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Current Practices in Early Intervention for Children with Autism

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Preschool Issues in Autism

Abstract

Over the last 20 years, there has been a veritable explosion in the growth of early intervention programs for young children with handicaps. Starting from a few demonstration programs in the 1960s, to more systematic work in the 1970s, to more data-based replications and encouraging outcomes in the 1980s, we have witnessed a steady increase in the quality and the documented effectiveness of many such programs. This trend has been paralleled by a proliferation of edited books (e.g., Bickman & Weatherford, 1986; Guralnick & Bennett, 1987; Odom & Karnes, 1988), special issues of journals (e.g., Dunst, McWilliam, & Trivette, 1985; Fewell, 1985), and a myriad of reviews on the overall “effectiveness of early intervention” (e.g., Bricker, Bailey, & Bruder, 1984; Bryant & Ramey, 1987; Casto & Mastropieri, 1986; Dunst & Rheingrover, 1981; Farran, 1990; Ferry, 1981; Simeonsson, Cooper, & Schiener, 1982). Reviews have discussed issues pertaining to the efficacy of early services for children across the diagnostic spectrum, including those with general cognitive delays (Guralnick & Bricker, 1987), Down syndrome (Gibson & Fields, 1984), hearing impairments (Meadow-Orlans, 1987), organic handicaps (Dunst & Rheingrover, 1981), children at risk for developing handicaps (White & Casto, 1984), as well as those with autism (Simeonsson, Olley, & Rosenthal, 1987).

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Olley, J.G., Robbins, F.R., Morelli-Robbins, M. (1993). Current Practices in Early Intervention for Children with Autism. In: Schopler, E., van Bourgondien, M.E., Bristol, M.M. (eds) Preschool Issues in Autism. Current Issues in Autism. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2441-4_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2441-4_11

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