Special Report: Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Based on Applied Behavior Analysis among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Technology Evaluation Center (TEC) located in Chicago has published a Special Report: Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention Based on Applied Behavior Analysis among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders.
The report does not answer the questions outlined, but calls for more reserach, and concludes:
“Overall, the quality and consistency of results of this body of evidence are weak. Consequently, no conclusions can be drawn from this literature on how well EIBI works. Weaknesses in research design and analysis, as well as inconsistent results across studies, undermine confidence in the reported results. It is important to distinguish between certainty about ineffectiveness and uncertainty about effectiveness. Based on the weakness of the available evidence, we are uncertain about the effectiveness of EIBI for ASDs.”
This report is not published in a scentific an peer-reviewed publication, and the methology and results must be evaluated from that perspective. Specially since the report is marked ©2009 Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association – an insurance company. The report must be read in light of the present debate on insurance coverage. It´s alarming that the debate uses scientific reports that are not published and not peer-reviewed. Such debates should be based on science and the evidence that are present!
The report can be downloaded here. For other post on the effectiveness of EIBI, se “current status“, “outcome of comprehensive“, and “comprehensive synthesis“
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