Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) for the treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a commonly used intervention. Due to advocacy on the part of some parent groups and others, there has been legislation passed in some states that mandates insurance companies must include coverage of ABA for the treatment of ASD. In cases where ABA is not covered by insurance, or where the coverage has been exhausted, many parents will pay significant sums of money out-of-pocket to continue ABA treatment. Many providers of ABA services note that ABA is the treatment of choice for ASD. But in order to evaluate the evidence basis of ABA, a number of considerations should be made. Consider the following three questions in your short essay:1) Can ABA be considered an Evidence-based Treatment? What kind of evidence exists, or is still needed, for ABA to be considered an EBT?2) How does one know how much ABA is optimal for any given individual? In other words, is there research to indicate the level of intensity needed once ABA treatment has commenced? Twenty hours of ABA per week? Thirty hours? Is there research to help determine how much is optimal?3) Does any empirical evidence exist to support alternatives to ABA for the treatment of ASD? If so, what are those alternatives? If not, what implications does the absence of alternative Evidence-based Treatments have for making determinations about choosing appropriate treatment for ASD?
