Intensive Behavioral Early Intervention:

Background
Intensive behavioral early intervention (a.k.a., intensive Applied Behavior Analysis or intensive ABA) is currently considered to be the most effective treatment for children with autism. The pioneering research on autism early intervention was done at UCLA by Ivar Lovaas, Ph.D. Lovaas and his colleagues clearly demonstrated that in order to achieve significant, long lasting effects, intervention has to start early (e.g., before 3.5 years), it has to be intensive (e.g., up to 40 hours per week of one-on-one instruction), it has to address all significant areas of functioning (language, behavior management, academics, self-help skills, peer socialization), and it has to occur across all significant environments in a child's life (home, school, the community).

FACES Services
Children receiving intensive services from FACES are typically provided with 30-40 hours per week of one-on-one instruction (However, level of service may change over the course of intervention, or may vary with the specific needs of each child served).

During the first approximately 3-12 months of services, these hours focus on using one-on-one discrete-trial instruction to teach a wide range of skills, including:

• nonverbal imitation

• receptive language

• verbal imitation

• expressive language

• self help skills

• play skills

During the next 12-24 months, these hours focus on:

• expanding expressive language skills (including teaching abstract concepts, sentence structure,
  verbs tenses, listening skills and conversational skills)

• integrating children into typical preschool and kindergarten classrooms

• expanding play skills

• teaching peer socialization skills

The primary goal of this program is maximize children's long-term levels of functioning. Some children may be able to achieve normal levels of cognitive and academic functioning and be indistinguishable from their typical peers. Other children may show relatively little benefit from the same intensive program. Currently, level of cognitive functioning at intake is the best predictor of intervention outcome, with higher functioning children having a greater probability of making substantial gains.