Response to Early Intensive Behavioral Intervention for autism—An umbrella approach to issues critical to treatment individualization

•High heterogeneity in response to EIBI has been documented.•Identification of issues critical to variability in outcome.•Starting point for treatment individualization.•Cross-discipline collaboration might substantially improve treatment efficacy.

Integrating knowledge across the disciplines of genetics, neurological, and behavioral science targets, so far, early identification of children with autism and thus early access to intervention. Cross-discipline collaboration might be substantially improve treatment efficacy via individualized treatment based on the child and family needs, consistency across treatment providers and careful planning of skill curricula, setting and techniques. This paper documents the current state of five main issues critical to treatment individualization where cross-discipline collaboration is warranted: (1) developmental timing, (2) treatment intensity, (3) heterogeneity in treatment response, (4) program breath and flexibility, and (5) formats of treatment provision.