Association for Behavior Analysis International

Early intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) is widely regarded as the gold standard of treatment for children with ASD (autism spectrum disorders). While EIBI may rightly be regarded an effective treatment for individuals who have ASD, it may also be regarded as effective for children who have diverse conditions, such as intellectual disabilities, Down syndrome, and seizures during premature infancy. This data-based symposium will review how effective EIBI techniques were for each of these particular conditions. Possible reasons for differences in outcome and the general effectiveness of intervention are discussed. The first paper, by Sigmund Eldevik (Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences), will review the literature on the effectiveness of EIBI for children with intellectual disability compared to children with ASD. Second, Emily Jones, (Queens College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA) will present several experiments in which behavior analytic interventions were successfully used to enhance communication skills in young children with Down syndrome. Third, John C. Neill (Long Island University, USA) will present an animal model of seizures during premature infancy and explain how EIBI increases striatal dopamine receptor density. Ronald Weisman (Queens University, Canada) will serve as the discussant.

We have reviewed the literature on Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) and compared outcome on intelligence and adaptive behavior for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and children with intellectual disabilities (ID). Average gains in IQ and ABC scores and effect size measures are compared and also contrasted with outcome for children with ASD and ID not receiving EIBI.Possible reasons for differences in outcome and the general effectiveness of intervention are discussed.

The application of behavior analytic interventions to address characteristic weaknesses of infants and toddlers with Down syndrome shows promise in meeting the needs of this young population and maximizing outcomes. Demonstrations of interventions to address several communication skills provides support for exploring other areas such as early escape/avoidance behavior and weaknesses in exploratory motor skills and short-term memory.

Premature infants are at high risk of seizures which can produce intellectual impairment (Glass, 2009, Table 1). In an animal (rat) model of premature infancy, seizures during postnatal days 6–11 impaired auditory stimulus control, decreased exploratory behaviors, and, increased the number of reinforcers to criterion for lever pressing. Late in adulthood, non-seizure animals that received intensive behavioral intervention had more dopamine D2 receptors in the striatum than normal animals that had no early training. Seizure animals had less D2 receptors than nonseizure control animals. Seizure animals that had early intervention had more D2 receptors than seizure animals that had no early training. Early seizures caused deficits in dopamine D2 receptor density; this deficit was somewhat ameliorated by early intensive behavioral intervention. Elderly seizure animals that had early intervention performed better than elderly nontreated seizure animals on an auditory stimulus control task. These results will be related to mother-infant interactions during breast feeding, when even a small series of brief seizures are potentially capable of causing lasting behavioral and brain impairments. Experimentally-validated early intensive behavioral intervention techniques for premature human infants will be explained.