Supervised by Dr. M. Anisur Rahman

Abstract

The present study was carried out to see the efficacy of psychological management, particularly behavior therapy, of autistic children. The sample of the study comprised 10 children - 8 boys and 2 girls - having classic autistic disorders diagnosed by Psychiatrists. Their age range was 4-10 years. Since the study was a qualitative one and followed case study method, the sample size was small. Pre-post design was used to assess change in autistic symptoms. The measures used in the study were senii-structurcd interview, functional analysis of problem behavior, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) (Lord et al., 1989, Dilavore, Lord, and Rutter, 1995), Pervasive Developmental Disorder Assessment Scale (PDDAS) (Rami Grossman-2004, adapted by Sharmin Maq and Asim Das), Autism Diagnostic Checklist (ADCL) Scalc (Dr. Mallika Banerjee), 0 100 point verbal rating scale and observation. The Psychological management used for the subjects was mainly behavior therapy. All the subjects were administered only psychological intervention - no medication was administered. Data were analyzed at group and individual levels to find out the efficacy of psychological management. The findings of the study evinced that significant improvement of clinical conditions took place in all the clients. During post-inter\'cntion phase significant improvement in three areas of autistic symptoms - Social Skills, Daily Living Skills and Problem Behaviors were noted. It was interesting to see that significant improvement was reported by parents of their children’s clinical conditions. Teachers and the physiotherapist also reported similar improvements which were also noticed by the researcher. The results of the study clearly demonstrated that symptoms of the autistic disorder of the subjects of this study at the pre-intervention phase significantly disappeared in the post-intei-v'ention phase. So, the hypothesis that psychological management is efficacious in improving autistic children’s clinical conditions was confinned by the findings of the study.