What is the evidence for long term effects of early autism interventions?

At this point there is sufficient research to demonstrate the efficacy of Early Intensive Behavior Interventions (EIBI) for young children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). However, also of great importance is the value of these early efforts over time. The purpose of this review was to assess existing EIBI papers with respect to follow-up and overall long term efficacy of intervention. Twenty-two treatment studies were reviewed which used the term follow-up. Of these, 19 included actual post-test data. Only 3 followed children after termination of treatment. Thus, a major problem with the current EIBI literature is that little can be said about the impact of these treatments long term. Details of these studies and their implications are discussed.

► Early Intensive Behavioral Interventions (EIBI) has become very popular.
► Behavioral interventions have proven to be very effective.
► Arguments about cure of autism have been made.
► Insufficient follow-up data exist to determine the long term effects of EIBI.