A recent study by Sallows and Graupner (2005) has replicated the results of Lovaas and colleagues. They indicated that a positive treatment outcome was best predicted by a child’s pre-intervention language, imitation, and social skills. Another study by Howard, Sparkman, Cohen, Green, and Stanislaw (2005), compared intensive behavior analytic intervention to standard early intervention services provided to children with developmental impairment and to “eclectic” treatment. It was found that, after over a year of service delivery, children in the intensive behavioral treatment group had gained substantially more skills than either of the two comparison groups. It can be concluded from this study that ABA services alone are superior to eclectic intervention that combines ABA with unproven treatments.
