Although Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) is an effective treatment for many children with autism, there is a substantial individual difference in outcome. This study was designed to investigate whether treatment gains were associated with the number and type of stimuli that function as reinforcers for 21 preschool-aged children…

Household pets can have a positive influence on quality of life for individuals who live with them (Bryant, 1990). Little previous research has investigated issues related to interaction between individuals with developmental disabilities and pets. In this study, we used simple behavioral intervention procedures to decrease pet mistreatment by a…

File review data were used to explore the impact of a large-scale publicly funded Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) program for young children with autism. Outcomes were compared for 61 children who received IBI and 61 individually matched children from a waitlist comparison group. In addition, predictors of better cognitive outcomes were…

Early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has been demonstrated to be a highly effective treatment for early childhood autism. As EIBI programs have proliferated, they have also begun to mutate and evolve such that between-program differences in specific practices are quite common. Unfortunately, the extent of this procedural variability…

Outcome research has shown that early and intensive behavioural intervention (ABA) may improve intellectual, language and adaptive functioning in children with autism. However, research has also indicated that not all ABA provisions are equally effective. Therefore, it may be beneficial to describe the key variables that are common to programmes…

Deficits in social skills are characteristic of children with autism. Clinicians often include teaching these skills as part of comprehensive curriculum. One method of developing social skills for children with autism is the teaching interaction procedure. This procedure involves describing the behavior, providing a rational and cues when to use…

Research clearly indicates that early intensive behavioral intervention is an effective intervention for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However little is known about the longitudinal development of these children. The purpose of this study was to examine the outcomes for a number of children with ASD following intensive…

The development of learning based interventions has proven to be an effective means of remediating symptoms of autism and PDD-NOS. The central focus of these effects in recent years has been on early intensive behavioral interventions (EIBI) with preschool children. We use the term EIBI since it is the most often used, and we assume, preferred…

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) has been shown to effectively remediate some cases of autism. However, few studies have evaluated the importance of various factors, such as the effect of treatment intensity on treatment outcomes, and how these outcomes vary by age. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship of…

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends vision screening of all children between 3 and 5 years of age, and states have mandated vision screening for all school children. Participants were three 4-6-year old school children with either a developmental delay or autism who scored "could not test" on the state required vision screening.…

This paper reports on the effects of two types of parent-focused intervention, for parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) aged 2-4 years and within 6 months of diagnosis, on parent's perceptions of stress and competence. Interventions aimed to decrease parenting stress and increase parenting competence by embedding empirically…

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of Functional Communication Training (FCT) and a Voice Output Communication Aid (VOCA) on the challenging behavior and language development of a 4-year-old girl with autism spectrum disorder. The participant's mother implemented modified functional analysis (FA) and intervention procedures in…

Although the "efficacy" of Intensive Behavioral Intervention (IBI) for young children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) has been well documented in small model programs, IBI's "effectiveness" (i.e., does it work in the "real world"?) has been less studied and may not be as impressive, e.g. Bibby, Eikeseth, Martin,…

It is still debated what is the best early intervention approach for autism. This study compared two intervention approaches, Eclectic-Developmental (ED) and Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) in very young children with autism/autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Nineteen children received ED intervention, using combination of methods. Twenty children…