The use of VB to prevent autism in high-risk infants and toddlers

December 7, 2006

I encourage you all to read the entire article at:

Barbera

How To Prevent Autism By Teaching At-Risk Infants And Toddlers To Talk

Philip W. Drash, Ph.D., BCBA Autism Early Intervention & Prevention

Center, Tampa, FL M. Tudor, Ph. D.

Westfield State College, Westfield, MA

In our recent publications (Drash & Tudor, 2004, 2004a) we presented

an analysis of autism as a contingency shaped disorder of verbal behavior.

This analysis explained how some cases of autism might begin to be shaped in

at-risk children by environmental contingencies of reinforcement occurring

during the first year to two years of a child's life.

Our analysis of autism further indicated that one of the key factors

in preventing many cases of autism might be to shape age-appropriate verbal

and social behavior during the first year to two years of an at-risk child's

life before autistic behaviors can be firmly established and thus prevent

the acquisition of an autistic behavior repertoire (Drash, 2004).

Last year we (Drash & Tudor, 2005) presented data showing that this

prevention approach resulted in the acquisition of normal or near normal

language and behavioral repertoires in five young children at risk for

autism ranging in initial age from 14 months to 2 years, 10 months. All

five children are now functioning in the normal range and none is any longer

at risk for autism.

The present paper extends these findings to children as young as 8

months and demonstrates the effectiveness of using ABA verbal behavior

procedures to prevent autistic behavior repertoires by teaching verbal and

social behavior to infants and toddlers at high-risk for serious language

delay and/or autism.

This paper will present and discuss verbal behavior therapy techniques

and procedures for teaching nonverbal and at-risk infants and toddlers to

talk. Illustrative cases ranging in age from eight months to sixteen months

will be presented and discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to answer two critical and longstanding

questions in the treatment of autism. These are:

Can autism be prevented?

If autism can be prevented, how can this be done?

.. . .

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