18th January 2010 9:00
By Blue Tutors
The BBC has reported that intensive early tuition can increase the IQ of autistic children as young as 3, according to a recent study. The course was studying early impact behavioural intervention (EIBI), and required 25 hours of one-to-one tuition per week for two years.
The results showed that two thirds of the children increased their IQ, with a quarter of those involved increasing it ‘very substantially’. Children with previous IQs of 30 and 72, increased to 70 and 115 respectively. The measure of IQ is supposed to be independent of age, so cannot be explained by standard natural development.
The research took place at Southampton University, and Bob Remington, head of Psychology at the university said that he thought that intensive home tuition can make a real difference to the future lives of autistic children. However, he warned that anyone embarking on the program faced a lot of hard work, stating that “Twenty-five hours home therapy a week is a big commitment for children and parents alike,“
The National Autistic Society welcomed the study into home tuition, because of increased information for those affected by autism, but warned that “Quality evaluation of any therapy requires more than one study.”