Young children with Autism are often on an established and path-dependence trajectory of development that without early intervention are deemed to falls into an increasingly deeper and deeper gap of development trap. 

The goal of intensive behavioral services is to address the core skill deficits and increase the social communication abilities of individuals with Autism. Core skills falls under the domain of attention, shared and joint referencing, imitation and instructional control. Intensive Behavior services further addresses behavior excesses which may include aggression, excessive tantrums, life threatening behaviors,  etc.

Caregiver involvement is tied to the survivability of the treatment.  Intensive ABA services are not “respite”.
Parents and caregivers are required to be active participants of the treatment team. Parents learn to establish socially and developmentally appropriate goals and follow behavior procedures systematically and con-sistently across all environments to ensure the meaningfulness of skills taught.

This service is most appropriate for children ages 2-8 years

10 to 20 hours per week

The course and outcome of intensive ABA services depends on number of factors including IQ, parental involvement,  language before age five and the match of treatment modality to the individual clinical profile.  The duration of the program, generally last 30 months (2 ½ years) at which point the individual will be transferred to a less intense ABA service or a different service all together.

The model of intensive ABA service can be compared to the medical intensive care unit. While in the latter service delivery we may expect multi-organ failure, in the former service we expect an individual with multiple psychological system failure (attention, imitation, compliance, pointing, etc.).

 The function of intensive ABA service is to stabilize the individual in terms of his/her ability to engage in social referencing, shared attention, basic and complex imitation and compliance skills.  At the core of the intensive ABA model of care is to teach parents to become the environment which sustains the continued care of  the individual through daily routines and activities using the procedures of ABA.