St. Peters Gives New Hope for Autism

Preschoolers with autism are learning new patterns of behavior along with their parents or caregivers in an innovative new program administered by The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s University Hospital.

Those lessons learned in the special classroom are then taken home and applied in real life. Unique as well, the program addresses various medical issues associated with autism.

The Jump Start 4 Autism Program is a twice-weekly program that runs for six weeks and places children and their caregivers in an applied behavioral analysis program designed specifically for each child. Administered at the Lakeview School in Edison, children with the developmental disability receive behavioral treatments in controlled one-on-one sessions with therapists. Their parents and caregivers obtain guidance in the modification of their child’s actions while seated in a nearby group session.

The program focuses on newly diagnosed autistic children with medical problems.

A lifelong neurological condition, autism affects one in every 49 children in New Jersey. Last year the Centers for Disease Control released the results of a study that showed an alarming increase in the number of New Jersey children diagnosed with autism. The study, which tracked autism in 14 states, showed that the rate of autism in New Jersey had doubled in six years, placing New Jersey second only to Utah in the rate of children who are diagnosed with the developmental disorder.

Barbie Zimmerman-Bier, M.D., director of the Division of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at The Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s, said, “The program is designed to educate the children based on the principles of applied behavioral analysis and at the same time educate parents about these techniques. 

“Children with autism do not generalize skills well, so it’s important that teachers, caregivers and parents are all working using the same principles, enabling their children to learn to generalize their skills across different environments,” Zimmerman-Bier said. “Put more simply, if these kids are doing the same kinds of things in lots of different places they will learn it faster, so the home is essential as a teaching site.”

The Jump Start 4 Autism Program is funded by grants from Merck & Co. and FocusAutism.