Researchers at the Center for Research in Technologies and Health Services (CINTESIS) have developed a program to improve the skills of children with autism spectrum disorders or language disorders, it was announced Monday.
In a statement, the center clarified that the study, published in the scientific journal “Brain Sciences,” aimed to “promote the improvement of programmatic skills” of children with autism spectrum disorders or language disorders.
Aimed at children who have difficulty “looking into the eyes, asking questions or expressing emotions”, the team of researchers – coordinated by Marisa Lousada from CINTESIS@RISE and the University of Aveiro – developed, validated and tested the new program, which “has already been applied in dozens of kindergartens” in the country.
The program is based on an experimental study conducted on 20 preschool-aged children with autism spectrum disorders, developmental language disorders, and learning and socialization difficulties.
The sessions took place in 16 kindergartens in the district of Aveiro, with each child attending 24 sessions.
To create “a personalized intervention,” the researchers enlisted the help of kindergarten teachers, parents and guardians, as well as other preschoolers who were “involved in some of the sessions.”
According to CINTESIS, the results of the study showed a “significant improvement in several programmatic competencies”, particularly at the language level.
“This improvement was observed both through the evaluation of the children and through the views of parents and kindergarten teachers,” he adds.
Quoted in the statement, researcher Marisa Lousada points out this “is the first experimental study conducted on this issue in the country”.
“Speech therapists can use it with other children for clinical practice based on scientific evidence,” he adds.
To accommodate requests from kindergarten teachers and speech therapists, the researchers have made an “author’s edition” of the tool — which includes a manual with all the activities and a set of 300 paper cards with colorful illustrations — available to the professionals.
In addition to CINTESIS@RISE and the University of Aveiro, the study had the collaboration of the Linguistics Center of the University of Lisbon.
Source: DN
