03-12-2019 | Original Paper | Uitgave 3/2020
Trajectories of Evidence Based Treatment for School Children with Autism: What’s the Right Level for the Implementation?
- Tijdschrift:
-
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
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Uitgave 3/2020
- Auteurs:
- Victor Lushin, David Mandell, Rinad Beidas, Steven Marcus, Heather Nuske, Victor Kaploun, Max Seidman, Daphney Gaston, Jill Locke
Abstract
Evidence-based practices (EBP) for children with autism are under-used in special-education schools. No research compared child-level versus teacher-level influences on EBP use, which could guide implementation strategies. We derived longitudinal profiles of EBP receipt by children (N = 234) in 69 autism-support classrooms, over an academic year. We compared overall impacts of child-level and teacher-level factors on profile membership. Most children received little EBP throughout the year; however substantial subgroups received increasing, and decreasing, doses of EBP. Child-level and teacher-level factors contributed about equally to profile membership. Children’s autism symptoms and verbal ability, teachers’ EBP skills, training/experience, classroom support, class size, and implementation leadership climate predicted profile membership. Early identification of treatment profiles could facilitate targeted implementation strategies increasing EBP use.