Early intensive behavioral intervention: Emergence of a consumer-driven service model

Parents are becoming influential stimulators and shapers of public policy i n regard to educational services for their children. Increasingly, this adv ocacy has created a controversy about the role of applied behavior analysis as a foundation for early intensive behavioral intervention in autism. Unc ertainties exist in policy regarding the role of behavior analysis in early intervention and the capacity of behavior analysis to field a trained work force. Based on contacts with parents of children with autism and informat ion available in a variety of forms on the Internet, there is a rising dema nd for fundamentally better early intervention services that are available and accessible, provide active intervention, and are based on principles of behavior analysis. Contemporary movements in special and early education, however, appear to be nonconducive to scientifically based treatments, and school districts seem hostile to an increasing role for behavior analysis a nd to the establishment of services that are responsive to changing parenta l priorities for the education of their children with autism and related di sorders.