Currently, Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) is the evidence-based, gold-standard therapy for helping children with autism participate in daily living activities and tasks. However, few alternative behavioral therapies have been rigorously evaluated.

In a randomized clinical trial described on August 15 in Autism Research, Sophie Molholm, Ph.D., and colleagues compared ABA to a behavioral approach called Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT). SIT improves participation in daily activities by helping children better integrate sights, sounds and other sensory inputs and is administered by occupational therapists; ABA achieves the same goal by helping children learn positive behaviors and practical skills and is administered by psychologists. In the clinical trial, children were randomized to receive 30 one-hour sessions of either ABA or SIT. The researchers found that SIT was as effective as ABA in improving individualized goals and daily living skills, showing that children with autism now have two options for effective treatment.

Dr. Molholm is professor of pediatrics, in the Dominick P. Purpura Department of Neuroscience, and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, the Muriel and Harold Block Faculty Scholar in Mental Illness, and director of the Rose F. Kennedy Intellectual and Developmental Research Center at Einstein. Other authors included Elizabeth Ridgway, O.D.T., O.T.R., recently retired occupational therapist with the Rose F. Kennedy Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center.