Effectiveness and Comparison of Intervention with Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Neurofeedback on the Promotion of Cognitive, Social, and Daily Living Activities in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

The purpose of this study was to Effectiveness and comparison  of Intervention with Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) and Neurofeedback on the Promotion of Cognitive, Social, and Daily Living Activities in Children with Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

The research method was experimental design with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population included 7-12 year-old children with ASD, in which 45 subjects were randomly selected and assigned to ABA and neurofeedback interventions and control groups (n=15).  We used to collect information from Autism Domain Assessment Questionnaire (1999), the revised Voxcelerchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s intelligence scale (1969),  Social Skills Questionnaire of Stone et al (2010) and  Weismanchr(chr('39')39chr('39'))s daily activities scale (2013). In addition to the training programs,  ABA and neurofeedback interventions was performed individually for 20 sessions of 45 minutes and 2 times per week. The control group received only the routine center program. Data were analyzed by SPSS 20 software using multivariate analysis of covariance and Tukey test.

The findings indicated that ABA and neurofeedback interventions had an impact on cognitive, social skills, and activities of daily living in children with autism spectrum disorder.  In addition, the effect of ABA intervention on all dependent variables was more than neurofeedback.

These findings confirm the role of ABA and neurofeedback interventions in the treatment of some problems and skills of children with autism spectrum disorder.