The Mifne Center is located in the village of Rosh Pinna in Upper Galilee, Israel. The center treats children under age 5 who have been diagnosed with autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As of 2004, the youngest child to receive treatment there was 5 months old. The treatment the Mifne Model delivers is family-based and is derived from attachment theory. The program includes three stages: intensive family treatment including a period of residence at the center; follow-up treatment with the family at home; and integration of the child into mainstream education.
Because ASD affects not just the child but the entire family, treatment includes the entire family, helping family members to understand how their relationships impact the family and the child with ASD. A three week treatment at the center isolates the family from their routine stresses and helps the family to learn to understand how the affected child’s behavior and diagnosis has affected the family. This understanding, along with their learning about reciprocal play therapy, educates the family about how to address the needs of the child with ASD.
Reciprocal Play Therapy is a crucial part of the Mifne model of treatment. This therapy helps to engage the child and to help him or her understand that social interaction is pleasurable. Therapists work with children to help them become engaged and to desire social interaction. Working with the individual child’s needs, the therapist assesses the child to determine how best to gain his or her attention. Starting with eye contact and moving on to physical contact, the therapists create situations in which the child is motivated to communicate his or her wants and needs. Rather than teaching words by drilling and repetition, this approach prompts the child to spontaneously use language.
Parents and family members observe these sessions through one way glass and can watch the child’s progress and learn how to use these therapies at home. Evaluation forms are completed after each session to determine the extent of eye contact, physical contact, play sharing, and the like. Gradually reciprocity of contact builds between child and therapist.
Following the intensive residential treatment, home treatment continues from 6 to 18 months, depending on how the child progresses. Mifne arranges for periodic visits to the family, who are also submitting videos of the child every 4 to 6 weeks. Therapists assess the videos and provide feedback to the family on how to proceed with treatment.
Intervention for Infants
While existing autism treatments focus on treating children who have already been diagnosed with autism based on their behavior, the Mifne model is the first approach that focuses on pre-autism and works to prevent or decrease the symptoms. Using responsive sensory intervention therapy (R-SIT), the treatment model nurtures infants’ attachment and helps to keep autism from developing later in childhood.
The R-SIT model nurtures infants’ responses to parents and involves 2 weeks of intensive residential treatment. Therapy with the baby is one of two components of R-SIT, which includes stimulating the baby with social, motor, audio, tactile, and vestibular stimulation. Giving the baby time to assimilate his reactions and to regulate his reponses, this therapy encourages baby to respond to parents.
The second phase of R-SIT is therapy with parents and siblings and operates under the assumption that parents are the best therapists for the baby. The nuclear family participates in treatment in order to learn how they are both impacting and impacted by the baby. Therapy helps family members to understand how the baby’s needs and circumstances are affecting them and the family, and provides support for family members so that, once home, they can continue to provide therapeutic services.
Treatment Results
A 5 year follow up of babies who have been treated at the Mifne Center revealed they were neuro-typically developing children, and an evaluation of the program by the Schneider Children’s Medical Center showed that the children improved on 2 scales: the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) and the Social Behavior Rating Scale (SBRS). Both scales revealed significant improvements after 3 weeks and after 6 months.
Case studies have revealed that this treatment in the first year of a child’s life can significantly redirect the infant’s development and may avoid the development or escalation of signs and symptoms of autism.
Resources & References:
Read more about the Mifne Model at the program’s website.