Research
The Mifne Center is the only facility for the treatment of autism in Israel to invite an independent team of professionals to evaluate their program. The study took place in 2000 – 2002, and included 23 children who had been in treatment during the years 1997 to 1999.
A Retrospective Evaluation of an Intensive Method of Treatment for Children with Pervasive Development Disorder
- Headed by Prof. Alan Apter from the Schneider Medical Center and Tel-Aviv University
- Ilana Farbstein, Yitzchak Vorgraft, Rene Spiegel, Alan Apter
- Ilana Farbstein, M.D., is Chairman of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Rivka Ziv Hospital, Safed, Israel.
- Yitzchak Vorgraft, M.D., is Senior Child Psychiatrist, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Rivka Ziv Hospital, Safed, Israel.
- Rene Spiegel, Ph.D., is a Senior Scientist, Novartis Company, Basel, Switzerland, and Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Basel.
- Alan Apter, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry, Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University and Chairman, Feinberg Child Study Center.
- Schneider’s Children Medical Center of Israel.
Abstract
Objectives
- To conduct an initial evaluation of a novel intensive approach to the therapy of young children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD/Autism).
- To evaluate the status of a series of young children with PPD before and after receiving a period of intensive therapy at the Mifne Center in Rosh Pinna, Israel.
- To assess the feasibility of undertaking a systematic prospective study of the novel method of therapy.
Methods
Twenty-three children admitted to the Mifne institute between 1997 and 1999 were assessed retrospectively. Videos taken before and after three weeks of treatment at the Mifne Center and after six months of continued treatment at patients’ homes were rated blindly by trained personnel using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Social Behavior Rating Scale (SBRS).
Results
Children showed improvement on almost all items of both scales including statistically significant improvement on several items in both scales. Total scores of both scales showed significant improvement after three weeks and after 6 months.
Conclusion
Despite the small number of patients and the retrospective design of the study, these preliminary results are promising. There is a case for performing a full prospective, comparative investigation of this treatment method.
Prospective Study Comparing the Mifne Approach of Treating Childhood Autism with Routine Standard Treatment
The current study aims at comparing outcomes achieved using the Mifne approach of treating autistic children with results obtained when routine standard treatment is used. A prospective comparative study will be performed comparing the results of 12 children treated at Mifne with 12 children treated with treatment as usual.
A child and adolescent psychiatrist using the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) and the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-Generic (ADOS-G) will make the diagnostic assessment and a developmental psychologist will make the developmental and psychological assessments using the Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales-Revised and the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (BSID II) before the child enters the study. Each child will be reassessed following completion of the Mifne intervention, at three and at six months after commencement of treatment. The control child will also be reassessed at three and at six months after commencement of a therapeutic intervention.
.
