Effects of a modified milieu therapy intervention on the social communicative behaviors of young children with autism spectrum disorders.
Parents can run milieu therapy plus FCT at home to cut problem behavior and grow useful words in preschoolers with autism.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three preschool kids with autism got parent-led therapy at home.
Parents mixed milieu teaching with functional communication training.
The team watched problem behavior and useful words before, during, and after.
What they found
Problem behavior dropped and useful words rose for every child.
Gains moved to the classroom and stayed high weeks later.
Parents kept the plan running with no extra coaching.
How this fits with other research
Blair et al. (2025) pooled 34 kids and found the same big drop in problem behavior.
Their meta says school beats home; Richmond shows home still works when you add milieu steps.
Staddon et al. (2002) added a family-context quiz first; Richmond skipped that step yet still kept parents on track.
Banerjee et al. (2022) later proved bilingual kids need two-language FCT; Richmond’s single-language plan fits only monolingual homes.
Why it matters
You can hand parents a short milieu-plus-FCT script and see safer, clearer kids in two settings.
No extra gear or long parent classes are needed.
Try it when you want a low-cost first step before moving services to school.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the effectiveness of combining milieu therapy and functional communication training (FCT)] to replace aberrant behavior with functional communicative skills in 3 male preschool or elementary aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Study activities were conducted in the natural environments of the participants and parents acted as change agents. A concurrent multiple baseline design across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the modified milieu therapy intervention. Results indicate that aberrant behavior decreased concurrent with an increase in total percentage of communication responses (PCR). The children maintained communication and low rates of aberrant behavior, and generalized their communication from the home to the classroom. A discussion of limitations and future research directions is included.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2009 · doi:10.1007/s10803-008-0613-3