Examination of Qualifications Required of an EIBI Professional

Over the past decade or so, there has been an increased, world-wide, demand for professionals trained to competently design, implement, and supervise Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) programs for children with autism. Currently there are no established graduate training programs to prepare professionals to do this. In this paper, recommendations of specific skills needed to become a qualified EIBI-professional are offered, in the areas of intervention methods, curricula programming, working with families, supervision and assessment. Also, suggestions are given as to how these specific skills may be trained and assessed, both theoretically and clinically. Key words: applied behavior analysis, higher education, autism, early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) Early and Intensive Behavioral Intervention (EIBI) was pioneered by Dr. O. Ivar Lovaas and colleagues in the 1970s (Lovaas, 1977; Lovaas, Koegel, Simmons, & Long, 1973), and was designed to help children with autism to acquire language and social skills while overcomin