Milieu Therapy as a Communication Intervention: A Review of the Literature Related to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Several researchers have employed milieu therapy to address the communication needs of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Thus, the purpose of this review is to examine milieu therapy, particularly, the environments and individuals involved in the training and the effectiveness of milieu therapy with children who have a diagnosis of ASD and to provide suggestions for practitioners and researchers. Milieu therapy consistently increases communication and generalizes to other settings, while maintaining over time; however, milieu therapy does not analyze connections to challenging behaviors and few studies have focused on teachers in the classroom or peers. Future research teams should continue to train parents and teachers while addressing the connection to challenging behavior and including peers in the interventions.

ASD is a developmental disorder affecting the lives of thousands of children. ASD was first described by Leo Kanner in 1943 through the case histories of 11 children. Kanner observed that the characteristics of these children differed significantly from other children; therefore, he suggested a separate diagnosis entity was needed to describe their unique characteristics. Since Kanner's first description of autism, the disorder has evolved into a spectrum disorder (i.e., ASD) with the number and percentage of diagnoses increasing each year (Autism Society of America, 2007).