Impact of Applied Behavior Analysis on Autistic Children Target Behaviors: A Replication Using Repeated Measures.
One month of everyday ABA gives autistic kids measurable gains on their own target behaviors.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team looked back at 98 clinic charts of autistic kids. Each child got one month of full ABA programs. The study asked: did the kids’ personal target behaviors improve?
No control group. Just before-and-after scores on each child’s own goals.
What they found
Every child showed clear gains on their chosen targets after four weeks. The jumps were big enough to pass the stats test.
How this fits with other research
Sappok et al. (2024) ran almost the same study and got the same good news. One used broad ABA, the other used discrete-trial style. Both saw the same one-month boost.
Fernell et al. (2011) looked at 208 Swedish preschoolers and saw no extra win for high-intensity ABA over low-intensity. That seems opposite, but they tracked kids for two years and used different skill tests. Short-term target gains can look rosy while broad adaptive scores stay flat.
Garikipati et al. (2024) stretched the idea further. They showed parents, not just clinic staff, can drive the same skill jumps if they get enough training.
Why it matters
You can tell funders and parents that even four weeks of steady ABA moves the needle on a child’s own goals. If a family worries about “intensity wars,” show them the Elisabeth data: more hours did not beat fewer hours over the long haul. Use quick baseline probes and celebrate small four-week wins to keep everyone motivated.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
<h4>Introduction</h4>Applied behavior analysis (ABA) is a primary evidence-based practice in treating autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Ongoing research is needed to report the results of ABA relative to attaining target behaviors. This study aims to replicate the results of previous research to determine the effectiveness of ABA of target behaviors in autistic children with a new timepoint sample of data. Materials & methods: A repeated measures analysis tracked 98 autistic children, which included four adult participants, over three timepoints during a one-month snapshot period from 6/7/23 to 7/7/23. This study used a retrospective chart review to gather data on target behaviors to determine the effectiveness of ABA treatments across age categories. A mixed (between x within) analysis of variance (ANOVA) and subsequent post hoc and interaction contrasts were used to determine statistical significance.<h4>Results</h4>Mixed (between x within) ANOVA indicated statistical significance (sphericity assumed), F(2,160) = 32.893, and p < 0.05, across time. Using bootstrapped paired t-tests, multiple comparisons indicated p < 0.001 on all three multiple comparisons, with Bonferroni corrected α = 0.017. There was also a non-significant interaction effect (sphericity assumed) with (time) x (age category), F(8,160) = 0.333, p = 0.952, likely due to sizeable within-group variation resulting in a lowered statistical power. Conclusions: This replication found that autistic children receiving the ABA intervention demonstrated statistically significant improvement in target behaviors over the one-month snapshot period.
, 2024 · doi:10.7759/cureus.53372