modification; Behavior Therapy; Child; Children; Follow-Up Studies; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Intervention; Longitudinal studies; multidisciplinary; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Special education; Syria; Syria
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-27198-4

We examined the sustained effects of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) on 66 children with autism spectrum disorder who participated in the Future Center’s EIBI program. Children were assessed using the childhood autism rating scale (CARS), autism behavior checklist (ABC), and adaptive behavior scale (ABS-Arabic) 3 years after leaving the program. Continued positive effects were observed in several areas, including adaptive behavior and autism symptoms. However, participants’ social skills might have declined on the ABS-Arabic after service withdrawal. Additionally, a significant negative association (
p
 < .001) was found between participants’ performance on the CARS and the number of weekly trials. This is encouraging, given the lack of EIBI services and regional instability. Future research should increase the sample size and use a more rigorous design.