Association for Behavior Analysis International

For three decades after Leo Kanner’s first clinical description, research progress in understanding and treating autism was minimal. Since the late 1960s autism discoveries have been exponential. The impetus for this explosion of empirical research was the discovery that something could be done to prevent the inevitable downward spiral of autism using Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention. Two other important factors were widely accepted as clinical tests for autism: the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule and the proliferation of magnetic tesonant imaging technologies (especially functional brain imaging) leading to localizing brain areas most involved in autism deficits overcome by EIBI. Naturalistic and discrete trial methods are now integrated, with emphasis depending on degree of disability. As we approach 2020, autism has begun to be an eminently treatable condition for many affected children.

Target Audience: Board certified behavior analysts; licensed psychologists; graduate students

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the presentation, participants will be able to: (1) discuss the roots of Intensive Early Behavioral Intervention in Seattle Washington, and how they evolved into several branches of intervention; (2) describe Lovaas’s early work at Camarillo State Hospital and how his approach differed from the developmental strategies of Piaget and Vygotsky; (3) explain the dimensions across which Early Behavioral Interventions differ including hybrids, and their relevance (consider: DTI, Pivotal Response Training, Picture Exchange System, Blended intervention, Positive Behavioral Support); and (4) explain how the term “cure” does not appropriately apply to the outcomes of most Intensive Early Behavioral Interventions, and suggest a more appropriate vocabulary for outcomes of IEBI.