Evolution of Research on Interventions for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Implications for Behavior Analysts

The extraordinary success of behavior-analytic interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has fueled the rapid growth of behavior analysis as a profession. One reason for this success is that for many years behavior analysts were virtually alone in conducting programmatic ASD intervention research. However, that era has ended. Many investigators from other disciplines are now carrying out large-scale intervention studies and beginning to report successes of their own. The increasing number and range of studies has the potential to improve services for individuals with ASD, and it challenges behavior analysts to intensify their research efforts.