The development and implementation of our individualized programs utilize the proven and time-tested principles of applied behavioral analysis (ABA) and discrete trial therapy (DTT).

I began to understand what (ABA) was: Not some dehumanizing control of people through a cynical manipulation of rewar ds and punishments, but rather the light of scientific exploration brought to bear upon behavior, and upon learning.

Karen Siff spent two and a half years implementing an intensive behavioral intervention technique known as ABA with her son Jake, who was diagnosed with pervasive developmental disorder when he was two.

A resource for families seeking assistance in implementing ABA programs, and professionals providing services.

This site is devoted to providing ABA resource materials to children involved in an ABA program. This site offer free and affordable materials specific to a home or school based ABA program.

Verbal Imitation and other Data Sheets, Target List, Social Question Target List, Maintenance Checklist, Program Checklist, Program Tracking, Verbal Imitation Target List, Functional Behavioral Analysis Sheet, Comments; Daily, Weekly, Vitamin Logs

The needs of each child are different. There is no one size fits all -- you have to tailor the programme to that child's individual needs.

Therapy and special education resources, with emphasis on Applied Behavior Analysis

Behavioral intervention has a long and often controversial history, dating back to the beginning of the twentieth century.

Psychology Today, 1974

Behaviors that are appropriate, inappropriate, or a combination of both can be linked together in a behavior chain. When the contingencies for one response change (e.g., reinforcement is withheld for the last response in the chain; the last response is reinforced even if it occurs without the other responses in the chain) or the environmental conditions change (e.g., access to the reinforcer is available independent of responding), the other responses in the chain may be affected.

Published annually by the Association for Behavior Analysis: International, and is primarily for the original publication of experimental or theoretical papers relevant to a behavioral analysis of verbal behavior.

Behaviour Research and Therapy, 1964, 1:305-312

Severe physical punishment is usually forbidden in most institutional settings including schools. Formerly, the rules were less stringent and Ivar Lovaas legally used electric shock to successfully treat institutionalized autistic children.

ABA is the use of behavior technology and the demonstration of the effectiveness of a behavioral technique by taking data, or analysis of the function of a behavior so that the variables can be changed in order to change the need for that behavior.

Project to use capture and access technology to facilitate Applied Behavior Analysis in teaching children with autism. A senior design team at Georgia Tech approached this problem in 2003 by coming up with a solution using tablet PCs and video capture.

What Dr. Ivar Lovaas did in establishing the ABA program, was to take basic principles in behavior science, and emphasize the intensity that is needed for our particular kids.

ABA has been consistently shown to be effective through the publication of peer-reviewed research. Research is on-going and more data is required to prove to those in positions of power that ABA is effective.

ASAT is committed to science as the most objective, time-tested and reliable approach to discerning between safe, effective autism treatments, and those that are harmful or ineffective.

Behavioral Programming for Children with Autism

Steinmetz devised an experiment to see whether people with autism acquired classically conditioned eye-blink responses differently from control subjects.

There is insufficient effectiveness evidence to establish a relationship between the amount (per day and total duration) of any form of early comprehensive treatment program and overall outcome.

Training materials for professionals working with autistic students

It is difficult to imagine a "participant" choosing to spend his days in remediation, or a respectful relationship in which one "partner" controls the other through aversives. Where, readers might ask, is the chapter of this book in which "participants" with autism share their views, and what efforts are made to hear and honor their words?

Empowerment- this one word is our message about Autism. We chronicle our experiences with Autism and Autism treatment to provide you with an example of what CAN be done and how WE have done it.

Video produced at the California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles

...As for "operationalizing" it makes me queasy. I mean -- it smacks so much of the "superior" white anthropologist observing the exotic and primitive, naked savage and making notes on his supposed motivations.

Implicit in these proceedings is the notion that autistics are inhuman, and must be therefore made human. It is only then that their rights will have been respected.

A parent whose child had been traumatized before mine told me 'the group turned on me when I spoke openly about my child being traumatized. They told me to shut up, don't give ABA a bad name.'

An archive on alpha1, a computer at the University of Wisconsin--Milwaukee, for exchanging material concerned with behavior analysis.

A goal-directed psychology sequence, involving undergraduate psychology students, M.A. behavior analysis students, and Ph.D. applied behavior analysis students at Western Michigan University.

Behavior Analysis, Inc. (BAI) is one of the leading behavioral consulting companies in the world. We provide state-of-the-art education and behavioral treatment services to children, adolescents, and adults. BAI has an international reputation for effectively teaching and treating persons with learning and/or behavioral disorders and other, difficult-to-teach individuals. We also conduct training courses, workshops, and seminars designed to teach others how to provide the most effective education and treatment possible.

The management of the BAO.ORG believes that the new IDEA bill is a problem. We like to see the continuation of the Disciplinary Provision as is, we would also like to see the focus on clear behavioral objectives continued, the Adoption of the Association for Behavior Analysis Position Statement on Student Right to Effective Education from November of 1990 Adopted, *and the adoption of one behavior analyst per one thousand children written into the regulations.

Web-course: introduction to behavior analysis.

Minnesota Symposia on Child Psychology, 1967, 1, 108-159.

Behavioral approaches to the treatment of early infantile autism are examined and evaluated. Attempts to modify such diverse targets as self-destructive bhavior, tantrums, aggressive and disruptive behavior, self-stimulation, toilet training, eye contact, imitation, verbal skills, prosocial behavior, and classroom activity are presented. It is concluded that although the level of product has been generally less than experimental (or quasi-experimental) in nature, there is reason to believe that behavioral intervention has been associated with real behavior change.

Behavioral therapy derives from learning theory. Behavioral therapy attacks symptoms not underlying causes, overtly directs clients to change their behavior, and relies on the science of psychology more so than other therapies.

The present article reports a behavioral-intervention project (begun in 1970) that sought to maximize behavioral treatment gains by treating autistic children during most of their waking hours for many years.

These data promise a major reduction in the emotional hardships of families with autistic children. The treatment procedures described here may also prove equally effective with other childhood disorders, such as childhood schizophrenia.

The material here is primarily taken from a written film guide sent with the video tape.

Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 1974, 7:173-190; Number 2 (Summer 1974)

The following pictures have been chosen for their elucidation of the uniquely human experience of deep emotional torment caused by totalitarian physical and emotional abuse.

The purpose of the current study was to determine if frequency-building procedures will promote the fluent skill development of tasks encountered on many early intervention programs for 12 young children with autism.

Helping other parents of autistic children to benefit from our experience.

Some early articles about the baby tender did raise concerns about its focus on the baby's external environment and obliviousness to the child's emotional needs. These concerns centered on the potential for parental neglect and the lack of contact comfort available to children brought up in temperature-controlled boxes

Behaviorism assumes that emotional and/or behavioral disorders are the result of inappropriate learning. In other words, the environment (including the individuals in it) has created the aberrant behavior by reinforcing or rewarding it.

Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, 1, 99-105 (1965)

CABAS is : A behavioral model of schooling that draws on a) the other behavioral models of schooling, b) the tactics and strategies from the applied and experimental branches of behavior analysis, c) the epistemology of behavioral selectionism, d) research on the model and its components and, e) demonstration applications to several schools.

What I do, along with many others, and have always done is to first form a friendship with the child and to pair myself with reinforcement (pairing is the applied strategy based on reinforcement, the behavioral principle).

The young teachers and clinicians who are needed to help to improve the lives of these children should not be turned away because of the difficulties in discovering and implementing effective treatment programs.

Journal of Experimental Research in Personality, Number 1, pp. 110-113 (1965)

Several issues to be considered are (1) the age of the child, (2) the treatment strategy; (3) individual differences among children with autism; and (4) intensity of intervention.

We compared the effects of 3 treatment approaches on preschool-age children with autism spectrum disorders. Twenty-nine children received intensive behavior analytic intervention. A comparison group received intensive eclectic intervention in public special education classrooms (AP). A second comparison group comprised 16 children in nonintensive public early intervention programs (GP). Independent examiners administered standardized tests of cognitive, language, and adaptive skills to children in all 3 groups at intake and about 14 months after treatment began, The groups were similar on key variables at intake. At followup, the IBT group had higher mean standard scores in all skill domains than the AP and GP groups.

The new industry attracted operators who saw it as a way to wield power, and many applied their own unique brand of "behavior modification" therapy, from slaps (to) isolation, to the electronic stinging of autistic children with a cattle prod.

There is a wealth of validated and peer-reviewed studies supporting the efficacy of ABA methods to improve and sustain socially significant behaviors in every domain, in individuals with autism.

Journal of Chronic Diseases 1961 Apr;13:312-4

Glossary of Basic Terms; Guide to Other Reference Terms; Behavior Management; Schedules of Reinforcement; Description of Prompts; Discrimination Training

Each trial consists of an antecedent, a directive or request for the individual to perform an action; a behavior, or response from the person; and a consequence, a reaction from the therapist based upon the response of the person.

There still needs to be ongoing research and that this must involve rigorous experimental control of the various variables associated with the intervention and associated with the children

On the Sophia Young Autism Project

Highlights what would be good practice in terms of initial assessments of the young children concerned and of gaining baseline data by which to measure change over time.

It is preferable to utilize the behavioral/functional analysis methodology to obtain detailed assessment information from which interventions are derived and then appropriately utilized, focusing in particular on antecedent events.

On the widespread establishment of ABA programs.

There are now a great many well-documented cases of autistics - living in a family, a group home, or independently - who actually taught themselves the verbal and social skills needed to survive. The argument that such people are rare or misdiagnosed is no longer mainstream in either the scientific literature or the media.

Although many ABA practitioners in the field are skilled, the area of ABA is loosely structured and poorly regulated. Board certification has been slow to catch on and essentially anyone can hang a shingle proclaiming expertise in ABA.

Conclusively, the experimental investigation performed in 1965 in attempt to find an alternative treatment method for autism was found by several people to be ethically wrong.

What if we had no free will? What if our actions were determined by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. What if, the environment in our lives interacted with our cognition and other biological systems to produce outcomes that give us the illusion of choice, but with no choice is truly present.

Interventions for children with autism based upon Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) has been repeatedly shown to be related both to educational gains and to reductions in challenging behaviours. However, to date, comprehensive training in ABA for teachers and others have been limited. Over 7 months, 11 teachers undertook 90 hours of classroom instruction and supervision in ABA. Each teacher conducted a comprehensive functional assessment and designed a behaviour support plan targeting one behaviour for one child with an autistic disorder. Target behaviours included aggression, non-compliance and specific educational skills. Teachers recorded observational data for the target behaviour for both baseline and intervention sessions. Support plans produced an average 80 percent change in frequency of occurrence of target behaviours. Questionnaires completed by parents and teachers at the end of the course indicated a beneficial effect for the children and the educational environment. The potential benefits of teacher implemented behavioural intervention are discussed.

Feelings don't matter, only doing matters. Do exactly as you are told and you get a cookie. Being autistic is a bad thing. Don't stare out the window in rapt amazement at the fluttering of leaves on a tree or at the formation of a cloud. It's not allowed.

This study examined the experiences of 65 behavior interventionists (BIs) who provide 1:1 home-based instruction to children with autism in two Canadian provinces. Dependent variables included occupational stress; the relationships among stress, strain, and coping; the relationship between stress and the characteristics of both challenging families and children with autism; and the most and least rewarding aspects of BIs' jobs. The two most stressful work roles for BIs were role overload (the extent to which job demands exceed personal/workplace resources) and role boundary (the extent to which the individual experiences conflicting role demands at work). Significant relationships were found between coping and both stress and strain; however, coping did not moderate the relationship between stress and strain. Significant correlations were found between BI stress and both sensory-related behaviors and social unrelatedness in children with autism. The implications for the BIs, the families, and the agencies are discussed.

Paper read at American Psychological Association, Los Angeles, September, 1964

There are three components of ABA that all have to work together: families and teachers, therapists, and practice.

In 1965, Life magazine sent reporters and a photographer to UCLA. The result was a nine-page photo-essay titled "Screams, Slaps and Love" that described Lovaas's work as "a surprising, shocking treatment {that} helps far-gone mental cripples." Patients "had tumed their homes into hells"; the institute was described as an "appalling gallery of madness."

79 representative goals for ABA intervention programs.

I have long said that aversives were not the only problem or even the primary problem with the behavior programs I was put on: The ones that were primarily reward-based caused just as many problems as the other ones, because of the angle that people were coming at things at in the first place. The ways in which they controlled my behavior, the behavior that they sought to control, and the coercive nature of the whole thing, were as much problems as any of the actual technique.

A complete self-paced training program for preparing parents, educators, students, teachers, therapists, service providers, friends and family to use Applied Behaviour Analysis programs to work with children with ASD's, PDD, or other developmental delays.

In summary the current study demonstrated that individuals who passed two auditory-auditory matching tasks performed better on a testof three verbal operants than those unable to pass auditory matching tasks, and that individuals who passed an auditory-visual discrimination (ABLA Level 6) performed better on a test of three verbal operants than those unable to perform this discrimination.

The purpose of this page is just to present our own experiences and to help educate others about what it can be like to run a full scale ABA program.

Sixteen children with diagnoses of autism and pervasive developmental disorder who participated in home-based behavioral intervention were evaluated retrospectively to determine whether the 'intensity' of service delivery (hours per week, duration in months, total hours) and the age at which intervention was introduced (before and after 3 years of age) influenced developmental rating scale assessments of progress. Children who were involved in services before and after 3 years of age all demonstrated significant changes on six developmental domains when assessed before and following intervention but there were no significant differences between these groups. Overall improvement in the areas of communication, cognitive and social-emotional functioning was predicted by the duration of time (months) that a child spent in home-based intervention. These findings are discussed in light of recommendations for the 'intensive' behavioral treatment of young children with autism.

The introduction of interactive technology promotes collaboration, student creativity and exposes students to alternative perspectives then more passive methods of teaching.

Restraint is used in treatment facilities and schools nationwide on developmentally disabled. Parents are frequently given NO CHOICE despite the fact that behavioral philosophies and treatment methods are not the only way to educate cognitively disabled.

If you think of autistic children as being on a continuum with the rest of us, then you stop seeing them as pieces of pathology; they fit into the natural order of things. (O. Ivar Lovaas speaking)

Results suggest that some 4- to 7-year-olds may make large gains with intensive behavioral treatment, that such treatment can be successfully implemented in school settings, and that specific aspects of behavioral treatment (not just its intensity) may account for favorable outcomes.

Intensive, comprehensive treatment using a variety of applied behavior analysis methods was provided to a toddler who was determined to be at high risk for autism at the age of about 1 year. Initially, formal treatment was delivered in a one-to-one adult-child format in the child's home. The child transitioned gradually and systematically to group instruction in early intervention and preschool classrooms. Intensive treatment continued for 3 years; by the 4th year, she was spending most of her time in a regular preschool classroom, with minimal ongoing one-to-one instruction. Direct observational data and results of norm-referenced tests documented large increases in language, social, cognitive, and daily living skills over the course of treatment. After 4 years, the child demonstrated no behavioral or developmental abnormalities, performed above her chronological age level on norm-referenced tests of cognitive and language skills, and was functioning as a typical child in a regular public school kindergarten classroom.

The intensive approach can be effective for older children. There is further support for the notion of access to a range of methodologies to be able to match child characteristics with outcomes.

Offers behavioral treatment for young children with autism ages 24 months to 5 years. The program immerses the child into learning the language and social skills that most children without autism learn naturally from their environments.

The method itself is intrusive because you constantly have therapists in your home and in and out of therapy we are addressing problem areas. But having a child with autism is much more intrusive than any therapy.

We would want to know how we could increase eye contact, appropriate language use, social interaction, willingness to wait for a turn, be an enthusiastic pupil, increase academic learning.

For every hour the developmentally disabled individual gives the researcher in the name of science, the researcher should give one hour to the individual in the name of one-on-one therapy or training.

Within the field of autism, the attribute 'scientifically proven' is most commonly seen in reference to the results of early behavioral treatment, and in particular, one style of early behavioral treatment. In this article, such claims are evaluated.

As part of the Press Conference, APRAIS will exhibit a photo gallery of children who have been injured, traumatized, or killed through the use of restraint, aversives, or seclusion in their education or treatment program.

The ethical considerations in operant conditioning are no different from those involved in any other form of therapy: to aim for the maximum benefit to the patient and to society, giving careful consideration to cases where the two may conflict. (Hospital and Community Psychiatry, July 1968, 19:226-228)

The horror stories of what parents have done -- or what they have allowed to happen -- to their daughters and sons occur most often when they have abdicated their common sense and parental love in favor of professional opinion.

The research definitely supports and claims that there are a lot of good techniques out there.

The Lovaas research showed that intensity worked. It didn't show that ABA worked. So, for a lot of kids, one-on-one is important, at least to start with. But nobody really wants their child to be one-on-one for their whole life.

I'm Ivar and I am a professor of psychology at the University of California in Los Angeles and here I'm operating a clinic for children with autism. We've been doing that now since about 1962.

One or two articles from each issue are added to this site.

The journal perceives itself as being a primary source of information for those who work within the field of early childhood interventions and intensive interventions from a behavioral perspective. Topics will include issues, literature review, and research on successful interventions for children with various mental health, medical (pain, obesity, etc.) or developmental disorders.

...the recent studies of ABA/discrete trial are not very encouraging in terms of the results... in the only clinical trial studies done on behavioral approaches, Tristam Smith found only 13% achieved the educational goal that Lovaas claimed for 48%... there were no differences between the intervention group and the non-intervention group's emotional and social variables.

This paper reviews the research in punishment for specific behaviors of autistic children. I propose that the rationale for punishment contradicted previous behavior analytic research sometimes in breathtaking ways. I will juxtaposition these fallacies against the arguments of B. F. Skinner who advocated against punishment.

This paper reviews the research in punishment for specific behaviors of autistic children. I propose that the rationale for punishment contradicted previous behavior analytic research sometimes in breathtaking ways. I will juxtaposition these fallacies against the arguments of B. F. Skinner who advocated against punishment.

The 9 experimental subjects who had achieved the best outcomes at age 7 received particularly extensive evaluations indicating that 8 of them were indistinguishable from average children on tests of intelligence and adaptive behavior.

"ABA can eliminate autism. It trains people to behave normally. We realise that by putting Sarah through this programme we are going against nature, but we just want her to be happy." But it could also rob her of her gift for music.

Lovaas and his colleagues recommend that treatment should begin as early as possible, preferably before the child is 5 years old and, ideally, before the child reaches 3½ years. This is necessary in order to teach basic social, educational and life skills

A search through research evidence in an attempt to gain new information concerning the effectiveness of intensive behavioural intervention with young autistic children.

A research based Institute that specializes in teaching pre-school aged children with autism, PDD, and related developmental disabilities. The behavioral intervention program was developed in the Psychology Department of UCLA.

The intent of this article was to provide an overview about early intensive behavioral intervention based on the work of Ivar Lovaas.

Behaviors targeted for suppression/extinction 'simply because they are deemed 'cosmetically undesirable' may likewise benefit from less simplistic assumptions and from explanations which are fully explored:

It is quite intrusive into your lives - we have strangers in our home for 30 hours a week. We believe it is worth it. Our little boy is definitely improving considerably.

Lovaas developed his interest in human behavior as a child in Norway during World War II. He viewed the mass destruction caused by the war and wondered why people would behave in such a cruel manner toward others.

His concept of Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) have become a popular method of treatment for many people, who have rejected other forms of treatment such as medication or diet.

The study attempted to isolate some of the environmental conditions that controlled the self-destructive behavior of three severely retarded and psychotic children. In the extinction study subjects were placed in a room where they were allowed to hurt themselves, isolated from interpersonal contact. They eventually ceased to hurt themselves in that situation, the rate of self-destruction falling gradually over successive days. In the punishment study, subjects were administered painful electric shock contingent on the self-destructive behavior. (1) The self-destructive behavior was immediately suppressed. (2) The behavior recurred when shock was removed. (3) The suppression was selective, both across physical locales and interpersonal situations, as a function of the presence of shock. (4) Generalized effects on other, non-shock behaviors, appeared in a clinically desirable direction. Finally, a study was reported where self-destructive behavior increased when certain social attentions were given contingent upon that behavior. (Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. 1969 Fall; 2(3): 143-157)

Counsel for the intervener FEAT of Ontario, speaking in support of the Respondents, claimed that without Lovaas-type early intensive behaviour interventions, autistics will be less than half living.

The thing for parents and others to do is see what triggered it in the first place. The thing is not to punish the autistic for having the meltdown. Like Lovaas did when he hit a girl because she was banging her head on a piece of furniture.

Labeling Tutor software, using discrete trial methods

American Journal of Psychiatry, May 1966, pp. 1201-1211

Those with autism and aspergers who are anti-behavioral intervention are those who are already capable of functioning independently without intense behavioral intervention strategies. They are the lucky ones.

MouseTrial is a fun game designed for kids with autistic spectrum disorders. It's based on the method of discrete trial therapy which is used in most ABA programs. You can play MouseTrial online right here. It comes in a number of small inexpensive modules. The numbers module is FREE and even the other modules let you have a few free goes. So why not give it a try now?

Joint attention refers to an early developing set of behaviors that plays a critical role in both social and language development and is specifically impaired in children with autism. In a series of three studies, preschool teachers demonstrated the effectiveness of discrete trial instruction and pivotal response training strategies to teach joint attention to 5 children with autism (Study 1). Parents of 2 of the 5 children also taught joint attention at home and in the community (Study 2). Several additional dependent measures demonstrated collateral improvements in expressive language and social-communicative characteristics that were socially validated by parent raters (Study 3). Results are discussed with respect to the importance of addressing different forms of joint attention, the necessity to extend intervention to naturalistic contexts and joint attention partners, the pivotal nature of joint attention, and whether intervention adequately addresses both the form and social function of joint attention.

We generally hold coercion to be unacceptable in this society, even if the desired end is socially acceptable, but the general populace is unconcerned about such things when they are done to 'abnormal' people, who presumably deserve such treatment.

126 ideas to engage children. Example: Say do this and make roar sound. When child does, act terrified and fall off chair. May take a few do this but most kids love the idea of making you react.

Learning can and should take place in natural environments. More diverse and effective ways to support the development of communication and social interactions should be employed.

This letter is intended to address the question of what constitutes an appropriate therapeutic intervention for a child diagnosed as autistic.

The most dangerous outcome of the philosophical directives of behaviorism is violence to the sanctity of an individual's right to protect himself. This is what destroyed our child: he was denied the basic right to defend himself against unbearable anxiety

We found that the most dangerous outcome of the philosophical directives of behaviorism is violence to the sanctity of an individual's right to protect himself.

American Journal of Psychiatry, 24:1, July 1967

This article presents findings from an outcome survey of the effects of early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) for young children with autism in a community setting.

Results from both individual case reviews and parent questionnaires are presented, with the data failing to support any instances of 'recovery' while still yielding a high degree of parental satisfaction with the treatment. Moreover, a follow-up inquiry into the type of services each child was receiving in his or her post-EIBI setting documents continued dependence on extensive educational and related developmental services, suggesting that the promise of future treatment sparing did not materialize.

MFEAT's position is that with early intervention and intensive applied behavioral therapy autism has been scientifically proven to be a potentially recoverable disorder.

Previous research on early intensive intervention in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) has largely focused on outcomes of treatment for children. Although some account has been taken of parental viewpoints, the potential impact of intervention on families has not achieved the same kind of research prominence. This contrasts with the considerable literature that exists exploring the experiences of parents of children with a wide range of special needs and disabilities. This article reports data from a Local Education Authority (LEA)-funded research commission designed to inform future policy and service provision. Themes are extracted from interview transcripts and questionnaire responses to reflect the views of 15 families, including nine whose children were receiving an LEA pilot intervention programme for ASD, and six who were managing their own interventions based on Applied Behavioural Analysis (ABA). Implications are drawn for future service delivery in support of key principles for early intervention for all families of young children with developmental disabilities.

Prevalent in parents' comments were complaints or at best mixed reviews about the impact of the education system on their experience, and were well represented among participants with children in both kinds of programs.

Behavioural intervention programme; a formal replication of Dr. Ivar Lovaas's 1987 study. Family support services, bimonthly meetings, information and advocacy services.

Person-centered planning (PCP) is a recent but popular approach in the developmental disabilities community, but it is in need of a behavior analysis. However, conventional applied behavior analysis requires levels of treatment integrity and outcome assessment that appear inconsistent with the methods and goals of PCP. The analysis would require addressing more socially valid goals with innovative procedures, and it would entail less of an experimental analysis and more of the empirical problem-solving process that characterized applied behavior analysis in its early years.

Various aspects of the research literature on early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) have been poorly understood within the psychological, educational, and advocacy communities. Examination of the studies that are frequently cited by proponents of EIBI suggests that the expectation that 47 percent of youngsters who receive EIBI will reach normal developmental status is questionable.

Offers a curriculum consisting of plans and ideas for many of the skills and behaviors common to instructional programs for children with autism.

Child Development 1961, 32:437-456

Part of the problem is that ABA techniques, like most methods for teaching autistic kids, do not start from the idea that the child should be helped to be the best autistic child he can be.

Le présent document s'adresse aux parents ayant un enfant autiste ou présentant un trouble envahissant du développement, un trouble du langage (audimutité) ou une déficience intellectuelle.

Though promising, applied behavior analysis is not the best approach for every child, Sisemore-Ayres said. The guidelines help educators decide whether children are benefiting from the treatment or whether a different method should be used.

The children who seem to benefit the most from intensive behavior training are those who are nonverbal and noncompliant. Children with milder problems may benefit from the use of DTT with social integration, structured teaching, SI or other supports.

Results suggested that the methodology was useful for matching targeted skills to appropriate interventions.

The present study demonstrated that Lovaas' treatment could be implemented in a clinical setting outside a university, and that his earlier findings regarding outcome could in large part be replicated without the use of aversives.

An Individual Has a Right to a Therapeutic Environment, Services Whose Overriding Goal is Personal Welfare, Treatment by a Competent Behavior Analyst, Programs That Teach Functional Skills, Behavioral Assessment and Ongoing Evaluation...

Life, 1965

Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis 6:131-166, Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring 1973)

An extensive but hard-to-read exposition of ABA.

Children with autism exhibit deficits in imitation skills both in structured settings and in natural contexts such as play with others. These deficits are a barrier to acquisition of new behaviors and socialization, and are thus an important focus of early intervention programs for children with autism. Research indicates that naturalistic behavioral treatments are effective at teaching a variety of behaviors in children with autism; however, they have not yet been used to teach imitation skills. This study used a multiple-baseline design across five young children with autism to assess the benefit of a naturalistic behavioral technique for teaching spontaneous object imitation. All of the participants exhibited increases in their imitation ability in the treatment setting and on a structured imitation assessment. Four of the five participants maintained these gains after the removal of treatment and generalized their imitative behavior to novel materials, a therapist, and a setting. One-month follow-up data indicated that all children maintained their gains in imitation. In addition, participants exhibited increases in other social-communicative behaviors, including language, pretend play, and joint attention. These results provide support for the effectiveness of a naturalistic behavioral intervention for teaching imitation and offer a new and potentially important treatment option for young children who exhibit deficits in social-communicative behaviors.

Disseminates knowledge from the science of behavior analysis to the public and to professional behavior analysts.

Sample agreement between parents and therapist to provided ABA services for their child.

...most ABA consultants don't look at the real reasons behind behaviours, they simply figure out ways of getting rid of them.

Offers early intensive behavioural intervention for children with delayed development disorders, such as Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, Down's Syndrome and mental retardation.

Behavior analysts should concentrate on changing repertoires and values... in such a manner that people will behave in healthier, happier, more productive, less harmful ways in the absence of optimal behavioral contingencies later in life.

Am J Psychother. 1969 Jan;23(1):23-36

In the 1970s, Lovaas demonstrated the implications of intensive behavior therapy for intervention with autistic children on a one-to-one basis at home and school; gradually reducing the use of aversives after much criticism from colleagues and the public.

In this commentary, we briefly describe the verbal-behavior approach to EIBI and summarize the existing data that support its use. Although the approach is conceptually sound and is supported by a modest literature on the acquisition of verbal operants, no outcome research currently exists to directly support the long-term application of the verbal-behavior approach to children with autism. Thus, we outline three steps that clinicians and researchers can take to collect and publish outcome data on the verbal-behavior approach so that correspondence between dissemination and empirical evidence can be better coordinated.

Behavioral Treatments for Autism; Principles of ABA; Antecedents; Consequences; Exercise; ABC Pattern and Examples; Behavioral Assessment; Concepts for Individualized Programming. Behavioral Tool Chest; Discrete Trial; Pivotal Response Training; TEACCH

Rimland contends that aversive procedures such as "mild electric shock" are needed for controlling difficult behavior in programs and classrooms... Ironically, cosmetic attractiveness of the IARET goals and publications does indeed seem to be an acceptable substitute for describing the true nature of electroshocks, ammonia sprays, isolation rooms, white noise helmets, restraints, and a vast array of other punishments and tortures used to "treat" people with disabilities.

There is no current treatment that completely addresses the needs of the disability. Perhaps a complement of eclectic strategies is necessary to meet the complex challenges and spectrum of characteristics associated with autism.

What ever happened to the little children that Ivar Lovaas used painful electric shock on? He had them stand on an electrified floor, my guess is, barefoot. Did Lovaas join them on the electrified floor? Does anyone care? Did they get an apology?

Giving Katie a repertoire of socially acceptable behaviors to replace her unacceptable ones seemed very much like, well, giving her a fish. Our goals for Katie were different. We wanted to teach her to fish.