Current Status of Intensive Behavioral Interventions for Young Children with Autism and PDD-NOS

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 term. This research appears to be quite promising; however, controversies have arisen regarding who responds best and to what degree. Also, despite the widespread adoption of the notion that these programs result in long term benefits for the autism spectrum disorders child, marked holes in our knowledge, largely due to methodological considerations, are evident. This paper provides a review of existing reviews and data-based EIBI studies with an eye to a specific analysis of strengths, shortcomings, and trends in the data.