A person-centered perspective on differential efficacy of early behavioral intervention in children with autism : a latent profile analysis
Article [Accepted Manuscript]
Abstract(s)
Background: Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) present heterogeneous symptom
manifestations and responses to intervention. Despite being well-established, early intensive
behavioral intervention (EIBI) has produced inconsistent responding across studies. Investigating
individual differences and identifying more homogenous subgroups in samples may lead to a
better understanding of symptom heterogeneity in ASD and response to EIBI.
Method: Adopting a person-centered perspective, we conducted latent profile analyses (LPA) to
explore the presence of homogenous subgroups in our sample of 233 preschoolers with ASD
receiving early behavioral intervention services. We investigated predictors of group membership
using logistic multinomial regressions and outcomes of membership with the BCH approach
available in Mplus.
Results: We found four latent profiles in our sample: a mild impairment profile, a severe
impairment profile, and two intermediate profiles with combinations of mild to moderate autistic
symptoms, adaptive functioning, and intellectual functioning. Only the annual family income
predicted profile membership. All profiles made progress during the intervention period, with
varying magnitudes of change. During the follow-up period, the moderate impairment and the
severe impairment profiles showed stability or improvement in adaptive functioning, while the
two mild impairment profiles showed a slight decrease.
Conclusions: Our study contributes to the literature by suggesting the presence of distinct profiles
with differences in their response to EIBI. The profiles associated with better short-term outcomes
were different than the profiles who maintain their gains more consistently over time. This
finding may guide both practitioners and researchers assessing the effects of intervention.
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