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Measuring Intensity in Early Intervention Applied Behavioral Therapy
Location: 5
Mentor: Dr. Anibal Gutierrez
Early intervention programs are used as an effective treatment for children with autism.
Traditionally, treatment intensity is defined by hours of treatment per week. However, this
definition does not account for how much of a treatment session is spent on developing skills.
This may not allow appropriate measurement and comparison. When treatment intensity is
defined by the number of learning opportunities per session, it is possible to quantify treatment
intensity. We tried to find a way to measure intensity through learning opportunities, called
‘trials’. Over the course of four months, we recorded each kid’s entire 2.75 hour day in
15-minute segments. The learning environment was categorized as ‘Discrete Trial Training
(DTT)’ or ‘Natural Environment Teaching (NET)’, and we counted each trial as ‘complete’ or
‘incomplete.’ We found that a quantitative measure of treatment intensity can be obtained using
count, time, learning structure discrimination, and completion of trials . Results also show that
treatment intensity varies throughout the day. We also found a positive correlation between the
amount of time spent in DDT and the number of complete trials.
