Before we talk about EIBI let's briefly talk about ABA.  What is ABA?

ABA means Applied Behavior Analysis.  ABA is not a specific strategy but rather a science of behavior.  ABA focuses on improving behaviors that are of social significance.   In our practice, ABA guides the way we teach.  Our focus at Wee Can Autism is to ameliorate the level of impairment associated with various intellectual and developmental disorders.

What is EIBI?

Early Intensive Behavior Intervention (or EIBI) describes a kind of treatment model that provides behavior intervention for 30 – 40 hours per week to children under 3 years old for 2 to 3 years.  During this time the focus is on teaching children various skills.  Some of these skills include communicating their wants and needs, imitating the actions of their teachers and peers, playing with friends, participating in group activities (e.g., circle time), and daily living skills (e.g., potty training).  For young learners many of these skills are taught during naturally-occurring activities and is based on what the child is interested in at the moment.  A small number of these skills are taught in a more structured setting.

Isn’t 30 hours a week too much for a 2 or 3-year-old?

We get this question frequently.  For some children 30 hours a week can be overwhelming.  In this case we start with a smaller number of hours and gradually build up toward that 30 or more hours-per-week goal.   We have seen it time and again that children who receive EIBI tend to acquire skills faster and tend to acquire more skills than children who receive behavioral intervention once or twice per week.  A child in EIBI gets an opportunity to work on a variety of skills throughout the day and they get to work on those skills frequently throughout the week (as opposed to a child who works on those skills once a day for one or two day per week).

Well can't my child do just as well in a preschool classroom?

Typically-developing children tend to learn in many ways from their environments.  They learn by observing others, by imitating others, by exploring and playing with items in their surroundings, or (among other things) by talking to others.  Many children with autism (though not all) do not learn this way.  A great number of skills taught in EIBI are so called "learning to learn" skills.  These skill focus on teaching children how to learn from their environment.  When children with autism do not have these skills, learning in a typically-developing setting can sometimes be a struggle for them.  This is why a child may engage in tantrums, hitting (or other forms of aggressions), or other kinds of disruptive behaviors in the classroom.   Have you ever gotten one of those calls from your child's school regarding behaviors occurring in the school?  The problem could be this setting may not equipped to help your child at this point in his/her life.  In this situation you may want to consider other settings.  EIBI is a one-on-one setting and focuses on the individual needs of your child.   When children learn how to learn, they are more likely to be successful in a typically-developing setting.  When a child is placed in a typically-developing preschool prematurely however (i.e., before they learn these skills), this can set the stage for academic and behavioral troubles, and a lot anguish that could often be prevented.

References
"Change in autism core symptoms with intervention" by authors Zachor, Ben-Itzchach, Rabinovich, and Lahat.  This article appeared in the journal Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders.