Brief report: progress reported in three children with autism using daily life therapy

Abstract

These observational data reflect the school's emphasis in its first few years. Through sharing these results with colleagues at the school and others familiar with the curriculum, additional informal validity was achieved. From this study, it stands out that several important areas of Daily Life Therapy are worthy of greater attention. There is a need to continue observing the progress of children enrolled. Long-term learning in the areas of academics, behavior, and language has not yet been studied. If, indeed, it takes several years to induce changes in the biobehavioral states of children with autism, then these three children should experience an increase in skill acquisition over the next few years. However, the lack of progress in the area noted was disturbing at the time of data collection. These observational results vary tremendously with the type of evaluation and progress reports which are standard procedure as part of the Daily Life Therapy program. In Tokyo, Kitahara had developed her own method of evaluating students, a form called "Standards to Measure the Degree of Autism." At the time of this study, this was still used with each entrant to the school. Japanese and American educators at the school might disagree with the analytic and behavioral style of observations used in this study. Trying to evaluate progress in a Japanese style school using American behavioral procedures was a complicated undertaking, one deserving a more complete review. Some of these intercultural differences are examined elsewhere in an article written collaboratively by a group of American and Japanese educators (Gurry et al., 1996). This study indicates that Daily Life Therapy may have some strengths which are worthy of educators' attention. Educators need to know which treatment might be expected to influence maintenance and generalization as well as acquisition of skills in particular populations of students in order to effectively and propitiously manipulate instructional elements (Donellan & Mirenda, 1983). When making a decision about where to educate children with autism, parents and professionals in the United States and internationally deserve the most complete and honest data. Only then can parents make well-informed decisions about the best educational program for their child.