What is the evidence-base for FBA?

The National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder (NPDC) initially reviewed the research literature on evidence-based, focused intervention practices for children with ASD in 2008. A second, more comprehensive review was completed by the NPDC in 2013. In this current review:

  • A total of 27 EBPs are identified.
  • Of the 27 practices, 10 practices that met criteria had participants in the infant and toddler age group, thus showing effectiveness of these practices with infants and toddlers with ASD.

The practices were identified as evidence-based when at least two high quality group design studies, five single case design, or a combination of one group design and three single case designed studies showed that the practice was effective. The full report is available on the NPDC on ASD website.

FBA meets the evidence-based practice criteria in all age groups (birth to twenty-two) with 10 single case design studies. For the infant and toddler age group, one single-subject design study included toddlers with autism and demonstrated positive outcomes in promoting behavioral support (Dunlap & Fox, 1999). For the NPDC early intervention work, we have included practices for which there are at least some studies from the original review that had participants who were infants and toddlers with ASD. The level of evidence, however, may be less than proscribed in our original criteria, in which case we extrapolated from studies with older children.

FBA has been used effectively with individuals from age 2 to adulthood. Researchers have successfully completed FBAs with children and families from a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, as well as children who are from at-risk environments, have behavior disorders, or have developmental delays. Researchers have also studied the effects of FBA in a wide variety of settings including home and community environments.

Refer to the FBA Fact Sheet from the updated EBP report for further information on the literature for FBA.