Ole Ivar Lovaas

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
O. Ivar Løvaas, PhD
Born Ole Ivar Løvaas
8 May 1927
Lier, Norway
Died 2 August 2010
Lancaster, California
Nationality Norwegian
Occupation Clinical Psychology Professor
Employer University of California, Los Angeles – UCLA
Known for Lovaas technique, father of applied behavior analysis
Website http://www.lovaas.com/

Ole Ivar Løvaas PhD (8 May 1927 – 2 August 2010)[1][2] was a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is considered to be pioneer within the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA) through his development of the Lovaas technique. He was the first to provide evidence that the behavior of children with autism can be modified through teaching.[3] In 1999, the U.S. Office of the Surgeon General described Lovaas's techniques as having been shown to be efficacious at "reducing inappropriate behavior and in increasing communication, learning, and appropriate social behavior" which is based on thirty years of data.[4]

Lovaas Method

Dr. Ole (oola) Ivar Lovaas received his undergraduate degree in psychology in 1951 from Luther College and doctoral degree in clinical psychology in 1958 from the University of Washington where his work was influenced by prominent psychologists such as Sidney Bijou, Donald Baer, Montrose Wolf, Todd Risley and James Sherman. The decades of contributions Dr. Lovaas made to the field of applied research lead to him being known as “The Father of ABA.” Findings of independent peer reviewed and replicated research studies associated with the Lovaas method,[5] have shown that 47% of children can achieve normal functioning and subsequently succeed in regular education without assistance, 43% will make significant progress but continue to demonstrate language delays, 10% will make little progress, though some have disputed these findings.[6] In his original studies in the late 1950s aversives such as electric shock successfully treated many individuals engaging in extreme self-injury (eye gouging, head banging) whose life expectancy was reduced by secondary infection. Subsequent studies were on extinction methods, in which attention is given only when persons are not engaging in self-injury. The "Lovaas Method" includes high treatment intensity up to 40-hours per week in a 1:1 teaching setting using discrete trials, treatment is done at home with parents involved in every aspect of treatment, the curriculum is highly individualized with a heavy emphasis on teaching language, and ABA principles are used to motivate learning and reduce non-desired behaviors. The "Lovaas Method" went on the become "Early Intensive Behavior Intervention" or "EIBI." In addition to being one of the founders of ABA, Dr. Lovaas taught now prominent behaviorists such as Tristram Smith, Doreen Granpeesheh, Ron Leaf, Robert Koegel, Laura Schreibman, Jackie Wynn, and over 20,000 UCLA students who took his course during his 50 years of teaching. He contributed in major ways to the Autism Society of America (ASA), published 100’s of research articles and books, received state and national awards, and forced school districts to adopt evidenced based teaching programs. His work influenced how autism was treated, and improved the lives of parents and children stricken with the autism diagnosis worldwide.

Work with George Rekers on gender-variant children

In addition to his extensive work with autistic children, in the 1970s Lovaas co-authored four papers with George Rekers on children with atypical gender behaviors.[7][8][9][10] The subject of the first of these studies, a feminine young boy who was homosexual of 4 and half years old at the inception of treatment, committed suicide as an adult; his family attribute the suicide to this treatment.[7][11][12][13] Despite this, Lovaas and George Rekers had conducted a study that he was "indistinguishably unfeminine and showed no signs of homosexuality". Years later, the boy said he kept it hidden because his father would give him spankings if he was given a different color "poker chip" as punishment for feminine-like behavior.

Personal life

Lovaas was born in Lier, Norway and was a farm worker during the 1940s Nazi occupation of Norway. After the war, Lovaas earned a music scholarship to Luther College in the American state of Iowa. He earned his undergraduate degree at Luther College and his doctorate in psychology from the University of Washington. Married twice, Lovaas had four children from his first marriage and is survived by six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.[14]

Bibliography

  • Teaching Developmentally Disabled Children: The Me Book, 1981
  • Teaching Individuals With Developmental Delays: Basic Intervention Techniques, 2000

References

  1. Autism Support Network.
  2. Campbell, Victoria. Pioneer in autism treatment dies,
  3. "Lovaas Revisited: Should we ever have left?", by Steve Buchman, bbbautism.com, Retrieved on 28 January 2009.
  4. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

Further reading

  • "Screams, Slaps & Love: A surprising, shocking treatment helps far-gone mental cripples". Life magazine, 1965.
  • Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links